Critical thinking to me is defined as the ability to
use the knowledge we have to make decision in our
everyday life, logically thinking based om evidence and
evaluating situations to resolve issues. Critical thinking is
basically intelligent thinking vs. what you think. Characteristics
of a critical thinker is being open minded, providing
logical support vs. relying opinions, being a good
communicator whether its verbal ,written or just listening
.A good critical thinker leaves feeling out of decision
making and use supporting evidence before a decisions
are made. To overcome or avoid barriers you have
to analysis all situations and use your first hand
experience experiences to your decision making , Interpret
all aspects while thinking . However you want to
avoid all assumptions and rumors and based on personal
beliefs and think with research avail to explore and
make the best decision based on facts. What I learned
this week is to use your resources that are provide
and those that you are surrounded by that makes you
critically think about your next move and never move
on instinct. I would define critical thinking as the
ability to analyze all aspects of an issue and make
a decision based off of facts and all available
information. Some characteristics of a critical thinker are
the ability to leave biased and emotions out of the
decision and the willingness to hear all sides of an
aurgument. Common barriers to critical thinking are a
persons emotions, the personal opinions, and the biased
on a topic that they already have. Emotions, opinions,
and biases are all tied together. If someone makes
decisions based only on emotions, they will never want
to hear or accept any facts or truths that go
against what they already decided what is correct. They
will never want to hear what the facts or and
they will never accept what the truth actually is. The
easiest way that I have found to overcome the barriers
of critical thinking is to try to always keep and
open mind. The more openminded a person is, the
more likely they are to want to hear all the facts
about everything they want to know about. Also, doing
your own research about things is another great way
to overcome the barriers that keep people from being
a critical thinker. When I do my own research, I
am able to find either facts or opinions on both
sides of a topic. But, the facts should always be
more important then other peoples opinion about every
topic someone will encounter. Critical thinking means to
me being able to judge what is a right or wrong
life decision and understanding what is right and wrong
in arguments. Some characteristics of a critical thinker
would be someone who has good effective communication
skills, analytic skills good research and inquiry skills
flexibility and tolerance to ambiguity also open minded.
Some common barriers might be being open minded and
not knowing how to make the right choice in an
argument or knowing what is right or wrong in a
decision in life. Some common ways to overcome those
barriers might be focusing on one decision at a time
and trying harder to be more open minded and
listening to someone else opinion also not being stuck
on the fact that your always right. Also try and
figure out how to make a situation better. What
expanded my ideas about being a critical thinker was
how important it is in everyday life to be open
minded and an effective communication in order to make
life decisions. I also learned that sometimes you're not
always right in an argument. Critical thinking is the
study of methods used to determine between good and
bad arguments. Most critical thinkers will have good
analytical skills, able to communicate effectively, have good
research and inquiry skills, flexibility and tolerance for
alternative solutions, as well as an open mind. Some
common barriers are avoidance, cliches, and struggling to
come to a decision.To overcome these we have to
act to overcome some of these obstacles. If people
are trying to avoid some topics or problems they
will probably want to work on confronting those things
that they are avoiding. If there is a struggle to
finding an answer and act on it, it may be best
to take the step to settle on what the best possible
outcome will be and work toward that solution. Finally,
keep away from falling victim to cliches, they may
cause a worse problem than avoiding it all together.I
noticed that I have developed a few of the traits
mentioned for critical thinking just by going to work.
