Thinking Critically

12th Edition – JOHN CHAFFEE

Chapter 1:

Thinking
• Establishing and achieving your goals
• Becoming an intelligent and effective decision maker
• Becoming a confident and productive creative thinker

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking can be developed and improved by

• becoming aware of the thinking process.

• carefully examining the thinking process.
• practicing the thinking process.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
Thinking
the extraordinary process we use every waking moment to
make sense of our world and our lives

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Achieving the goal of becoming an educated thinker involves
two core processes that are the mainsprings of our thoughts
and actions: thinking critically and thinking creatively.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Critically
carefully exploring the thinking process to clarify our
understanding and make more intelligent decisions

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Creatively
using our thinking process to develop ideas that are unique,
useful, and worthy of further elaboration

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

This image phrenology, a science
popular in the 1800s but now
debunked, that claimed personality
traits and dispositions could be
determined by the size and shape of
various parts of the skull.
Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
This image is a
functional magnetic
resonance image (fMRI),
a modern neuroscientific
technology used to
measure blood flow in
the brain in order to
determine changes in
activity that are used to
infer what an individual
is thinking about.
Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
Thinking Activity 1.1
Analyzing a Goal You Achieved
1. Describe an important goal that you recently achieved.
2. Identify the steps you had to take to achieve this goal in the
order in which they were taken, and estimate the amount of
time each step took.
3. Describe how you felt when you achieved your goal.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Short-Term Goals
goals you seek to achieve are more immediate (short-term)
than others, such as planning your activities for the day or
organizing your activities for an upcoming test

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Achieving Short-Term Goals
Thinking effectively plays a crucial role in helping you to
achieve your goals by enabling you to perform two distinct,
interrelated activities:
1. Identifying the appropriate goals
2. Devising effective plans and strategies to achieve your goals

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Methods for Achieving
Short-Term Goals
Step 1: Identify the goals.
• Identify the short-term goals.
• Rank the goals in order of importance.
• Select the most important goal(s) to focus on.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Methods for Achieving
Short-Term Goals
Step 2: Devise effective plans to achieve your goals.
• List all of the steps in the order in which they should be
taken.
• Estimate how much time each step will take.
• Plan the steps in your daily/weekly schedule.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Long-Term Goals
goals that reflect a person’s true interests and talents, such as
career aims, plans for marriage, paying for children’s college,
goals for personal development, etc.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Goals do not necessarily remain the same throughout
your life. It is unlikely that the goals you had as an eight-
year-old are the ones you have now. As you grow and mature,
it is natural for your goals to change and evolve as well. The
key point is that you should keep examining your goals to
make sure that they reflect your own thinking and current
interests.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.2
Analyzing an Important
Future Goal
Apply some of the insights we have been examining with
regard to working toward goals to a situation in your own life.
1. Describe as specifically as possible an important longer-term
goal that you want to achieve. Your goal can be academic,
professional, or personal.
2. Explain the reasons that led you to select the goal that you
did and why you believe that your goal makes sense.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.2
Analyzing an Important
Future Goal
3. Identify both the major and minor steps you will have to
take to achieve your goal. List your steps in the order in which
they need to be taken and indicate how much time you think
each step will take. Make your responses as specific and
precise as possible.
4. Identify some of the sacrifices that you may have to make in
the present in order to achieve your future goal.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images, Perceiving,
and Thinking
Whether they are recording events as they happen or reflecting
imaginatively on their personal experiences, visual artists in all
media (painters, cartoonists, graphic artists, photographers,
and others) are fundamentally aware that they are
communicating—that, even without words, their images will
tell a story, make an argument, show a process, or provide
information. For you to think critically about the many kinds
of information you encounter in your personal, academic, and
professional lives, you need to understand how these images
are created and the purposes they serve.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images and Learning
• presenting information in a visual manner
• presenting numerical data in the form of charts, graphs, and
maps
• analyzing the message and the style of a visual art
• describing a film maker’s approach to setting a scene
• understanding the point of visual information and how it
complements written information

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images, Creative Thinking,
and Problem Solving
incorporating visual and verbal descriptions and information
to when using creative or critical approaches to problem
solving

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images and “Reading”
 the content of an image—just like the content of a text—
comprises elements that work together to convey a message
 setting
 point of view
 relationships between characters
 perspective (objective or subjective)
 how color is used
 how images are manipulated in a graphics editor

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images and “Reading”
 how images are cropped
 how images are arranged on a page or screen
 how the caption describes and contextualizes the image

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Images and Evaluation
using questions of fact, interpretation, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation, and application to help you sort through the visuals
and select those that best support your purpose in writing

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.3
Analyzing Previous Decisions
1. Think back on an important decision you made that turned
out well. Describe the experience as specifically as possible.
2. Reconstruct the reasoning process that you used to make
your decision.
 Did you clearly define the decision to be made and the related
issues?
 Did you consider various choices and anticipate the
consequences of these various choices?

