Thinking & critical thinking
We are not logical, but rationalizers, story-tellers interested in consistency and emotional comfort rather than the truth.
- Introduction
- Critical thinking
- Purposes of critical thinking
- Historical information
- Critical thinking curriculum outline for development and assessment specifications
- Critical thinking process
- Quality standards for critical & scholarly thinking
- Civic Online thinking & reasoning
Introduction
This page discusses thinking with suggestions on how to think better and become critical thinkers. It includes a discussion of critical thinking and related topics, a critical thinking curriculum developed by Robert H. Ennis, with dispositions, outcomes, 15 abilities for critical thinking, and its assessment is included. Also a process for critical thinking, quality standards for critical and scholarly thinking, and references to develop Civic Online thinking & reasoning.
Critical thinking
Critical thinking, is more of a state of mind a person makes to consciously use deep metacognition to think, reason, and reflect with the focus on the accuracy and validity of information used to decide what to believe or do, based on argument, reasoning, logic, and proof. It can be thought of encompassing decision making and reasoning to recognize the limitations of words and ideas and how they reflect reality to make ethical decisions that are not driven by whim, false assumptions, and biased views of others. To achieve this a person has to understanding how our brain works, how we learn, how we are motivated, how emotions, biases, and our flaws can influence and sometimes control our decisions making and behaviors.
Let's constrast this by considering some major sub tasks used while thinking critically.
- Thinking is the mental process that goes on in one's mind. It continually generates thoughts, beliefs, and judgments. Mostly simplified versions based on culture and emotional manipulation of reality without considering how our ideas are generated, or stopping to reason about how accurate our thoughts may be as an interpretation of the actual world. The major goal of thinking is to make choices for enjoyment and to survive.
- Decision making is more focused on a problem and a decision making process that uses information collected with critical thinking.
- Reasoning is also a more focused action of thinking about ideas separately or combined in a more logical, sensible way.
- Metacognition
- Social theory
Purpose of critical thinking
Thinking and reasoning is mostly driven to support each person's present understand of their culture, social groups norms and each individual's current beliefs and understandings. Information is gathered to support the most comfortable position; and to do otherwise requires strong emotional support to be open minded and willing to accept a new way of thinking, one which can be unfamiliar and most likely stressful to assume and use to take new and unfamiliar actions. Emotional support and willingness to accept the unfamiliar can be nourished to develop critical thinking abilities and dispositions to achieve critical thinking outcomes.
However, Critical thinking is supposed to use wisdom and morality to balance thinking and emotions so our emotions do not unknowingly drive our decisions and behavior and we make wise decisions based on the best available information for the best possible ethical outcomes.
Attributes of critical thinking
To think better, we need suggestions on how to process information better and dispositions or habits of mind that will promote deep comprehesive thinking, or critical thinking. Below are some processes and related attributes which can be used when critically thinking. They could be integrated with the disposition, outcomes, and abilities of Robert Ennis's critical thinking curriculum.
Processes
- Metacognition
- Social skills
- Understand how to learn - learning theory
- Understand emotions and how to control and manage them, self-regulate, and express humility, gratitude, caring, compassion, and respect.
- Decision making process
- Reasoning, logic, proof, and reasoning errors
- Change process
- Five Step Strategy to Encourage Change or a Strategy for a Conversation with someone with Illogical or Irrational Ideas
- Problem solving - heuristic, strategies, ...
- Design process
- Making models for explanations
Attributes related to disposition or habits of mind
- Use self control to get outside yourself and adopt practices that are unselfish and caring and sustainable.
- Consider your trust & respect for the source, but do not be fooled.
- How much do I know about this person or this source?
- How truthful are the things said about them?
- Where can I find out the truth, if at all?
- Am I being manipulated?
- Until I am sure, I can’t believe what is said and shouldn’t make decisions based on that information.
- How long should it be before I trust them or the source?
- People respect people who respect others.
- I may not agree with others, but I shouldn’t disrespect their right to have their own views and opinions.
- Respect doesn’t mean you endorse, agree, condone, or tolerate what they endorse. Tolerance doesn’t mean endorsement.