I am in the management team at my local retailer
and I have had plenty of opportunity to develop and
practice on my critical thinking when it comes to
making some tough decisions. I would define critical
thinking as the ability to give better judgement. When
I say give better judgement, I’m referring to the fact
that you may have experience or better knowledge of
the situation or a better way of communication. This
will lead a person to examine, reason, and think
about the process and execute whatever it may be.One
characteristic of being a critical thinker is the ability
to be confident in your own ideas or beliefs. Another
characteristic of being a critical thinker is understanding
an opinion of another person. What seems to be a
common barrier when it comes to critical thinking is
not being reasonable. Once a person is confident in
what they believe, it can be a challenge to understand
another person’s point of view or open up to a
different belief. People can overcome that barrier by
trying to have an open mind and not be secluded
or remain believing what they believe is the only
thing there is. Once a person is open minded, they
will be more understanding and be open to trying or
learning more on whatever it may be. Well I did
some research on critical thinking and I find that I
have always been a critical thinker. I look at my
point of view of course, but I always try to
reason with the next person and have an open mind
on what they are believing. Critical thinking is the
art of communication and brainstorming factual evidence, not
all the time but a good amount of time. Although
I am notin charge of my operation I strongly believe
in teamwork. In order to get a better functioning
house one must go to work and that’s all she
wrote, mentally, physically, excatly how things are seen
via entertainment and gossip . I will state again and
all personnel, and side chicks have to go. I would
define critical thinking as the ability to probe all
information open-minded and then make a reasoned judgment.
You must be able to evaluation all the sources, data,
facts, evident singularities and researched findings.
A good critical thinker must be able to communicate
effectively. This includes being able to write, speak and
listen. Critical thinkers have good analytical skills. That
includes being able to evaluate and provide reasonable
backing for your views. Analytical skills are also important
in identifying and assessing other people’s opinions.
Self centered nature or conduct is a normal tendency
and is many a time hard to change. This barrier
will make you think about yourself and causes you
to be unable to empathize with others. Our ego can
be the most important barrier when it comes to
critical thinking. Another barrier is resistance, and narrow
mindedness. I believe that stress is a huge barrier
that clouds your ability to think critically. Critical thinking
now in days is hard to apply in our daily lives.
It has become a barrier as we typically rely on
technology to think for us. Critical thinking is to be
able to see things in different ways and be able
to analyze with ideas and distinguish with ideas. As
for us once we come to a problem in to provide
ideas we run to the internet to find the solution
for us. This has limited our critical thinking ability
to rely on other (technology) to do it for us. We
can try to overcoming this by avoid this and try
to take more time in thinking and see what other
options there is. This will helps us see things more
opened that what we might see in the internet. We
are slowly moving away from this and it also affects
our communication with people, the less we communicate
the less we are able to socialize. This weeks reading
makes you realize how things change with time and
how we are avoiding certain things to make our lives
easier. Critical thinking means among other things as the
ability to judge in a more prepared form not just
think because everybody else does it but asking why
do we have to do it not just because it has
always been done one way it is the only possible
way of doing it, for example in manufacturing there
is a Japanese word use "kaizen" which means continuous
improvement and it requires critical thinking one barrier
that this word usually fights against is "why fixed if
it is not broken" we fixed it not because it is
broken but because we want to make it better and
critical thinking comes into play because this means that
there is always room for improvement, I believe one
of the biggest barriers is going against what everybody
thinks is correct and not thinking outside the box, a
critical thinker has more effective communication skills than
others because it is more prepared in any given
subject, tends to analyse better therefore more successful
because plans better every single move and being content
a critical thinker always wants more. Based on this
week's reading and activities, I would define critical
thinking as making a decision on things or people
at the drop of a hat in a set amount of time
that are important and imperative to the situation in
front of you. Some characteristics of critical thinkers are
being creative, having flexibility, being open minded and
communicating well. Some common barriers to critical thinking
I feel are not being open minded enough, not trusting
your own ability to think something through and not
staying focused. People can overcome and possibly avoid
these barriers by allowing themselves to be honest with
their self if they are not focused and retaining
important information that may be needed. They also can
find ways to open their minds up to other people’s
ideas and thoughts and compare and make a solid
decision. In the reading this week, I found that
studying and understanding that there are three levels to
critical thinking expanded my thoughts on critical thinking.
I was not aware of this. I got a better understanding
as I read it and it made perfect sense because
if you do not allow all three levels to happen
you can’t actually come up with a factual outcome.
That would be cheating yourself. Critical thinking is one's
ability to thoroughly analyze a situation using skills of
evaluation and the process of elimination. Critical thinking
challenges your mind to see past what is presented
and read between the lines. One common barrier to
critical thinking would be being closed minded. I think
that you have to be open minded and able to
analyze things from more than just one perspective.
