To p i c 1

Introduction to
Critical Thinking

“Cogito Ergo Sum”

( I THINK, therefore I AM )
- Descartes
 Quotes to Ponder
“Education is not to reform students
or amuse them or to make them
expert technicians.
It is to Unsettle their Minds,
Widen their Horizons,
Inflame their Intellect,
teach them to Think Straight,
if possible.”
- Robert M. Hutchins
 See how the
sun starts over there
& ends the day over there!!
Clearly, the sun is moving
around the earth.

How do we convince
him otherwise?
The Prevalent Problem of
Uncritical Thinking
 What is
Critical Thinking
 Critical Thinking
Critical? Is it “Negative”?
YOU !!
Fault Finding?
Of course, not.
Thinking habits involving
the exercising of skilled
& good judgment
or observation.
 Definition of Critical Thinking
Cognitive skills &
intellectual dispositions needed
1. to effectively identify, analyze, &
evaluate arguments & truth claims,
2. to discover & overcome
personal prejudices & biases,
3. to formulate & present convincing
reasons in support of conclusions,
4. to make reasonable, intelligent
decisions about what to believe & do.
 Critical
Thinking
Bloom’s
Taxonomy

Apply
Create

Analyze
Evaluate

Understand
Remember
Higher-Order
Thinking Skills*

HOTS*

Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl (Eds.). (2001). A Taxonomy

for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
 Goals of Critical Thinking
To teach students
“how to reason well”.
To cope with demands of life
such as in solving problems,
in arguing, in being persuaded
or not by someone else’s arguments, etc.
“Success in life requires more than
simple knowledge of facts – requires
evaluating & using facts intelligently.”
 Critical Thinking Standards
An Overview
1. Clarity
2. Precision
3. Accuracy
4. Relevance
5. Consistency
6. Logical Correctness
7. Completeness
8. Fairness
 Critical Thinking Standards
1. Clarity
Critical thinkers strive
for clarity of language as
well as clarity of thought.
To effectively evaluate argument or
claim, understand clearly what is said.
Often people don’t express themselves
clearly - laziness, carelessness, lack of
skill or to appear clever, learned, etc.
 Critical Thinking Standards
2. Precision
To cut through confusions &
uncertainties in problems &
issues, insist on precise answers
to precise questions.
Examples
What exactly is the problem we’re facing?
What exactly are the alternatives?
Only when we habitually seek such
precision are we truly critical thinkers.
 Critical Thinking Standards
3. Accuracy
Accurate information
help you to make the
correct decision & conclusion.
- Emphasis: true & reliable information.
Example
“A spokesman from Marlboro assured us
smoking doesn’t cause cancer.”
“I don’t think this information is reliable &
accurate. So, I’ll ask my doctors & teachers.”
 Critical Thinking Standards
4. Relevance
Need to stay focused on relevant
ideas & information & not to be
deceived by irrelevant issues.
Example
Mr. A & B are trying to convince you
on their different child products.
Mr. A said “You can be more confident
of my product here because I have
5 children already, but B has none!”
 Critical Thinking Standards
5. Consistency
Logic tells us that if a person holds
inconsistent beliefs, at least one
of those beliefs must be false.
- Ensure no conflict in words said, deeds
carried out or beliefs held by individual.
Example
“You cannot say Bullface is the
murderer & yet, he’s not guilty
of the murder at the same time.” Bullface
 Example of InConsistency
ABU: “I am so filthy rich I can easily afford
to pay your boss to sack you!!”
Waiter: “Sorry sir. Please forgive me.”
ABU: “Afraid now ah? Okay I’m 5 ringgit for a
leaving. How much is the So nasi lemak??
expensive!!
price of the nasi lemak?”
Waiter: “Only 5 Ringgit, sir. So cheap.”
ABU: “What?? So %#%& expensive!!
I can’t afford to pay for that!”
 Critical Thinking Standards
6. Logical Correctness
To draw well-founded conclusions
that logically follow from accurate
& well-supported beliefs we hold.
Example
“Nerds have no friends. You say your
hobby is reading, right? So, you
must be a nerd & have no friends!”
►(The premises have no bearing
on the truth of the conclusion)
 Illogical thinking - common in human affairs.
Bertrand Russell, in “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”
provides an amusing example below:
Those who think themselves pious:
E.g. nuns who never take a bath without
wearing a bathrobe all the time.
When asked why, since no man can see them,
they replied: “Oh, but you forget God.”
“God whose omnipotence enables Him to
see through bathroom walls, but who is
foiled by bathrobes.”
“This view strikes me as curious.” - Russell
As Russell observes from proposition below:
1. God sees everything,
the pious nuns correctly drew conclusion:
2. God sees through bathroom walls.
However, they failed to draw
equally obvious conclusion:
3. God sees through
bathrobes.
“Such illogic is, indeed, curious
— but not, uncommon.” - Bertrand Russell
 Critical Thinking Standards
7. Completeness
Thinking is better when
it is deep & not shallow,
thorough rather than superficial.

