Thinking / 1.2 Webtext Overview: What is Critical Thinking? Questions: 0 of 6 complete (0%) | 0 of 3 correct (0%)

Webtext Overview: What is Critical Thinking?

The Notes on Critical Thinking webtext, which is what you’re reading right now, is the learning resource for your PHI-210 course. Unlike other online textbooks you may have used, this webtext is intended to be much more than a reference you might use occasionally. It was created specifically for use as a online interactive resource to help you learn and explore the principles of critical thinking.

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Each chapter of this webtext is divided into three sections. Each section has a page that introduces a critical thinking topic followed by a page of practice activities that allow you to apply the concepts introduced in that section. Reading tools like highlighting and notetaking let you personalize your webtext, and progress indicators help you keep track of your work. If you need help with any features of the webtext, send us a message by clicking on the green question mark icon in the lower right corner of any page.

Guiding Questions

The questions you encounter throughout each chapter are provided to help you check your understanding of critical thinking concepts and prepare for your course exams. Cognitive psychological research suggests that engaging in this kind of practice testing is an effective learning technique and helpful for mastering the information presented.1 If you have trouble answering any of the questions, be sure to let your instructor know so that you can receive additional explanation.

Read the information below about the various question types included in the webtext and answer each related question.

Multiple Choice

About half of the questions in the webtext are multiple choice. These questions check your comprehension of the content presented on a page, and they can be reset by using the button at the bottom of each page. When you reset your answers, all of your selections for the multiple choice questions on that page will be cleared, allowing you to try again. Your answers for other question types on the page will not be cleared.

What is the purpose of the multiple choice questions throughout this webtext?

· to help you create your thesis statement

· to provide writing practice

· to provide comprehension checks

· to provide opportunities to share your opinion

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Poll Questions

Poll questions allow you to respond to an opinion question and then compare your response to those of your classmates. This is a good way to consider other perspectives, which is an important critical thinking skill. If you are one of the first to answer a poll question, be sure and revisit the page later to see all responses.

Poll

When do you think critical thinking comes in handy the most?

Top of Form

 

· when deciding how to vote

· when choosing a career path

· when making large financial decisions

· when resolving ethical dilemmas

· when making choices about health care

Submit

Bottom of Form

Open Ended Questions

There are two types of open ended questions in this webtext. Both question types allow you to generate your own answers rather than simply recognize an answer as you would for a multiple choice question, and research shows that this practice provides a deeper learning experience.2 The act of structuring and articulating your own thoughts helps you to actually learn the concepts presented and provide evidence of it to your instructor. Additionally, responding to these questions provides practice stating a claim and supporting your claim with solid evidence. When answering these questions, be sure to write complete sentences, following the grammar and punctuation rules that correspond to professional and academic writing.

Short Answer

These are usually objective questions that have a correct answer, and the format requires you to answer the questions using your own words. In composing your response, do not copy and paste from the text. Instead write your answer as you would in explaining it to someone. If you do need to quote an excerpt from the text, make sure to use quotation marks to indicate which part of your response is quoted. Once you submit your response, you will be able to view the correct response or sample answer. Make sure you compare your response to the sample answer to check you understanding of the question.

What’s the primary purpose of short answer questions?

 

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Response Board

These questions generally ask for your opinion and provide opportunities for you to practice making a claim or assertion and supporting it with evidence or reasons. For example, rather than writing “I engage in critical thinking when making big decisions,” include reasons to support your statement. A better answer would be something like, “When deciding which job offer to accept, I would engage in critical thinking by establishing criteria and then rating each job according to how well it meets those criteria. My criteria would include factors such as salary, location, company culture, job duties, opportunity for advancement, and so forth.”

After posting your response, you’ll be able to see responses posted by other students in your class. Be sure to read through a few opinions and thoughtfully consider their responses. An important part of the college experience is to consider alternative perspectives, and you may find that your classmates frequently express ideas that help inform your own thinking.

Your Turn

 

·

Top of Form

 

Give an example of a realistic situation in which an ability to think critically could improve your quality of life.

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Features of the Webtext

The screencast below provides instructions about the features of this webtext, including how to navigate between pages, how to answer questions, and how to track your progress.

Watch the video below and answer the following questions.

What type of webtext question allows you to reset and try again?

· short answer

· response boards

· polls

· multiple choice

Save

What is the procedure for answering a short answer question?

· Click Post and then Save Draft.

· Click Submit.

· Click Save Draft and then Submit.

· Select the correct response.

Save

1 John Dunlosky, et al., “Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013.

2 Marilla Svinicki, “Applying Research on Learning: It’s Never That Simple,” The National Teaching and Learning Forum, December 2014.

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Thinking / 1.3 Practice: What Is Critical Thinking? Questions: 0 of 5 complete (0%) | 0 of 3 correct (0%)

Practice: What Is Critical Thinking?