- Remember you may not know the full story … SEE …
- Remember the brain likes similarity and contrasts, overvalues both and often will either not react or over react.
- Accept responsibility for your behavior.
- Anticipate what might happen and don’t undervalue the future when living in the present.
- Empathy is a reminder that you don’t know. Don’t know the circumstances surrounding someone else’s behavior and opinion and their life experiences that shaped them.
- Forgiveness to let go of anger toward someone else and or yourself not to give up consequences, but to provide another chance to do better next time. You forgive others so they will forgive you. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
- Relaxation … manage stress.
- Be socially and emotionally aware when to negotiate relationships with others, and when they are being helpful or not. When they project their problems onto you and know not to accept them.
- Gratitude. Do you know how lucky you are to exist? Consider what has to happen to be born, how many suffer from hunger, poor nutrition, poverty, weather, war, poor health, ...
- Know what to focus on and when to let go. Knowing how much time to spend on something. When enough is enough. Moderation isn’t easy, but it’s where a sense of control and balance, sense of self, and wisdom originate. Paying too much attention to meaningless things sucks joy and meaning from life.
Robert Ennis dispositions - that encourage the above
Historical information
Thinking and reasoning have been a purpose of education if not the main goal of education and included in almost every educational philosophy and school's mission statements.
Education in Greek times was a study of thinking for argument to establishing truth. The study of dialectic reasoning (logic) and rhetoric (emotional speaking) were taught to achieve this.
Over the years thinking, speaking, and reasoning were central to education to develop an educated person who is prepared with broad knowledge, strong values, ethics, and a desire for civic engagement to be willing and able to deal with complex diverse situations in society and change as necessary to survive and achieve the good life (liberal education).
- 1935 Earl Marlott asks, Does America believe in thinking? He sees that in schools completing projects become more important than the principles and concepts behind them and believes it is important to think and conceptualize the thinking process (critical thinking, conflict resolution, & metacognition) to be educated.
- 1935 I.W. Howerth claims the science method and dispositions to use it, which he calls the scientific spirit, is being reduced in importance to prioritizing scientific knowledge deemed important to learn in his book Teaching to Use your Mind.
- 1953 Arthur Bestor in Educational Wasteland, saw progressive education as unscholarly and believed it prompts low standards.
- 1988 E.D. Hirsch wrote his book, Cultural Literacy, to provide a source of information of what everyone needs to know to be literate.
- 2016 Fareen Zakaria makes an arguement for the importance of a liberal arts education to teache how to write clearly, express yourself convincingly, and to think analytically in his book: In Defense of Liberal Education.
- Education related to being human.
Today it is more controversial to teach thinking than to teach facts:
Teaching and encouraging critical thinking requires some confusion and ambiguty which can be uncomfortable.
Critical Thinking Curriculum
Critical thinking, as the term is generally used these days, roughly means reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.2 In doing such thinking, one is helped by the employment of a set of critical thinking dispositions and abilities outlined below, which can serve as a set of comprehensive goals for a critical thinking curriculum and its assessment.
Pedagogical and psychometric usefulness, not elegance or mutual exclusiveness, is the purpose of this outline. It could be used for an overall critical thinking curriculum outline, or as a comprehensive table of specifications for critical thinking assessment. In practice, one will ordinarily select portions to emphasize.
It is only a critical thinking content outline. It does not specify grade level, curriculum sequence, emphasis, teaching approach, or type of subject-matter content involved (standard subject-matter content, general knowledge content, symbolic content, streetwise-knowledge content, special knowledge content, etc.).
Examples, qualifications, and more detail can be found in some items listed at the end.
