Emotions are so powerful that they can have either positive or negative effects on everything
in life, including critical thinking. Whether positive or negative, emotions will cloud your
judgement and prevent you from digging deeper into the topic at hand, getting to the cause
or solution of the issue.When I think through a problem, searching for a solution, I always
write my initial reaction down on paper.This initial response is emotion. Now I must use
reason to balance this out to make it logical and unbiased. For instance, a statement such as
`this suck` could be balanced out with `why does this suck? How can I fix this?`.
Communication is key to everything we do successfully each day. Effective communicators
are better at critical thinking because they are already thinking ahead and they know the key
elements of communication, clarity, credibility, relevance, completeness, and soundness.
They will use these elements to present and support their ideas and arguments .This week I
found the different communication types intriguing. I still don't completely agree with the
outcome of my self-evaluation, but I can see logic in the result. I have to admit at first I
agreed with the western culture; I believed to achieve the best logic you must take emotion
out of the equation. However, this reading helped me realize while yes, negative emotions
can be a barrier, positive ones can actually enhance the critical thinking process. Without
positive emotions it can lead to heartless decisions that logically give better results but in the
end is not necessarily the best choice. For example, the world is overly populated so
logically we could kill off people but that is obviously a horrible choice and even though it
would give is a better chance to survive it would emotionally hurt society beyond repair.
Balance is key in making the decisions. In my professional life I have to use critical thinking
while also having empathy for my customers. Working at a call center makes my job
centered around communication. Communicating with my customers is the only way I can
discover the problem and critically think to find a resolution. Communication helps move
critical thinking forward. I found it so interesting how the western culture and Chinese
culture have such different views on critical thinking. and decide certain things based on
how I feel, whether I like it or not. Now, they can also influence us negatively. If I am mad,
angry, or sad, my human instinct will act on it and make poor choices. It can cloud our
critical thinking and influence us to leave reasoning aside.
If I am being honest, I am still learning how to balance emotion and reasoning. It doesn't
sound hard to do, but I feel like in my life and how I live and with the people I am around
with, its tough. But the way I try to balance emotion and reasoning is by writing my
emotions down in paper. I like to do this when I am mad, sad, or angry. Because I have
noticed this helps me get my emotions out of the way and let reasoning take over when I
make a decision. There are times when emotions rule over reasoning, I'm not going to lie
about that. But that is how I balance emotion and reasoning when making huge decisions. I
like to look at all the factors, of why I am feeling this way and what is it that I need to do
that is best. The role of communication in critical thinking is very important. This is how we
know what the other person wants, or how we communicate what we want. An example of a
time when communication influenced my critical thinking was when I was struggling to ask
for a raise at my job. I kept thinking and making a list of the reasons why I thought I
deserved it. I had been working there for a while now and I've done every task and
assignment given to me without any questions or hesitations. I thought about it for quite
some months struggling with my inner self on how to come about and ask. I like to think of
myself as an assertive communicator. So I went to my boss and told her asked her about my
raise. I clearly laid out all of my thoughts and needs respectfully and willing to accept
whatever decision she made. She liked that fact that I was able to communicate my needs to
her and she valued me coming to her in person to talk about it. I ended up getting my raise.
Critical thinking is not an absence of emotion, but rather we use our emotions to help us in
this process. Plato said that we need both emotion and reason to enhance the critical thinking
process. Both emotion and reason serve a purpose in helping us in making decisions. As
explored in the video, emotion and reason can enhance the decision-making process. On the
one hand, if excessive, each can lead us to poor decisions. On the other hand, each can act in
a way to enlighten, inform, and enhance our use of the other. Life experiences, which create
emotions, can affect both positively and negatively influence on your ability to think
critically. Before I read the chapter for this week’s discussion, I would have stood behind
my thoughts that taking emotion out of critical thinking was necessary. The idea that t one
should think with reason and not emotion was my thought process. However, I now
understand that having emotion behind decisions can positively and negatively influence
making critical decisions. If you have past experiences with something you need to make a
decision about then that emotion can help you make a more reasonable or sound decision.