8. Fairness
CT demands that our
thinking be fair .
Should be open-minded, impartial
& free of biases & preconceptions.
 Foundation for Critical Thinking
Intellectual Standards
Are Used to Assess Thinking
Example of Questions (1/2)
Could you elaborate further?
Clarity Could you give me an example?
Could you illustrate what you mean?
Could you be more specific?
Precision Could you go straight to the point?
Could you be more exact?
How could we check on that?
Accuracy How could we find out if that is true?
How could we verify or test that?
How does that relate to the problem?
Relevance How does that bear on the question?
How does that connect with the issue?
 Foundation for Critical Thinking
Intellectual Standards
Are Used to Assess Thinking
Example of Questions (2/2)
Does this contradict your statement?
C o n s i s t e n c y Is this claim in line with the previous one?
Is his action consistent with his beliefs?

Logical Does all these make sense together?

Correctness Does what you say fit the evidence?
Does that follow from what you said?
How thorough is the evidence?
Completeness Are all the possibilities considered?
Have I looked at all the evidence?
Do I have any vested interest in this?
Fairness Am I bias in making this claim?
Did I fairly address their viewpoints?
 Benefits of Critical Thinking
1. Critical Thinking in the Classroom
University ◄ Undergraduate in a
curriculum world filled with
lots of information
requires
active,
intelligent
evaluation
of ideas
& information.
 Benefits of Critical Thinking
2. Critical Thinking in the Workplace
Employers are now looking for
workers with g o o d t h i n k i n g
& communication skills .
I can think &
speak well!!

Highly in demand graduate 

 Benefits of Critical Thinking
3. Critical Thinking in Everyday Life
Help us make important decisions in
our lives & avoid making mistakes.
Help free us from unexamined
assumptions & biases of
our upbringing & society.
E.g. “This is what I’ve been
taught, but is it true?”
 Barriers to
Critical Thinking
Why many of us do not
practice critical thinking??
Egocentrism
Sociocentrism Never
heard of it !!
Unwarranted
Assumptions & Stereotypes
Wishful Thinking
 Egocentrism
Tendency to
see reality
as centered
on oneself.

a) Self-interested thinking
b) Self-serving bias
a) Self-interested thinking
Tendency to accept & defend beliefs that
harmonize with one’s own self-interest.
Examples Ho Liau!!!!!
Kiasu boy: “This benefits me in so many
ways. As such, it must be good.”
Minister: “A minister’s pay should increase by
25 percent. Don’t you know they
work very hard for the people who
elected them? They should be fully
rewarded for all their effort.”
b) Self-serving bias
►Tendency to overrate one selves – see
oneself as being better than one actually is.
►Attribute success to oneself,
but failure to others (or other factors).
Examples
Scientist: “I’m a better scientist than all my
colleagues. They’re just average.”
Student: “I am proud of all my good exam
results except for the failure in
critical thinking. I wasn’t feeling
well on that day of the exam.”
 Sociocentrism
Group centered thinking.
Focusing excessively
on the group .

a) Group Bias
b) Herd Instinct (Conformism)
a) Group Bias
Tendency to see one’s own group
as being b e t t e r than others.

Superior group Inferior group

Extremely common in human history -
hold inflated views of family, group, etc.
Also, easy to look with suspicion / disfavor
on those regarded as “outsiders.”
b) Herd Instinct (Conformism)
►Tendency to follow the crowd…….,

Desire to belong as part of in-group, can be

among most powerful of human motivations.
►Tendency to conform (often unthinkingly)
to authority or group standards
of conduct & belief.
 Herd Instinct (Conformism)
- Often to obey without question
Quote on Herd Instinct:
“Authority / group often moves us.
We are impressed, influenced, &
intimidated by them, so much so
that, under certain conditions, we
abandon our own values, beliefs,
judgment, even doubt our own
sensory experience!”
 Unwarranted Assumptions
& Stereotypes
Assumptions: something we
believe to be true without any
proof / conclusive evidence.
Unwarranted Assumptions
are clearly
Unreasonable assumptions.
Example
“ALL nerds are like zombies; why?
Because they study non-stop”
 A common form of unwarranted
assumptions is stereotype .
Stereotypes: Exaggerated
generalizations to a group.
Often arrived at through hasty generalization
- draws a conclusion about large class of things
(i.e. group of people) from a small sample.

Example
“ALL computer hackers are school
dropouts. I know a few of them!”
Example
“Rap & hip-hop artists have
low moral standards. They
smoke, take drugs, drink
alcohol, womanize & use foul
language all the time.”

