Critical Thinking

1. Critical Thinking An education’s central mission

2. The Big Question • Everywhere we look, someone is making some claim or other about our behavior and experience, trying to make money and influence us. • How can we tell the difference between what is legitimate and beneficial and what is merely puffed-up advertising or just plain wrong?

3. Critical Thinking • Making crucial decisions on carefully accumulated evidence and well supported reasons • Not because of emotion or misplaced belief on isolated occurrences

4. Hallmarks of Critical Thinking • Ask questions – even about things others take for granted. • Much is undiscovered, uncertain, unsolved • We must first ask the questions before we can find the answers We must use empirical means.

5. Examine evidence • Look carefully to assess a claim’s foundation • Based upon mere opinion? • A few intriguing but isolated occurrences or anecdotes? • Careful observation? • Sweeping analyses of relationships? • Experimentation subjected to peer review?

6. Look behind assumptions • Do we start our inquiry already leaning to a particular outcome? • Bias – an assumption or belief that unfairly influences our appraisal of the evidence • We attacka position beforeconsidering it objectively because we just know that it is wrong • Many biases are hidden or subtle.

7. Tolerating uncertainty • We want clear, definite answers. • We rarely get them. • Sometimes we lack enough evidence, sometimes what we have is confusing or frustratingly complex • Human behavior is complicated and influenced by dozens of factors.

8. It’s not easy • Even the smartest make mistakes. • We must avoid confirmation bias. • Keep an open mind.

10. esp • Acquiring information without the use of sense organs and without receiving any form of physical energy • Widely accepted, but valid? • Throw away physics?!? • Suspicious “proof” • No one has met Randi’s challenge