As you know from that experience what the affects can have on people or society. But in
turn that is also the reason thinking with emotion can have a negative affect as well. Being
able to decipher the good and bad is what helps with critical thinking.Being able to balance
emotion and reasoning is probably the biggest struggle that I personally have with critical
thinking. I tend to try to take emotion out of major decision making because I am more of an
emotional thinker and reactor than I am logic. For instance, when my grandfather was ill last
year at Thanksgiving and was put on life support. I was the one that stayed at the hospital
with him the night he passed because I wanted my grandmother to get some rest. The
hospital staff and my grandmother knew he was dying as this was discussed before I got
there. As I laid there watching his last moments, I was fighting with the staff to feed him,
take him off the sedation medication and save him. However, his wishes were opposite of
my emotion and he made certain to let the staff and my grandmother know he did not want
to be resuscitated. My emotions were high, and I wasn’t granting him his wishes. I didn’t
understand the staff were following protocol. Once I took my (selfish) emotions out of it I
understood their stance.Communication must be effective when it comes to critical thinking
and the ability to get your position on the subject across to others. Being able to
communicate well with facts and rationale as to why you made the decision you made is
what makes others understand your stance and judgement.Reflecting on the learning
activities and reading there is a lot that makes more sense to me, but I am still struggling
with understanding how to balance the emotion and reasoning. I would like to have more
activities or exercises that can help mold that thought process going forward in life. How do
we train our brains to think logically but still include emotion without letting the affects of
emotion take over our logic? Especially when naturally a person is an emotional thinker.
Critical thinking is affected by a person’s positive or negative emotions. If a person views
the world through a positive lens, they are more likely to see a positive solution. If an
individual were to find themselves in a difficult situation, they have two options: either try
and figure out a solution to better themselves, or have a negative thought process, whereby
leaving them in the same difficult situation without any solutions. Often, successful
individuals use their positive mindset to obtain their goals, creating large businesses.
As a Police Officer, emotion and critical thinking often need to be separated. An officer in a
dangerous situation must rely on sharp critical thinking to ensure the safety of themselves as
well as others. If emotions were to run high, an unintended or potentially harmful outcome
is likely. Separating fear and anger from positive, resolute thinking is essential. Overreacting
due to fear can be dangerous. Debriefing after any event allows the officer to sort through
his or her emotions to ensure that the best outcome occurs the next time they are in a similar
situation.As humans, we are programmed to be receptive to tone. How we inflect certain
words can tell other individuals how we are feeling. A louder voice may indicate that we are
angry, while a softer, quieter tone may indicate fear or shyness. When conducting a traffic
stop, a police officer often uses context clues, such as tone or language to gauge an
individual. Does the individual seem quiet and shy? Are they using an angry tone? The
officer must also use an even tone to ensure their safety. The officer should not seem angry
or present with an authoritative demeanor to intimidate an individual.I sincerely enjoyed the
Style Communication Questionnaire. I am happy that I was able to open my mind to the
diffract styles of communication and realize what I needed to work on as an individual. I am
happy that I found out what my style of communication is, and I will be happy to apply it to
my career. Emotions can really be tricky sometimes. When dealing with certain situations. I
had to deal with an issue with a family before I went to work. Words were exchanged that
should have never been. Family always knows the right words to say to hurt you. The words
we exchanged hurt my feelings so bad. I wasn't to think or focus on work. But when I am
happy work be the only thing I focus on. If you think positive. You will have a positive
outcome. I balance my emotions every time I do my school work and go to work. I try my
best to leave my problems at home. I want to be positive. A positive mindset can help keep
you on track. It allows me to focus. By doing that I will continue to do good in school and
work.I am an assertive communicator. I tell what I need clearly and respectfully. I like to get
my point across without being disrespectful. In a work environment. You always want to
speak clearly and not come off ass having an attitude. Now your co-worker can't focus on
what you need them to do. All they can focus on is your attitude. Which will affect both of
you working together that day. Either not going to do what you need them to do or not doing
it right. Positive attitude make it easier to focus and to get the job done.The skills I learned
will help me on how to respond to critical thinking questions during an interview and my
interaction with co-workers. I learned that my emotions can either make or break me. It's
always best to be at positive mindset. Doing so will allow you think clearly and do whatever
it is that you have to do correctly. I believe emotions drastically influence your thinking.
