critical thinking lib
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ClassreadingsforDis3-4.docxClass readings for Dis #3
Behave!” That was something that I can remember from a long time ago that my mother used to say to me. And I never really quite knew what she meant by that. I knew I was doing something she didn’t like, and so I would just stop doing everything. In fact, I would even say to her, “I am being-have.” And the thing is, what’s really important for parents to do is to be really clear with what they expect from their kids. If they say things like “behave,” that is ambiguous and likely has multiple definitions. Another thing is, parents say to their kids all the time, “clean your room.” Well, a six year old’s definition of “clean your room” could be very different from a teenager’s idea of what “clean your room” means, and that could really be different from what a parent means. My definition was to make my bed and put my clothes in the hamper. My mother’s definition included dusting the furniture and vacuuming. So when a parent says, “clean your room,” she should add, “here, I’ll help you.” Helping is really teaching them how they want the room to be cleaned so that the child will know what is expected. Something else that can be done is to take pictures of the room when it is clean and put the pictures on the bulletin board in the child’s room. Then the parent can say, “Clean your room. I want it to look like this when you are done.” That way the child has a visual and the definition of a clean room is clear. Parents are not the only people who use ambiguity. I’ll never forget the first class I took in graduate school. I proudly turned in my first paper that I worked so hard on and anxiously awaited my grade. Finally the day arrived, and the professor walked into the room with a stack of papers and began returning them to us. He handed mine to me, and on it was a big letter “B,” and then “not concise.” Not concise! Not concise? What does that mean? I turned to my peers in a panic. What does not concise mean? Certainly as a graduate student I knew what the term meant. But shocked and disappointed with not getting an A, I was desperate for feedback for a more detailed explanation. I wanted to know specifically what I could have done differently so that I would have earned an A and not a B. Yet “not concise” was an ambiguous phrase, and there was nothing else to help me understand. Most students who want to do well need detailed guidelines of how to do their required assignments. They also need explicit feedback concerning the assignments they submit. Fortunately, teachers of all grade levels, including college levels, are learning to develop and use rubrics and other grading tools that provide guiding principles for projects, papers, and assignments that would otherwise be graded subjectively. These tools remove the ambiguity of what is expected, thus helping students know what to do and how to do it. Additionally, the tools clarify where points were granted and where they were deducted, thus helping students understand what they could have done differently to earn a higher grade. With ambiguity everywhere, you will find that it varies in its importance. Important ambiguities are embedded in a reasoning structure. When analyzing someone’s reasoning, it might be useful to specify two alternative meanings of a word or phrase, then consider how each meaning shapes the argument in a way different from the effect of the other meaning. You are then able to think through the purpose of the ambiguity as a guide for understanding the precise intent of the person. When you do this, be sure to specify alternative meanings that are highly plausible and what the person might realistically mean. It is easy to come up with a meaning that is absurd but that rarely results in further clarification. Try using “if” clauses as a way of seeking a realistic meaning. For example, if the word or phrase means X, then I would be likely to see the reason as supportive of the conclusion. Remember, the purpose of identifying ambiguity is to recognize its impact on the reasoning structure. Of course, when analyzing a written work, you’re unable to ask for clarification. But when you’re in a conversation with a person who continues to be unclear, you have the advantage of being able to use your questioning skills. Avoid whys and closed questions, and ask good open questions. Ultimately, when the reasoning remains ambiguous, the best you will be able to do is to acknowledge the uncertainty of the meaning. If and when this occurs, just remember to withhold your willingness to agree or disagree until the meaning is clarified and you are satisfied with the intended definition.
I can’t stand her! She drives me crazy!” Have you ever heard someone say these words? Or worse yet,
have you ever said them yourself?
Well, I have to confess. There was a time several years ago that I was guilty. At the time, I was attending
an aerobics exercise class a few times a week. It seemed like every afternoon when I got there, a woman
who also attended regularly, we’ll call here Sherry, would also be there. Every day she would walk in with
this outlandish mammoth smile on her face and say, “Hiiii!! Hi! How are you?” Usually, the other women
were also gathering, doing a little stretching and appearing worn out from a long day at work; In other
words, quite opposite in appearance from Sherry.