Sorting Through Information Overload

Why is it that so many of us spend a substantial amount of time weighing the pros and cons of different cereals at the grocery store, but have knee-jerk opinions—or perhaps no opinions at all—on important topics such as tax policy? ProCon.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit website dedicated to promoting critical thinking, produced the following video to demonstrate what critical thinking is and why it matters so much.

Watch the video below, and then answer the following questions.

Read Text Version

According to the video, why are many people more inclined to employ critical-thinking skills with everyday, mundane questions than they are with important, controversial issues?

· because they often find it too difficult or time-consuming to think critically about complex issues

· because today’s superficial culture teaches them that consumerism and celebrity gossip are more important than political matters

· because it’s impossible to develop an informed opinion about anything with all the bias and lies being propagated through the media

· because they don’t believe they can personally influence public policy

Save

Your Turn

 

·

Top of Form

 

The video poses the argument that critical thinking leads to a stronger democracy. Do you agree? Why or why not?

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Which of the following questions does the video recommend asking when one hears a claim?

· Does this agree with my own beliefs?

· Is the source of the claim reliable?

· How can I refute this claim?

· What do my friends think about this issue?

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Your Turn

 

·

Top of Form

 

The video cites research that found a correlation between participating in class discussions and habits such as voting and following political news. Why do you think participating in class discussions as a student might lead to greater civic engagement in the future?

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Bottom of Form

According to the video, how does the website ProCon.org help promote critical thinking?

· by providing opportunities to sign petitions, attend community meetings, and influence public policy

· by providing information about controversial issues from multiple angles

· by telling you which controversial issues matter and which ones don’t

· by checking media sources for accuracy and bias Are you sure?

If you confirm, all of the multiple-choice questions you’ve answered on this page will be reset, and your score for these questions will return to zero.

Are you sure you want to proceed? If so, please press Reset Answers.

 2.1 Emotions 2.2 Practice: Emotions 2.3 Groups and Culture 2.4 Practice: Groups and Cultures 2.5 Pride 2.6 Practice: Pride

 7.1 Define and Analyze the Problem 7.2 Practice: Define and Analyze the Problem 7.3 Generate Options 7.4 Practice: Generate Options 7.5 Make Your Choice 7.6 Practice: Make Your Choice

Thinking / 1.4 Why Think Critically? Questions: 0 of 3 complete (0%) | 0 of 1 correct (0%)

Why Think Critically?

Strengthening your critical thinking skills will serve you well every time you need to make a choice or solve a problem. They’ll help you with each news story you hear, blog post you read, brother-in-law you debate, and customer complaint you receive.

We need these skills more than ever before. The advent of the printing press, broadcast media, and now digital communication have greatly increased the amount of information each of us receives every day. We have more decisions to make, and thus less time to contemplate each one.

The damage done by not thinking critically is substantial. Poor decision making reduces your quality of life, and deferring all decisions to others can leave you easily manipulated. While this has dramatic implications for our personal and professional lives, the consequences are even greater for our society. In a democracy, those seeking power will attempt to persuade voters in whatever way is most effective. A well-informed, conscientious electorate is the strongest firewall against tyranny and oppression.

Activities That Demand Critical Thinking

· Deciphering convoluted and misleading arguments

· Detecting and avoiding manipulation

· Comprehending your own thinking

· Understanding the world around you

· Communicating your ideas more clearly

· Sorting out controversial issues with smart people on both sides

· Making decisions with implications for your life, society, etc.

More Than Just Criticism

When we describe someone as “critical” we usually mean that they are overly negative, that they put others down. Detecting problems is one aspect of critical thinking, but if you stop there, your thinking is unproductive.

To receive any benefit from critical thinking, you need to go beyond merely listing problems. You have to find the truth by selecting the best available evidence and building the strongest possible argument. Effective critical thinking is constructive in that it seeks to clarify the issue at hand, reach the most reasonable conclusion, and articulate the best possible reasons for this conclusion.

To think critically, you’ll want to be

· Open-minded and willing to consider the ideas of others

· Curious, actively seeking out more information and listening to other people

· Independent, thinking for yourself and willing to disagree with a group when necessary

· Self-aware and humble, knowing what you know and willing to admit what you don’t

· Appreciative of good reasoning

Good Habits to Practice

· Asking good questions

· Taking responsibility for your choices

· Actively seeking out information

· Questioning and justifying your beliefs about the world

· Reflecting on the choices you make and the habits you keep

· Setting thoughtful goals and making your own decisions

Answer the following questions about the material above.

Why is it more important to think critically today than ever before?

 

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Which of the following is a component of good critical thinking skills?