Dispositions
Ideal critical thinkers are disposed to
- Care that their beliefs be true3, and that their decisions be justified; that is, care to "get it right" to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Seek alternative hypotheses, explanations, conclusions, plans, sources, etc., and be open to them
- Endorse a position to the extent that, but only to the extent that, it is justified by the information that is available
- Be well informed4
- Consider seriously other points of view than their own
- Care to present a position honestly and clearly, theirs as well as others. This includes the dispositions to
- Be clear about the intended meaning of what is said, written, or otherwise communicated, seeking as much precision as the situation requires
- Determine, and maintain focus on, the conclusion or question
- Seek and offer reasons
- Take into account the total situation
- Be reflectively aware of their own basic beliefs
- Care about the dignity and worth of every person (a correlative disposition)5. This includes the dispositions to
- Discover and listen to others' view and reasons
- Avoid intimidating or confusing others with their critical thinking prowess, taking into account others' feelings and level of understanding
- Be concerned about others' welfare
Outcomes for Critical Thinking Robert H. Ennis, 6/20/02
- Is open-minded and mindful of alternatives.
- Tries to be well-informed.
- Judges well the credibility of sources.
- Identifies conclusions, reasons, and assumptions.
- Judges well the quality of an argument, including the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence.
- Can well develop and defend a reasonable position.
- Asks appropriate clarifying questions.
- Formulates plausible hypotheses; plans experiments well.
- Defines terms in a way appropriate for the context.
- Draws conclusions when warranted, but with caution.
- Integrates all items in this list when deciding what to believe or do.
Fifteen Abilities
Ideal critical thinkers have the ability to:
The first three abilities involve elementary clarification
- Focus on a question to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Identify or formulate a question
- Identify or formulate criteria for judging possible answers
- Keep the situation in mind
- Analyze arguments to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Identify conclusions
- Identify stated reasons
- Identify unstated reasons
- Identify and handle irrelevance
- See the structure of an argument
- Summarize
- Ask and answer questions of clarification and/or challenge, such as, to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Why?
- What is your main point?
- What do you mean by…?
- What would be an example?
- What would not be an example (though close to being one)?
- How does that apply to this case (describe a case, which might well appear to be a counter example)?
- What difference does it make?
- What are the facts?
- Is this what you are saying: ____________?
- Would you say some more about that?
The next two abilities involve the basis for the decision.
- Judge the credibility of a source. Major criteria (but not necessary conditions): to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Expertise
- Lack of conflict of interest
- Agreement among sources
- Reputation
- Use of established procedures
- Known risk to reputation
- Ability to give reasons
- Careful habits
- Observe, and judge observation reports. Major criteria (but not necessary conditions, except for the first): to the extent possible. This includes the dispositions to
- Minimal inferring involved
- Short time interval between observation and report
- Report by the observer, rather than someone else (that is, the report is not hearsay)
- Provision of records.
- Corroboration
- Possibility of corroboration
- Good access
- Competent employment of technology, if technology is useful
- Satisfaction by observer (and reporter, if a different person) of the credibility criteria in Ability # 4 above.
The next three abilities involve inference
- Deduce, and judge deduction
- Class logic
- Conditional logic
- Interpretation of logical terminology in statements, including
- Negation and double negation
- Necessary and sufficient condition language
- Such words as "only", "if and only if", "or", "some", "unless", "not both".
- Induce, and judge induction
- To generalizations. Broad considerations:
- Typicality of data, including sampling where appropriate
- Breadth of coverage
- Acceptability of evidence
- To explanatory conclusions (including hypotheses)
- Major types of explanatory conclusions and hypotheses:
- Causal claims
- Claims about the beliefs and attitudes of people
- Interpretation of authors’ intended meanings
- Historical claims that certain things happened (including criminal accusations)
- Reported definitions
- Claims that some proposition is an unstated reason that the person actually used
- Characteristic investigative activities
- Designing experiments, including planning to control variables
- Seeking evidence and counter-evidence
- Seeking other possible explanations
- Criteria, the first five being essential, the sixth being desirable
- The proposed conclusion would explain the evidence
- The proposed conclusion is consistent with all known facts
- Competitive alternative explanations are inconsistent with facts
- The evidence on which the hypothesis depends is acceptable.
- A legitimate effort should have been made to uncover counter-evidence
- The proposed conclusion seems plausible
- Major types of explanatory conclusions and hypotheses:
- To generalizations. Broad considerations:
- Make and judge value judgments:Important factors:
- Background facts
- Consequences of accepting or rejecting the judgment
- Prima facie application of acceptable principles
- Alternatives
- Balancing, weighing, deciding
The next two abilities involve advanced clarification.
