Southern New Hampshire University
PHL-111: Introduction to Critical Thinking
Week Four Lecture Notes
The question “Why do you think the way you do?” asks for a response that is empirical and
descriptive, not normative and evaluative. It asks about how we think, not how we should be
thinking. Philosophers are primarily concerned with the latter, i.e., with how we should think
issues through. Their concern is with canons of correct reasoning. Contrastingly, psychologists
figure out why our minds veer off the logical course when they do. The result is a mutually
beneficial division of labor between two fields of inquiry on a matter of shared interest; namely,
how the mind works.
What we learn from psychologists of significance is that veering of the logical course is what we
normally do. It’s not the exception. Research indicates that we are not disposed to adjust our
beliefs to reason, logic, and evidence. Rather, when confronted with challenging information that
demonstrates our beliefs are mistaken, we dig in ever more intransigently in support of our
misconceptions. This phenomenon is well-documented and is known as the “backfire effect”.
What’s more, the smarter we are, the more likely we are to critically thinking our way to
reinforce our existing biases and ignore (or discount) the counterevidence. This craft is what is
known as “the-smart-idiot-effect”. According to the smart-idiot effect, the more intelligent a
person is, the less persuadable they are likely to be because their excellent capabilities equip
them to defend their erroneous beliefs so effectively (Mooney, 2012, p. 46). It’s entirely possible
this even means the inverse holds true; the less informed we are, the more responsive we are also
likely to be when confronted with challenging information. (p. 49).
Role of Emotion in Critical Thinking
Emotions are regarded as the main source of irrationality that impedes us, it’s important to be
clear that our emotions undergird everything that we think and do.
Even the perspective of impartiality to which we aspire in our academic work has an emotional
dimension. Impartiality is about adopting an attitude of “cool” distance and reserve from the
object of the study. Obviously, this is not an attitude that is appropriate to adopt all the time.
Other feelings and perspectives enter in, particularly, when it comes to our social and political
relationships. Ideally, then, reason and emotion work together as partners, not as opponents.