· realizing that there’s no objective knowledge in the world, so any belief is as good as any other

· listening only to sources that affirm your initial viewpoint

· trusting your gut instinct when it comes to making important decisions

· scrutinizing arguments, explanations, and theories presented to you

Save

Explain how critical thinking is different from just being critical.

 

Are you sure?

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 5.1 Credibility 5.2 Practice: Credibility 5.3 Experts 5.4 Practice: Experts 5.5 Everyone Else 5.6 Practice: Everyone Else

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Practice: Why Think Critically?

Critical Thinking in the Workplace

While strong critical thinking skills can certainly help you succeed academically, the importance of these skills extends far beyond the classroom. In the Wall Street Journal article below, Marisa Taylor reports on employers’ concerns about a deficit in critical thinking skills among new hires and what colleges and universities are doing about it.

In the pair of Soomo original videos that follow, we follow three professionals from varied fields—an auto mechanic, a restaurateur, and a sound technician—as they explain the thought processes they use regularly at work and how critical thinking skills are required in day-to-day problem solving and decision making.

Read the article below, and then answer the following questions.

Schools, Businesses Focus on Critical Thinking

According to the article, recruiters and employers complained that recent college graduates are often lacking which of the following qualities?

· respect for authority

· submissiveness

· problem solving skills

· writing skills

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How have universities been making changes to increase their students’ critical thinking skills? Give at least one example from the article.

 

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According to Warner Brothers recruiting director Todd Davis, how have online search engines possibly dulled young people’s research skills?

· Many people don’t understand how to use appropriate search terms to get the information they need.

· Many people tend to accept claims from their superiors at face value rather than investigating them online.

· Many people take search engine results as fact and form assumptions without doing more extensive research.

· Many people don’t exhibit enough curiosity to bother going online to look up things they don’t know.

Save

Watch the two videos below, and then answer the following questions.

Read Text Version

Read Text Version

In the first video, what does the mechanic say about how his thought process has changed?

· His understanding of spatial relationships has become much better developed.

· He has learned how Japanese, European, and American cars all have distinguishing characteristics.

· He has learned how diagnosing the problem is more important than choosing the tools to fix it.

· He has learned to trust his intuition more than his reason.

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Your Turn

 

·

Top of Form

 

In the first video, the restaurateur discusses how difficult it has been for him to learn to delegate, and the only way he can do it is to hire the right people. Give an example of a scenario where problems might arise in a restaurant if the owner hired employees who lacked the skills that the Wall Street Journal article claims many young graduates are missing.

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When the sound technician talks about making decisions on his job in the second video, he describes how he developed which of the following desirable workplace skills from the article above?

· scientific reasoning

· work ethic

· independent thinking

· analytical skills

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Your Turn

 

·

Top of Form

 

Give an example of a time when you had to use critical thinking skills to make a decision in a job you had or used to have.

Are you sure?

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Thinking / 1.6 The Best Possible Questions: 0 of 3 complete (0%) | 0 of 1 correct (0%)

The Best Possible

If a perfect argument were available, there wouldn’t be a need for critical thinking. We tend to get intentional and rigorous about our thinking when situations are complex, when the way forward is not obvious and the evidence is shaky. Critical thinking is most helpful with important issues that require us to investigate facts, weigh evidence, and reach the best conclusion we can.

Best vs. Perfect

Not all questions have one definitive, correct answer. Certainty is possible in math and sometimes in science. But for many scientific claims and most of life’s questions, we’re comparing various arguments to find the most probable conclusion. The further we go into the humanities (questions of human nature, society, history, politics, ethics, and metaphysics), the more we need the skills of critical thinking.

Consider your job. How many judgment calls do you make in a day? How many problems do you have to solve? How often do you need to communicate effectively with supervisors, coworkers, and customers? For most of us, each day requires dozens of decisions, judgment calls, and discussions to arrive at the best possible solution—not the one perfect solution.

Having Better Opinions

Everyone has beliefs and opinions. Does it make sense to view some beliefs as better than others? Are some opinions more reasonable than others?

Critical thinkers evaluate beliefs and opinions on the basis of truth and reason. Take a given belief such as, “The tallest building in New York is the Empire State Building,” or something fuzzier like, “Cats are good pets.” Are these claims reasonable? Are there facts we can check? Can the people making the claims offer reasons for why they believe these things? The more certain the facts are and the more support they have, the better substantiated the opinion is. By this token, some opinions certainly are better than others.

It is a bit counterintuitive, but listening to people who think differently than you is one way to strengthen the quality of your opinion on an issue. First, it’s really helpful to know the common criticisms of your perspective. Second, you might learn some key bit of information that, once known, will lead you to a new conclusion. Third, listening to people who disagree with you will push you to find stronger reasons for believing what you do.