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.3
Analyzing Previous Decisions
 Did you gather additional information to help in your
analysis?
 Did you evaluate the various pros and cons of different
courses of action?
 Did you use a chart or diagram to aid in your deliberations?
 Did you create a specific plan of action to implement your
ideas?
 Did you periodically review your decision to make necessary
adjustments?
Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 1: Define the Decision Clearly
• Clearly define the decision. The more specific your definition
of the decision to be made, the clearer your analysis will be
and the greater the likelihood of success.

• STRATEGY: Write a one-page analysis that articulates your

decision-making situation as clearly and specifically as
possible.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 2: Consider All the Possible Choices
• Generate possible choices. Explore all of the possible choices
in their situation, not simply the obvious ones.

• STRATEGY: List as many possible choices for your situation

as you can, both obvious and not obvious. Ask other people
for additional suggestions, and don’t censor or prejudge any
ideas.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 3: Gather All Relevant Information and Evaluate
the Pros and Cons of Each Possible Choice
• Seek out the information you need in order to determine
which of the choices you identified has the best chance for
success.
• STRATEGY: For each possible choice that you identified,
create questions regarding information you need to find out,
and then locate that information.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 3: Gather All Relevant Information and Evaluate
the Pros and Cons of Each Possible Choice
• Analyze these pros and cons in an organized fashion.
• STRATEGY: Using a format similar to the one outlined in the
following worksheet, analyze the pros and cons of each of
your possible choices.
Possible choices Information needed Pros Cons
1.      
2.      
(and so on)      

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the
Needs of the Situation
• Synthesize all that you have learned, weaving together all of
the various threads into a conclusion that you believe to be
your “best” choice.
• STRATEGY: Identify and prioritize the goals of your decision
situation and determine which of your choices best meets
these goals. This process will probably involve reviewing and
perhaps refining your definition of the decision situation.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the
Needs of the Situation
• For example, in the case of the student whom we have been
considering, some goals might include choosing a career that
will
a. provide financial security
b. provide personal fulfilment
c. make use of special talents
d. offer plentiful opportunities and job security
Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the
Needs of the Situation
• Rank identified goals in order of their priority, which will
then suggest what the “best” choice will be.
• STRATEGY: Anticipate the consequences of each choice by
“preliving” the choices. Another helpful strategy for deciding
on the best choice is to project yourself into the future,
imagining as realistically as you can the consequences of each
possible choice.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the
Needs of the Situation
As with previous strategies, this process is aided by writing
down your thoughts and discussing them with others.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 5: Implement a Plan of Action and Then Monitor
the Results, Making Necessary Adjustments
• Develop and implement a specific, concrete plan of action.
The more specific and concrete your plan of action, the
greater the likelihood of success.
• STRATEGY: Create a schedule that details the steps you will
be taking to implement your decision and a timeline for
taking these steps.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Five Steps in Decision-Making
Approach
Step 5: Implement a Plan of Action and Then Monitor
the Results, Making Necessary Adjustments
• Monitor the results, making necessary adjustments.
• STRATEGY: After implementing your choice, evaluate its
success by identifying what’s working and what isn’t, and
make the necessary adjustments to improve the situation.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.4
Analyzing A Future Decision
1. Describe an important decision in your academic or personal
life that you will have to make in the near future.
2. Using the five-step decision-making approach we just
described, analyze your decision and conclude with your “best”
choice.
Share your analysis with other members of the class and listen
carefully to the feedback they give you.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.5
Describing Your Current and
Future Self
1. Describe a portrait of yourself as a person. What sort of
person are you? What are your strengths and weaknesses? In
what areas do you feel you are creative?
2. Describe some of the ways you would like to change
yourself.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.6
Describing a Creative Idea
1. Describe a creative area of your life in which you are able to
express your unique personality and talents. Be specific and
give examples.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.6
Describing a Creative Idea
2. Analyze your creative area by answering the following
questions:
Why do you feel that this activity is creative? Give
examples.
How would you describe the experience of being
engaged in this activity? Where do your creative ideas
come from? How do they develop?
What strategies do you use to increase your creativity?
What obstacles block your creative efforts? How do you
try to overcome these blocks?