Being to negative about something will definitely change your thought process and cause
you to make hasty decisions. But also being to positive about something will cause you to
perhaps make decisions free willingly and for not the right reason. Being able to put your
emotions aside when making a decision is not an easy thing to do. When deciding you must
try and think of how to balance the positive and negative. Me personally I will stop and
think before making a drastic decision, being able to is one of my better traits. I can almost
all the time be able to make sound decisions. For instance at my job I will have to take over
as the Team Lead when my lead is off, and with this I must maintain a certain
professionalism and fairness to my colleagues. Communication plays a huge role in critical
thinking and decision making. When trying to make a decision about something you
definitely need all the information involved. Without this you will be making a decision that
can lead to much worse things.Working on everything this week I found that the "Think
Tank Self-Evaluation Questionnaire". This didn't make me realize anything that I already
didn't know about myself. I have a passive personality and will try to make things right and
try to avoid conflict. These are also things I wish I could change about myself but I have
realized that you can't change who we are as a person. Positively emotions can effect critical
thinking a good way. It can cause a person to respond, think, and look it situations
differently. Negatively emotions can effect a person critical thinking skills in a major way. It
can cause a person to ignore thoughts and feelings of others. It can also cause them to refuse
to do the right thing and deny any problems they may have.One way I balance my emotions
is by calming down before acting. When I am upset I tend to make bad decisions and
respond in ways I shouldn't. But when I am calm I attend to respond better and make better
decisions. One example of e having to control my emotions is when, I became upset because
I was nice to and kind to a person that turned around and treated me wrong. I became so
upset that I used words I shouldn't have used and acted in a way I should not have. But once
I calmed down I was able to handle the situation better. Communication is important in
critical thinking because whatever you be thinking no matter if its good or bad it will
eventually effect the way it is said. Emotional Intelligence and positive effects of emotions
is a very interesting reading that I enjoyed reading. It explained the different types of
emotions people may go through with critical thinking. Emotions can influence critical
thinking in both a positive way and a negative way. As mentioned in chapter two, empathy
is a positive way emotions can influence critical thinking. One of the great things about
working in customer service is that it teaches you a lot. Over the years I've picked up a few
things, one being how to empathize while using my critical thinking skills. I've had plenty of
customers call in mad, screaming, using foul language but the moment I realize their upset I
almost immediately use emotion as a way to relate and quickly begin to empathize by
placing myself in their shoes which makes my call a bit easier moving forward. However,
there has been plenty of times where empathizing has had a negative influence. I've learned
that immediately telling a customer that you apologize for the inconvenience or say I
understand how that can be upsetting can very well upset them. They're not looking for an
apology they would just like their problem solved minus the small talk or they will argue
that you do not understand what they're going through I'm that customer so I know. I balance
my emotion and reason by doing my best to stay level headed or even tempered. When I was
younger my mom would always say "Think before you speak or act." When I think of
emotion and reason I'm not sure why that comes to mind but it does. Emotion and reason
plays its role in critical thinking as stated before either in a negative way or a positive way.