A few of us would exchange glances, secretly sharing our annoyance and impatience with her
enthusiasm. This is about the time I would find myself thinking to myself, “I can’t stand this woman!” This
went on for a few weeks, I’d say, and then it suddenly occurred to me that here I am, a highly educated
woman, in fact a professor of psychology, acting like an immature adolescent. Even though, thankfully, I
never lowered myself to the level of actually gossiping about her, I was still embarrassed when I finally
came to grips with the fact that I even had such negative thoughts about a human being. And for what
reason?
You see, we all at one time or another make descriptive assumptions about the causes of the behavior of
others. What was it about her behavior that I didn’t like? What assumptions was I making about Sherry
and her bubbly greetings? How did my assumptions influence my conclusions about her and her
behavior? So calling upon my own critical thinking skills, I set out to reflect about my assumptions and my
conclusions and tried to figure out why I felt that I couldn’t stand her. After a great deal of deliberation, I
deduced that her behavior appeared out of synch with the behaviors of the rest of us who in many cases
dragged ourselves in to a rather challenging exercise class after a long, hard day at work. Now none of us
were being force to be there, and we all knew the ultimate benefits of taking the exercise class. But not
one of us truly felt anywhere near as bubbly and enthusiastic as did Sherry. So that was part of it.
With my somewhat well-oiled insight into human behavior and my critical thinking skills, I delved even
further and made another descriptive assumption that lead to a new conclusion. I concluded that poor
Sherry was more than likely a quite troubled young woman who, yes, was doing something positive for
herself by going to an aerobics class, but was covering up her true feelings of perhaps inadequacy,
insecurities, and maybe even more troublesome personal or family issues. I felt as though I had a
resolution when I realized that it wasn’t that I couldn’t stand her, it was simply that she was
misrepresenting herself and her true feelings. She was a phony. So I felt better when I acknowledged to
myself that it’s not always easy to trust someone who maybe even unknowingly puts on a front.
Consider the last time that you had an experience with someone who did something that you didn’t like.
What conclusion did you infer from that act? In drawing that conclusion, what did you assume? How did
your assumptions about the causes of other peoples’ behavior influence your conclusions about their
behavior?
Many of us deal with what we consider to be difficult people all the time. If we complain to a friend or a
peer, they tell us, “Oh, don’t take it personally.” Good advice. But that’s not necessarily an easy thing to
do, don’t you agree? It’s even more difficult if the person is angry, uncooperative, or even malicious.
This is where, in good practical real life sense, we can put our critical thinking skills to work for us. Here’s
how: The first step is to stop! That’s right. Stop and listen. I don’t know about you, but if somebody starts
pushing my buttons, no matter what comes out of my mouth, it won’t be of any value. So I have to talk to
myself, hold my tongue, and listen. And yes, it’s ok to talk to yourself; in fact, it’s strongly recommended.
Say to yourself, “this person has some issues and those issues really don’t have anything to do with me
personally.” Ask yourself, “what is it that’s really going on with her?” Look at the big picture objectively,
and be a good detective. Search creatively so that you can accurately analyze what it is that has this
person behaving in this manner.
When you stop and listen and talk to yourself, you can start to hear what’s going on with the person. You
can start to evaluate their behavior before jumping to a conclusion and making a wrong assumption. By
taking this sort of action, you can indeed prevent yourself from taking it personally. Because by talking to
yourself and asking the right questions, you automatically separate your emotions from the situation. Ask
questions such as, “I’m trying to understand what happened” or “I’m confused. Can you help me
understand?” By using these techniques and having this attitude, you will come across as more
empathetic than she’s expecting. It demonstrates to the person that you care about helping her resolve
whatever the difficulty is that she’s having.
In conclusion, critical thinking skills are not only for analyzing articles in science, anthropology,
psychology, art, and the media, or for critiquing movies or books. Critical thinking skills help us make
better personal decisions, deal with a variety of personal experiences, gain insight into the behavior of
others, and in general become a better person