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.7
Identifying Creative Blocks
• Reflect on your own creative development and describe some
of the fears and pressures that inhibit your own creativity. For
example, have you ever been penalized for trying a new idea
that didn’t work out? Have you ever suffered the wrath of a
group for daring to be different and violating the group’s
unspoken rules? Do you feel that your life is so filled with
responsibilities and the demands of reality that you don’t
have time to be creative?

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.7
Identifying Creative Blocks
• Although the forces that discourage us from being creative
are powerful, they can nevertheless be overcome with the
right approaches. We are going to explore four productive
strategies:
Understand and trust the creative process.
Eliminate the “voice of criticism.”
Establish a creative environment.
Make creativity a priority.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Understanding the
Creative Process
Discovering your creative talents requires that you understand
how the creative process operates and then have confidence in
the results it produces. No fixed procedures or formulas exist
for generating creative ideas, because creative ideas by
definition go beyond established ways of thinking to the
unknown and the innovative. Although no fixed path leads to
creative ideas, you can pursue activities that make the birth of
creative ideas possible. In this respect, generating creative
ideas is similar to gardening. You need to prepare the soil;

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Understanding the
Creative Process
plant the seeds; ensure proper water, light, and food; and then
be patient until the ideas begin to sprout. Here are some steps
for cultivating your creative garden:

Absorb yourself in the task.

Allow time for ideas to incubate.
Seize on the ideas when they emerge and follow them
through.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Eliminate the
“Voice of Criticism”
The biggest threat to our creativity lies within ourselves, the
negative “voice of criticism” (VOC). This VOC can undermine
your confidence in every area of your life, including your
creative activities. These statements, and countless others like
them, have the ongoing effect of making us doubt ourselves
and the quality of our creative thinking.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Eliminate the
“Voice of Criticism”
 Become aware of the VOC.
 Restate the judgment in a more accurate or
constructive way.
 Get tough with the VOC.
 Create positive voices and visualizations.
 Use other people for independent confirmation.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.8
Combating the
“Voice of Criticism”
1. Take a small notebook or pad with you one day and record
every self-defeating criticism that you make about yourself. At
the end of the day, classify your self-criticisms by category,
such as negative self-criticism about your physical appearance,
your popularity with others, or your academic ability.
2. Analyze the self-criticisms in each of the categories and try
to determine where they came from and how they developed.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.8
Combating the
“Voice of Criticism”
3. Use the strategies described in this section, and others of
your own creation, to start fighting these self-criticisms when
they occur.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Establish a Creative
Environment
This means finding or developing physical environments
conducive to creative expression as well as supportive social
environments. Sometimes working with other people
stimulates and energizes our creative juices; at other times we
require a private place where we can work without distraction.
Different environments work for different people. You have to
find the environment(s) best suited to your own creative
process and then make a special effort to do your work there.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Make Creativity a Priority
Live more creatively by identifying some habitual patterns in
your life and break out of them. Choose new experiences
whenever possible and strive to develop fresh perspectives in
your life. Resist falling back into the ruts you were previously
in by remembering that living things are supposed to be
continually growing, changing, and evolving, not acting in
repetitive patterns like machines.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Thinking Activity 1.9
Becoming More Creative
Select an area of your life in which you would like to be more
creative. It can be in school, on your job, in an activity you
enjoy, or in your relationship with someone. Make a special
effort to inject a fresh perspective and new ideas into this area,
and keep a journal recording your efforts and their results. Be
sure to allow yourself sufficient time to break out of your ruts
and establish new patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Focus on your creative antennae as you “expect the
unexpected,” and pounce on new ideas when they emerge from
the depths of your creative resource.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

Chapter 1 Summary
• Living an examined life means painting your life portrait with
reflective understanding and informed choices.
• Thinking critically involves carefully exploring the thinking
process to clarify our understanding and make more
intelligent decisions.
• Thinking creatively involves using our thinking process to
develop ideas that are unique, useful, and worthy of further
elaboration.
• Achieving your goals involves identifying the “right” goals
and then developing an effective plan of action.
Thinking Critically – John Chaffee
Chapter 1 Summary
• We can make more intelligent decisions by using an
organized five-step approach to guide our analysis.
• Living your life creatively means bringing your unique
perspective and creative talents to all dimensions of your life.
• Creative thinking and critical thinking work as partners to
produce productive and effective thinking, thus enabling us
to make informed decisions and lead successful lives.

Thinking Critically – John Chaffee

End of Chapter 1
THINKING CRITICALLY
John Chaffee