Some have told me I'm not the easiest person to argue with because when I am emotional
and can't reason I say things I don't mean and sometimes act off impulse. Now that I've
gotten older I now see what my mom meant and why she tried to install that in me at a
young age. When I'm working with an irate customer I can't argue or get just as loud it's my
job to be quick on my feet by using emotion and reason to empathize to help deescalate as
well as reason with my customer to help find a solution to their problem.The role of
language and communication in critical thinking is to eliminate misunderstandings and
manipulation. We've all heard the saying "It's not what you say, It's how you say it." That is
what I think of when I think about language and communication. I had a supervisor who I
considered to be very rude, very egocentric, and had very dry sarcasm and I could not stand
it. He was my point of contact when I was presented with an issue I was unable to solve
being new to the job I found myself calling his extension often, which of course I dreaded
because I almost always hung up the call upset or offended by the way I was spoken too. I'd
have simple questions or just needed to be pointed in the right direction to assist my
customer further but somehow he always made me feel bad for asking questions. I finally
spoke up and I had to let him know that I am here to do a job and want to be sure that I'm
doing it properly. Of course, I had to elaborate I had to explain to him that it was not what
he was saying to me but more so how it was being said to me as if I were brainless. Over
time a lot of my co-workers explained that's just my supervisor’s normal way of speaking to
employee’s, but I wasn't ok with that. Speaking up allowed the miscommunication and
misunderstanding to stop I no longer felt insulted or offended because after speaking up he
made it a point to address me differently. This week I enjoyed reading more than anything
chapter three and the information included to help get a better understanding of language
and communication blew my mind. Discussion is always great because I enjoy reading what
my classmates took from the reading, and activities. One concept I can admit I'm still a bit
confused about is understanding the difference between the denotative and connotative
meanings of words. critical thinking has multiple components that are intercorrelated. Our
emotions can positively and negatively influence critical thinking based on one's age,
gender, and experience. Emotions can be associated with success or be the root cause of
poor reasoning and irrational life choices. Emotions such as anger and fear can be barriers
that can negatively affect us or, on the contrary, positively, depending on how an individual
applies experience and reasoning in their critical thought process. Emotion can enhance
critical thinking by making us prone to fault or motivating us to make better decisions.
Finding and maintaining balance is work. I keep a balance between emotion and reason
(logic) when making decisions by implementing critical thinking skills. Communication
skills are an essential element of critical thinking because it directly affects one's decision
making. Effective communication articulates precise directions, opinions, emotions,
understanding, clear leaving little room for error and misunderstanding. Communication
includes multiple components of language, verbal, written, non-verbal, various languages,
body language. Culture, age, gender, intelligence are crucial components that play an
essential role in effective communication. The emotions of anger or happiness makes people
react impulsively, which will affect their critical thinking negatively. When people are
emotional, it causes them to react instead of using critical thinking to make a wise decision.
Christmas is an example when you balance your emotions and reasoning. It feels great to
make your loved ones happy when giving them gifts, but you must make the right decision.
You need to control your emotion not to impulsively buy gifts but reasoning out what gifts
would make your loved one happiest. Communication and language are important when
hiring a new employee. I use my critical thinking skills to make the right decision based on
the person’s ability of nonverbal communication skills like eye contact or a smile and the
language they use during the interview. The employee must communicate properly with the
general public to get positive results. Emotions positively and negatively influence critical
thinking because bad or negative emotions cause our critical thinking to decrease
dramatically. Which will lead you to make bad decisions one after another, because you are
not using facts and thinking about the situation in a reasonable matter. Positive emotions
will lead to have positive thoughts and that will lead you to make better decisions .I balance
my emotion and reason when making decisions by first identifying what outcome I am
trying to achieve. I then write down first things that come to mind, which in most cases it is
emotion. Then I write down the pros and cons and it allows me to view it from different
views. Then I make what I believe is the best decision. I ran into this as I was interviewing
someone for a job and one was a friend and the other was a stranger. It was a very difficult
decision to make as my first instinct was choosing my friend. I decided I wanted to not use
emotion and really think critically to ensure I was making the best decision for the business.
We did end up going with the other person as it was the right thing to do. I did provide my
friend with some feedback on what he could work on in case there is another opportunity in
the future.The role of communication in critical thinking is the ability to follow another
persons thought process. I was trying to explain a situation to a person and they were just
not getting it. This started to frustrate me because my communication was not getting
through. This influenced my critical thinking because I was annoyed, which decreases the
ability to think critically. The most interesting activity for me were the videos that talked
about Reason, Emotion and Communication. In terms of negative effects of emotion on
critical thinking, the biggest one is the way that strong emotion can distend our thought
process. Reason relies heavily on the application of intelligence to knowledge, and strong
emotion can sometimes make our brains "create" false knowledge without us even realizing.