Example
“High achievers are nerds:
they are anti-social, perform
poorly in sports & only study
mindlessly all day long.”
 Wishful Thinking (4/4)
Wishful Thinking:
Believing something not
because you had good
evidence for it but because
you wished it were true.
A wishful thinker interprets facts,
reports, events, etc, according to
what he/she would like to be the
case rather than what it actually is.
 Wishful Thinking
Example ( 1 / 2 )
“I believe for a fact that John loves me
more than Sara. Why? Sara is useless,
stingy & so unappealing. So, John surely
loves me much more than Sara.”
Example ( 2 / 2 )
“I won’t get caught by the police for
speeding on the highway because I am
always so very lucky. Moreover, the
police are probably sleeping on the job.”
Some most common barriers to critical thinking:
• lack of relevant • provincialism • denial
background information • narrow-mindedness • wishful thinking
• poor reading skills • closed-mindedness • short-term thinking
• bias • distrust in reason • selective perception
• prejudice • relativistic thinking • selective memory
• superstition • stereotyping • overpowering
• egocentrism • unwarranted emotions
• sociocentrism assumptions • self-deception
• peer pressure • scapegoating • face-saving
• conformism • rationalization • fear of change
 Conclusion
Critical thinkers should be
aware of all these barriers
& should combat them.

barriers
Critical Thinkers.. vs UnCritical Thinkers..
Drive for clarity, precision, Often think in unclear,
accuracy & other critical imprecise & inaccurate
thinking standards. ways.
Sensitive to ways thinking Often fall prey to
skewed by egocentrism, egocentrism,
wishful thinking, sociocentrism,
sociocentrism, etc. wishful thinking, etc.
Skilled at understanding, Often misunderstand or
analyzing, & evaluating evaluate unfairly
arguments & viewpoints. arguments & viewpoints.
Reason logically & draw Think illogically & draw
appropriate conclusions unsupported conclusions
from evidence. from evidence.
Critical Thinkers.. vs UnCritical Thinkers..
Intellectually honest, Pretend they know
acknowledging what they more than they do &
don’t know & recognizing
limitations. ignore limitations.
Listen open-mindedly Closed-minded
to opposing points of view & resist criticisms of
& welcome criticisms of
beliefs & assumptions. beliefs & assumptions.
Base beliefs on facts & Often base beliefs on
evidence - NOT personal personal preference /
preference / self-interest. self-interest.
Aware of biases & Lack awareness of own
preconceptions. biases & preconceptions.
Critical Thinkers.. vs UnCritical Thinkers..
Think independently & Engage in “groupthink,”
not afraid to disagree uncritically following beliefs,
with group opinion. values of crowd (tendency).
Able to get to heart of Easily distracted & lack
issue / problem, without ability to zero in on essence
being distracted. of issue / problem.
Intellectual courage to Fear & resist ideas that
face & assess fairly ideas challenge basic beliefs.
that challenge basic beliefs.
Pursue truth & curious Often relatively indifferent
about wide range of issues. to truth & lack curiosity.
Intellectual perseverance Do not persevere when
to pursue insights or truths encounter intellectual
despite obstacles / difficulties. obstacles / difficulties.
Attributes of a Critical Thinker (Part 1/2)
Open-minded & mindful of alternatives
Tries to be well-informed
Judges well credibility of sources
Identifies conclusions,
reasons & assumptions
Judges well quality of argument,
including acceptability of its
reasons, assumptions, & evidence
Can well develop & defend
a reasonable position
Attributes of a Critical Thinker (Part 2/2)
Asks appropriate clarifying questions
Formulates plausible hypotheses:
plans experiments well
Define terms in a way
appropriate for context
Draws conclusions when
warranted, but with caution
Integrates all items in this list when
deciding what to believe or do
- Robert Ennis (Professor in Philosophy of Education) 2002
 Strong Weak
Critical Critical
Thinking Thinking
Disposition Disposition
 Strong Critical Thinking Disposition
Examples
“Figuring out what people really mean
by what they say is important to me.”
“I hold off making decisions until I have
thought through my options.”
“I try to see the merit in another’s opinion,
even if I reject it later.”
“Making intelligent decisions is more
important than winning arguments.”
- Peter A. Facione,
Critical Thinking: What It is and Why It Counts
 Weak Critical Thinking Disposition
Examples
“I prefer jobs where the supervisor says
exactly what to do & exactly how to do it.”
“I don't waste time looking things up.”
“I hate when teachers discuss problems
instead of just giving the answers.”
“If my belief is truly sincere,
evidence to the contrary is irrelevant.”
- Peter A. Facione,
Critical Thinking: What It is and Why It Counts
 Class Activity
In your groups, discuss your own
experience of having barriers to
critical thinking .
Then, share this experience
with the class.