-
Define terms and judge definitions. Three dimensions are form, strategy, and content.
- Form. Some useful forms are:
- Synonym
- Classification
- Range
- Equivalent-expression
- Operational
- Example and non-example
- Definitional strategy
- Acts
- Report a meaning
- Stipulate a meaning
- Express a position on an issue (including "programmatic" and "persuasive" definitions)
- Identifying and handling equivocation
- Acts
- Content of the definition
- Form. Some useful forms are:
- Attribute unstated assumptions (an ability that belongs under both clarification and, in a way, inference)
The next two abilities involve supposition and integration.
- Consider and reason from premises, reasons, assumptions, positions, and other propositions with which they disagree or about which they are in doubt -- without letting the disagreement or doubt interfere with their thinking ("suppositional thinking")
- Integrate the other abilities and dispositions in making and defending a decision
The first twelve abilities are constitutive abilities. The next three are auxiliary critical thinking abilities: Having them, though very helpful in various ways, is not constitutive of being a critical thinker.
- Proceed in an orderly manner appropriate to the situation. For example:
- Follow problem solving steps
- Monitor their own thinking (that is, engage in metacognition)
- Employ a reasonable critical thinking checklist
- Be sensitive to the feelings, level of knowledge, and degree of sophistication of others
- Employ appropriate rhetorical strategies in discussion and presentation (orally and in writing), including employing and reacting to "fallacy" labels in an appropriate manner. Examples of fallacy labels are "circularity," "bandwagon," "post hoc," "equivocation,""non sequitur," and "straw person."6
Summary and Comments
In brief, the ideal critical thinker is disposed to try to get it right, to present a position honestly and clearly, and to care about the worth and dignity of every person; furthermore the ideal critical thinker has the ability to clarify, to seek and judge well the basis for a view, to infer wisely from the basis, to imaginatively suppose and integrate, and to do these things with dispatch, sensitivity, and rhetorical skill.
In presenting this outline of critical dispositions and abilities, I have only attempted to depict, rather than defend, them. The defense would require much more space than is available, but would follow two general paths:
- examining the traditions of good thinking in existing successful disciplines of inquiry, and
- seeing how we go wrong when we attempt to decide what to believe or do.
In any teaching situation, whether it be a separate critical thinking course or module, or one in which the critical thinking content is infused in or immersed in standard subject-matter content, or some mixture of these; all of the dispositions, as well as the suppositional and integration abilities (# 11 and #12) and auxiliary abilities (#13 through #15) are applicable all the time and should permeate the instruction.
In this essay, I have only attempted to outline a usable and defensible set of critical thinking goals, including criteria for making judgments. Space limitations have precluded their application to curriculum and assessment, though I have done so elsewhere. However, goals are the place to start. I hope this outline provides a useful basis on which to build curricula and assessment procedures.
Other Sources
Here are some other sources (in which similar ideas are presented in varying degrees of detail and exemplification). [The present item is in outline form with no examples.]
- Ennis, Robert H. (1985).A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills, Educational Leadership, 43(2), 44-48. [incorporates examples]
- Ennis, Robert H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In Joan B. Baron and Robert J. Sternberg (eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice.
- New York: W. H. Freeman. Pp. 9-26. [incorporates examples]
- Ennis, Robert H. (1991). Critical thinking: A streamlined conception. Teaching Philosophy, 41 (1), 5-25. [incorporates examples]
- Ennis, Robert H. (1996).Critical thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. [a text book: the most detail, incorporates many examples]
- Ennis, Robert H. (2001). Goals for a critical thinking curriculum and its assessment. In Arthur L. Costa (Ed.), Developing minds (3rd Edition). Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pp. 44-46. [paragraph format with no examples]
- Ennis, Robert H. (2002). A super streamlined conception of critical thinking. On Web site: http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/rhennis. One page. [the least detail, no examples]
Endnotes
- This is a revised and expanded version of a presentation at the Sixth International Conference on Thinking at MIT, Cambridge, MA, July, 1994.