For example, if someone outraged at someone else, their brain might decide "that person
deserves to get hurt" is a true fact, and the outraged person might use reason to come to
conclusions based on that fact. In the simplest example, that person might think "they
deserve to get hurt, so I should hurt them" even when other, more correct information might
steer them otherwise. Anger isn't the only emotion that can have this effect, but rather any
strong emotion can, whether it's positive or negative.
In terms of positive effects of emotion on critical thinking, the biggest one is its ability to
present a drive. Critical thinking and Reason are tools that humans can use to make
decisions or choose a course of action, but we largely need to be stirred to use that tool. A
powerful example of this is when people decide to start losing weight. Whether the person is
ashamed of their body or aspiring to a weight goal, the start of a weight loss journey is
almost always emotional in nature. That emotion stirs the person to use their reason and
critical thinking skills when they otherwise might not have - "What should I eat?" and "How
should I exercise?" are problems they otherwise wouldn't have analyzed. And the emotional
start to a path of reasoning isn't limited to this example - people can be moved to think
critically about their finances, politics, and even identity by emotional triggers.Balancing
emotion and reason has been an exceptional challenge for me through my entire life, but
with modern medicine I've been able to become a much more emotionally healthy
individual. I'm fortunate to not have to worry about emotion impacting my decisions, but I
also struggle with a lack of motivation to act or even just to think critically. I try to
compensate for my lack of empathy by "exercising" my sympathy to make sure I'm always
aware of the impact my actions have on others, even if I won't feel them myself.I don't have
a strong example of a time I had to use both emotion and reason to make a decision, but I
think my own weight loss journey is a reasonable one. I was dissatisfied with the way I
looked so I decided to change it. Over the past couple months I've been balancing my
dissatisfaction telling me to lose weight as fast as possible (heavy workouts, skipping meals)
with a more rational part of me telling me not to lose weight too fast since it would be
unhealthy. An example of communication making an impact on my critical thinking would
be my deck building process for a card game I play. Were I limited to my own intelligence
and knowledge, the decks I build would undoubtedly be weaker and lose a lot more often.
But with access to the suggestions and stories of hundreds of thousands of other players, I'm
able to think critically about my deck building choices on a scale I otherwise wouldn't be
able to. Emotions can, according to the text, "act as barriers to good reasoning" but also
"enhance critical thinking by pre-disposing us or motivating us to make better decisions". So
on the positive side, by being in touch with emotions in general, we can be inspired to do
better, think on a deeper level, and strive for excellence. The negative side is that if we allow
our emotions to drive our thought processes without applying logic, they can stop us from
actually thinking through what it is we need to consider in a rational manner. Parenthood is
the ultimate test of balancing emotion and reasoning when making decisions. There are
times, especially when tired, that as a parent I have wanted to just give in to the demands of
my kids, because it would make my life easier - say getting fast food for dinner. While
emotionally I frequently wanted to just cave and do what they wanted, rationally I knew that
I had to think about how many times that week had we already eaten out? What were my
finances looking like? Was their behavior worthy of a treat? In this case, more often logic
needed to prevail in order to do the right thing for my kids.The role communication plays in
critical thinking is it enables us to make more thorough assessments of the situations we
have to consider and respond to. It is how we take in data and information that we should
then apply to the process we undertake to come up with an appropriate response. Tying back
to emotion, in the virtual work environment we find ourselves in, the interpretations we
make to how others communicate with us. I have found I have to often pause before
responding to email in order to make sure that I'm assessing the writer's actual meaning in a
clear and level headed manner, particularly when it comes across as potentially negative or
confrontational - the words truly matter. I think emotions can be great for critical thinking. I