One word of warning: you’re not perfect. Nobody is. So once you start reflecting on what you believe and why, you’re likely to find some problems. When you do, dig in. Check your facts. Seek out experts. Perform experiments. Run “what if” scenarios. Have open-minded discussions with people you like and respect. The end result of such efforts will be a better, truer understanding of the issue at hand.

Having Good Discussions

· In everyday speech, an argument usually means a heated disagreement in which the goal is to “win” by dominating the other person.

· In critical thinking, an argument consists of reasons to believe a particular conclusion.

· Discussions are about exchanging ideas on an issue and explaining, in a deliberate way, what you believe and why.

· Discussions should involve listening, learning, supporting your beliefs with evidence, asking questions, responding to others’ points, and trying to deepen your understanding.

· These kinds of exchanges will help you strengthen your own thinking and clarify the nuances of your position.

In the end, critical thinking isn’t just about asking what’s true; it’s about asking why you believe what you do. When you ask yourself why you believe this or that, you’re engaging in critical thinking. Test the facts you can. Listen to opposing viewpoints with an ear open for truth. Substantiate your beliefs by knowing why you hold a particular opinion. Be prepared to defend your position on controversial issues. Every time you pursue these goals, you’re thinking critically.

Answer the following questions about the material above.

Which of the following questions is MOST likely to have a single, definitive answer?

· What combination of atoms makes up a molecule of baking soda?

· To what extent should parents’ religious beliefs be allowed to override the rules of a public school system?

· What’s the best and quickest way for an economy to get out of a recession?

· How much did Uncle Tom’s Cabin influence antebellum views on slavery?

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Why is it beneficial to listen to people with opposing viewpoints on issues you feel passionately about?

 

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Your Turn

 

·

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Describe a time when you had a productive discussion with someone that compelled you to alter your opinion about an issue, and explain why you changed your point of view.

Thinking / 1.7 Practice: The Best Possible Questions: 0 of 6 complete (0%) | 0 of 3 correct (0%)

Practice: The Best Possible

“Okay… You’re Right”

If you’re arguing with a friend about whether New Hampshire or Vermont has the nickname “the Green Mountain State” and then outside sources confirm that you were correct, there’s nothing like the smugly satisfying feeling of being able to say, “I told you it was Vermont.” But when the tables are turned and you’ve been proven wrong, admitting defeat is usually much less pleasant. This reluctance to concede becomes much more problematic when the debate isn’t over a simple empirical fact, but over a complex, multifacted issue on which both parties might have both good points in some areas and flawed thinking in others.

Massimo Pigliucci is a philosopher and professor at the City University of New York and the creator of the blog Rationally Speaking. In the blog post below, “How to Want to Change Your Mind,” he explains why a willingness to concede is such a valuable skill and offers advice on how to make this unpleasant practice easier to do.

Read the article below, and then answer the following questions.

How to Want to Change Your Mind

Poll

How easy do you find it to admit you’re wrong in an argument?

Top of Form

 

· Very easy

· Easy

· Difficult

· Very difficult

· Impossible

Submit

Bottom of Form

How does the writer differentiate between being “actually right as much as possible” and “being right in a particular disagreement”?

 

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Why does the author advise that you view things you believe as “a belief” rather than “your belief”?

· It helps you develop a more personal attachment to your beliefs so that you will be more defensive when they are attacked.

· It reminds you that you were not the first person to formulate this viewpoint and it does not belong to you alone.

· It makes the belief less personal and enables you to examine it more objectively.

· It allows you to have multiple beliefs about a single subject.

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Nikita and Desmond are debating whether high school students should be allowed to use cell phones in school. Desmond says they shouldn’t; Nikita secretly agrees with him for the most part, but she argues from the opposing side just to keep the debate lively. Why would the author have a problem with Nikita’s behavior?

· Nikita’s argument probably won’t be as strong or rational if she is arguing against what she truly believes.

· The practice of playing devil’s advocate turns the discussion into a competition instead of a collaboration.

· Nikita will probably lose the argument, and then she’ll feel disappointed or ashamed.

· It’s dishonest and unethical for Nikita to deceive her friend about what her true beliefs are.

Save

What does the author recommend doing if you have a competitive streak that you can’t get rid of when you argue, even when you’re being proven wrong?

· Do more research in advance so you can enter every argument with all the answers prepared.

· Imagine winning your next argument with the improved knowledge you’ve acquired.

· Use the time while your opponent is talking to brainstorm clever responses.

· Subtly divert the topic of the argument to a different issue that you’re positive you’re right about.

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Your Turn

 

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Top of Form

 

Give an example of a disagreement where neither party sees eye to eye, but at the same time it’s hard to empirically prove one side or the other wrong.

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Are you sure?

If you confirm, all of the multiple-choice questions you’ve answered on this page will be reset, and your score for these questions will return to zero.

Are you sure you want to proceed? If so, please press Reset Answers.

 

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