- This is a judgment about the central tendencies of standard usage of the term "critical thinking", and is based on many years’ experience participating in, reading, and listening to discussions about critical thinking.
- With respect to epistemological constructivism (the view that truth is constructed): In expressing a concern about true belief, this conception of critical thinking accepts the view that our concepts and vocabulary are constructed by us, but also that (to oversimplify somewhat) the relationships among the referents of our concepts and terms are not constructed by us. We can have true or false beliefs about these. With respect to pedagogical constructivism (the view that students learn best when they construct their own answers to problems and questions): For some (but not all) goals and types of learning, the pedagogical-constructivism view has empirical support, but it should not be confused with epistemological constructivism. In particular, the validity of pedagogical constructivism (to the extent that it is valid) does not imply the validity of epistemological constructivism. They are totally different ideas.
- Several of the dispositions (1d, 2e, and 3a) contribute to being well-informed (1c), but are separate dispositions in their own right.
- The first two major dispositions are constitutive dispositions. That is, they are definitionally part of this conception of critical thinking. This, the third major disposition, is a correlative disposition. That is, it is intended to accompany critical thinking. The lack of it makes critical thinking less valuable, or even dangerous. On the other hand, a criticism of critical thinking for a definitional omission of caring for the worth and dignity of every person could well be based on the unreasonable assumption that the concept, critical thinking, should represent everything that is good, an overwhelming requirement indeed.
- The fallacy-labels aspect of #15 is partly rhetorical, and partly constitutive of critical thinking. The constitutive parts are covered in #1-#12, leaving the rhetorical part under #15. These labels are useful to know and understand (at least as shorthand), but dangerous when used by, or in the company of, people who do not understand them fully, because the terms are so easy to apply and misapply and, on occasion, are intimidating.
- Ideas on curriculum and assessment, and the nature of critical thinking. in Theory Into Practice Vol. 32, No. 3, Teaching for Higher Order Thinking by Robert H. Ennis. (Summer, 1993), pp. 179-186 (8 pages) Published By: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Critical Thinking,
Thought process,
Metacognition - thinking about thinking
Be disposed to try to get it right.
- Identify a purpose for thinking - Take time to understand your purpose and periodically check if the purpose is changing.
- Answer a question or solve a problem - Take time to understand and state the question. Identify related questions. Consider different types of arguments to use to present information.
- Make assumptions - Identify assumptions and determine
how they are creating a perspective or point of view. - Use intuition to make observations for selecting sufficient data and facts from valid experiences and sources to make clear, precise, reliable, and relevant explanations (facts, concepts, generalizations, definitions, models, relationships, principles, laws).
- Identify different perspectives or points of view - take time to contemplate different perspectives. The strengths and weaknesses for each and determine if it is fair and unbiased.
- Use related ideas (facts, concepts, generalizations, definitions, models, relationships, principles, laws) - Identify the key ideas used, what their meanings are, if they are being used with precision, and how they relate to other ideas.
- Identify inferences, judgments, conclusions, solutions, decisions - Make conclusions which are only supported by observational evidence and reliable sources and check the assumptions and perspectives for consistency.
- Identify implications and consequences for conclusions, inferences, judgments, and decisions - Take time to consider consequences and the positive and negative implications for all possible conclusions. Check for consistency and the fit with assumptions and perspectives.
Quality standards for critical & scholarly thinking
Clear - idea or group of ideas are easy to understand.
Precise - accurate and exact explanation of the idea or ideas with appropriate and sufficient detail.
Reliable - consistently good quality and able to be trusted.
Logical - ideas fit together without discrepancies and sufficiently support the conclusions.
Relevant - idea or ideas fit the purpose.
Consistent - idea or ideas are supported by observation, current research, or wisdom of practice. Novel ideas are developed with plausible explanations.
Comprehensive - contains necessary and sufficient big ideas and supporting information to communicate the idea or group of ideas with complexity and connectedness with multiple perspectives.
Unbiased - fair nonprejudicial presentation of information.
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