learned this week that emotions can really only be negative for critical thinking if you don't
know where there coming from, understand them or know how to control them. To balance
your emotions it's very important to understand where they came before making any
decisions... good or bad! It can be very dangerous to make an impulse move based on high
emotions. When reasoning it's very important to analyze other factors in your life and then
make an educated decision. Most critical thinkers can hold an argument with solid factual
evidence or opinions therefore they are good communicators. Nonverbal communication is
also very important because a good critical thinker can read body language and how one
feels so it’s important to hold yourself high with confidence, even if you don't feel that way.I
think the most interesting activity I did this week was the "Think Tank Self-Evaluation
Questionnaire". The reason for that is because my whole life I have pictured myself as a
pretty laid-back person, never the one who liked confrontation, but my results said that I'm
an aggressive communicator. Emotions can positively influence critical thinking by giving
someone the courage to stand up for something others and themselves believe such as Rosa
Parks stand on not moving to the back of the bus or Martin Luther King Jr leading civil
rights. An example of emotions negatively influencing critical thinking would be an athlete
such as a boxer going into a fight thinking his opponent is a greater fighter then him which
will throw off his focus and skills. The way I balance my emotions when making any
decision is by taking the time to step back and actually gather as many possible outcomes
that I could take or could happen. I had a mission one day as an Assistant Convoy
Commander which was my time in that position, I had loaded up the wrong equipment
which caused the mission to take longer, I felt that I had messed up bad but I gathered my
emotions and starting directing the right equipment to the front of the line and continued
mission. Communication plays a big role because you need to understand someone else's
point on any situation, it is not always words it can be body language or their actions. At
work I was taught a certain way to set up the chains for equipment that we load. One
mission my driver started setting up the chains his was, so I followed his method, and it
turned out to be a lot easier and secure. The one activity I really enjoyed was the
communication style questionnaire, the reason being it helps understand how you think as an
individual. Critical thinking is still tough subject to understand because there is so many
approaches on it but going through all the activities and videos I am grasping it more and
more. Happiness of your emotions either coming from family, friend, kids, school or work,
but that's the supporting, encouraging and motivations of the positively emotions. Negatively
emotions come from, fear scared to challenge things, do things your way, scared of what the
next person think of you, stress or pressure at work, pressure with school, or a struggle with
you and your kids, household, I mean there are ways to effect your emotions but its up to
you to handle things and make wise choices, The most recent concepts I have learn and still
learning are the Languages, Informative, Directive, Expressive, Emotive, and Geremonial
languages, these are languages I never heard of and willing to know more about, I love
learning new things. Emotions positveily and negatively influence critical thinking because
sometimes if our emotions get the best of us it effects the way we think or what we think
about situations. It can also influence how we behave in certain situations as well. When we
have positive emotions we are more than likely to think in a good way versus negative
emotions can cause us to think in a bad way. I balance my emotion and reason when making
a decision by having good reason to support my decision. My emotions can effect the
decisions I make so therefore I try to make sure I am in a good space or the right space of
emotion when making a decision. Communication in critical thinking allows you to
communicate effectively. A time when language or communication influenced my critical
thinking was when I was completing a job as a team at work with people of different
diversity which expanded my language and communication skills. The most interesting
activity I learned this week was learning that I have a assertive communication style.
Learning about emotions in critical thinking was also interesting to me. Positive emotions
can influence critical thinking by motivating us to correct something that we did in our past.
Laughing is a positive emotion that helps us think clearer. When there is positive emotions
we are usually having a good day and are happy, it can quickly change however, when
Negative emotions such as someone that is crying, you need to comfort and use critical
thinking to find out details and the reasoning as to why this emotion is causing a negative
environment to help them overcome their sadness. I balance my emotions by staying calm
and ensure that I am not upset or angry it allows me to use my reasoning skills when
investigating and gathering information to help me make an informed decision. The day I
received a call that my dad was not doing well, I could have gotten in the car and drove 100
mph and risked my life among others. Instead, I calmly completed what I was doing, which
took about 2 hours and then took the one hour car ride to be with my dad. I used positive
emotion and reasoning to make a good decision. My dad passed the following day.The role
of language and communication play a role in critical thinking, communication can be
informative, directive, expressive or emotional. I feel I am influenced by expressive or
emotional communication to due my experiences in the workplace. It can be quite emotional
as an adult child needs to find senior care for their parent and as they are already stressed
and feeling defeated they become expressive and emotional. I feel this is when I can
communicate effectively with my growing critical thinking skills that have I have grown
over the past 20 years. Communication style questionnaire was the most interesting this
week for me. As I have taken the Leadership style questionnaire, I was curious what the
outcome of the communication style questionnaire. I am not surprised at the outcome of
being an assertive communicator. I feel this is due to my extensive training in leadership and
my job as an Administrator. I communicate effectively through verbal and nonverbal
communication. Critical Thinking is based on reason, communication and emotion. The fact
that emotion is a factor is somewhat confusing to most people when it comes to making a
decision. Emotion can be a positive influence in making a decision, on the other hand,
negative influences can have a bad effect on it as well. Here is the tough choice for you as a
decision maker. Using emotion in making a decision is this something you can do
effectively, or is this something that emotion will have to take back seat. That is something
you will have to decide. I have struggled with making decisions in my life because of
emotion. I made some decisions without using emotion and have paid for down the road. I
have made other decisions using emotion and have paid for that as well. It is a difficult
either way. I guess my decision to enlist in the Air Force was a decision that I had to make
with a lot of emotion. My wife, at the time, and I were managing a Baskin-Robbins store in
Mesa Arizona. We were happy and just had a kid to make is even better. It was just a couple
of months afterward, and our owner decided that he had enough of the corporate grind and
wanted to retire. That left us with a down-sized paycheck and a baby to raise. I had a
decision to make. We would lose our town-house, would have to say good-bye to our friends
it was quite the ordeal for me and my wife. My decision was based on reason as it was a
great job and we would have a new beginning it was a good decision all around. It was
tough but we had to do it.Good communication is always helpful when it comes to critical
thinking. Good Communication makes the problem less trouble-some and a lot easier to
deal with. Bad communication makes the problem more strenuous to deal with. Bad
communication can cause chaos, and cause mixed messages to further hamper the effort. I
was on the fence when I decided to go back to college. I was not sure if I could really do it,
my voice said that I could but my heart really was not sure. It took my wife and several
others to convince me that I could. I think I made the right choice.I think the videos inspired
me to look up more on critical thinking issue. The book delved into most of what I wanted
to learn, but there is much more that I need to learn on this subject. Emotions can be a
positive aspect to critical thinking if paired with reasoning. One of the videos in this week’s
lessons used Nelson Mandela as an example of someone who used his emotions in cohesion
with reasoning and logic to bring forth positive change in South Africa. Trying to use critical
thinking with no logic or reasoning behind it could make people susceptible to make errors
in decision making. An example of how faulty emotions can be in critical thinking would be
to picture a couple who is in a moment of anger making a choice about their relationship.
The fleeting anger they are feeling in that moment could cause them to make a illogical
choice.While raising a child I find myself using reason and emotion together more than I do
in many other aspects of my life. My emotion helps me protect her youth and innocence.
While my reasoning helps me see her on a larger scale and evaluate the intricacies of
parenting. I also teach her to use her reasoning to make her own judgements based in logic.
Communication plays a huge role in critical thinking. Language, both verbal and non-verbal
are unique, culturally, geographically, and even amongst genders and animals. An animal
may use non-verbal communication such as body language to show signs of aggression. This
is pivotal in deciding what a person who encountered the animal should do next. Learning
how different groups communicate can also help alleviate some confusion or presumed
intent. What looks aggressive or rude to one group in terms of communicating is just a
normal way of communicating for another. Clear communication can also help prevent
problems and confusion while trying to prevent or fix an issue. Communication can give
insight to gain clarity on what approach is best. I loved learning about communication and
all the different ways people express themselves. I gained the newest knowledge from this
portion of this week’s content. I did not struggle with any concepts this week; however, it
was very enlightening. Emotions can have a big impact in how a person thinks. Sometimes
emotions can help justify your actions and propel you to take action, such as cleaning a city
or helping people out of poverty because you know how it feels to be in their place.
emotions can help you think about how a person feels in a certain situation so you can help
them. however emotions may also impact your thinking negatively. sometimes you may be
angry or sad with someone and this may cause over reaction and irrational thinking,
following through with these thoughts may lead you to regret your decisions. It is a good
idea to balance rational and emotional thinking out, when talking to someone who is going
through something that you experienced its probably good to let your emotions do the
talking so the person you are helping know how you felt during that situation. When it
comes to work, school, or even taking a side with evidence support its best to leave the
emotions aside and think rationally about your decisions. language adds emphasis on what
you are talking about, its not just about what you say its also about how you say it. Someone
can say have a nice day in two different tones of voice and each tone expresses how your
feeling, one may be gentle and kind while the other may be sarcastic. When I'm at work
most of the language that I use is directive and expressive language so I may help customers
with the best service that I can give them, even when I may be frustrated I cant use a
sarcastic tone, I still have to maintain optimism to perform my tasks to serve customers.
however not all language is displayed through your voice, there is also body language, how
you present yourself may have an impact on how another person may view your approach.
while all of the learning concepts have been clear and straight forward through out the week,
my confusion lies solely on the ceremonial language, I am confused on weather this is a
language, a way of speaking, or how the words are put together. Allowing emotions to get
involved in decision making can affect critical thinking both positively and negatively. Just
like Nelson Mandela, making decisions and thinking critically about something that you are
passionate about can have a positive outcome. It will give you the motivation and desire that
you need to be successful. On the other hand, if you are thinking critically about something
that you are not passionate about, or despise doing, it can have a negative outcome that may
prevent success.Sometimes I have to make decisions, and my emotions are factored into that
decision. I try, but do not always succeed, to process how I feel and still try and make a
rational decision that will ensure the best outcome. For example: I just moved to the Atlanta
area. I love having my free time, but I know that I need to find a job to ensure my financial
securities. As much as I have enjoyed living off of my savings, I have to look at the long-
term outcome of working. Communication is extremely important in critical thinking.
Communicating not just important information in a professional setting, but also
communicating with friends, family, etc. about emotions are vital in critical thinking. It
allows us to convey how we are feeling and solve any issues that be happening. Just recently
when my partner and I were looking at places to live, we both had different perspectives on
our living spaces. By us both communicating how we felt and what we both needed, we
were able to come to a compromise. This was done through the use of our collaborative
critical thinking. If we did not communicate effectively, then we probably would not be
living together currently.This week, I enjoyed the interactive learning videos. As simple as
they may seem, I have felt like I have needed some reminders on critical thinking and the
importance it has on making decisions. Sometimes I do forget to communicate, and this
prohibits me from thinking critically. When being faced with a problem that requires some
critical thinking, emotion is a good boost to the outcome. If I take into consideration of how
my decision will affect others or how it might make someone feel, then I feel satisfied with
whatever solution I come up with. Also if I don't care for how it could make someone feel
that would impact my critical thinking and it makes me look selfish mean or ugly. I
purchased a Christmas tree in early November. When I got home and opened it up I was
dissatisfied with it but because of Covid I was not able to return it. I went on to buy one that
I like and I told my friend I had an extra one and she never responded back to me. Here it is
December 1st and she asked if I could drop it off to her. However my children decided to
put the tree in their room and be decorative. I thought if I take the tree from them they would
feel sad and if she really needed it why should I drop it off. Its free for her. Where's her
effort? I decided to let my children keep it. Communication is important. If she had
responded and said she would think about it or asked me to deliver to her before I would
have done it. This week I learned that I am an assertive communicator.