Another barrier of critical thinking I think would be
going off of an intuitive feeling/ gut feeling. I think
having a hunch about something limits your open-minded
thinking. I would recommend continuous practice of critical
thinking. The more the skill is exercised, the better
one will get at the process of it. I read that
experience is the foundation of critical thinking. Narrow-
Mindedness and the fear of challenge stood out to
me. As I read more, I learned that people with
low self-esteem resist information. It makes sense because
it is important to be confident in your belief. It
was stated that one with a low self-esteem may view
opposing to any evidence as a personal attack. Critical
thinking is a way of thinking when you think things
through to make reasonable judgments. You don’t simply
accept a conclusion but you question it.Critical thinkers
are well informed, open-minded, attentive and creative and
have strong problem- solving skills. Common barriers to
critical thinking include avoidance, denial, anger, ignorance,
rationalization, and narrow-mindedness, lack of self-confidence,Ways
to avoid the barrier of critical thinking include learning
not to accept statements as fact without asking more
questions. You have to begin to to make assessments
and learn to research. For example if presented with
research or study results, find out who did the
research or who was included in the studies. Also,
open your mind when being presented with different
sides of a topic. Try not to focus on just the
information that supports your stance.I was surprised to
find in the reading assignments , to find that self-
esteem played such a large role in critical thinking
but it makes sense. I can think of several times
when, because I was unsure or confident in my
stance, that I kept my opinion to myself and avoided
talking about the issues. Being open to viewing multiple
perceptions/point of views, evaluate the situation, plan, and
resolve. When you're a critical thinker, you must not
take things at face value. Looking deeper into things,
evaluating your own thoughts and thoughts of others,
and thinking logically (not emotionally) are some things
that critical thinkers do.There are some barriers to critical
thinking. I think the "ego" is a huge barrier and
arguably the biggest barrier. It may be hard for some
people to drop their ego and challenge themselves to
think differently - challenge themselves to understand someone
else's point of view. This is an issue for those
folks because it's difficult for them to understand that
they are wrong about something. To overcome this
barrier, one would need to learn how to be humble
or potentially go to counseling to learn how to shed
the ego (something I did years ago and it was
extremely beneficial to many aspects of my life).
I thought the cognitive development section was valuable.
More specifically, coming up with examples for each of
the stages listed: Dualism, Relativism, and Commitment.
Critical thinking is the ability for an individual to
use the skills they possess to make logical decisions
and act on those decisions by developing a plan of
action. Knowledge and skills needed to face the challenges
in your industry. In order to be aware of their
surroundings, critical thinkers are constantly observing and
assessing different situations. They also are able evaluate
these situations in order to find their own plan of
action. Critical thinkers aware of their own thoughts and
are confident in their own opinions but are also open
to others opinions. However, they still question their
own, and others opinions in order to make the most
accurate judgments. Last but not least, they are able
to look past now and make decisions based on what
will be best for the future. One of the biggest
barriers to critical thinking is self-confidence. If one does
not possess confidence to interject their opinion and
thoughts into discussions and everyday life, they will
never be critical thinkers. If one does not have
confidence in themselves they will also not believe that
their opinions are correct because they think they are
not good enough to produce logical thoughts and opinions.
Self-confidence is a hard skill to develop. It takes
time and patience, but it is a skill that one will
need to become a critical thinker. In order to
overcome self-doubt or a lack of self-confidence, one
must develop a growth mindset. A growth mindset allows
one to recognize their weaknesses and have the mindset
that the weakness can get better and better, until it
is a strength. With the growth mindset, one must
start to believe that one day they can be confident
in themselves. One Great way to develop self confidence
is affirmation in oneself. Every day a person will
look themselves in the mirror and tell themselves that
hey are confident in themselves. If that thought is
constantly in ones mind, they will become that.The
reading on cognitive development helped expand my knowledge
of critical thinking. I found out that I am in the
stage of transition to commitment. I knew people problem
solved in different ways, but I didn’t know that this
is a stage of cognitive development. Because I am
diving further into critical thinking and into a college
career, I will soon be to the third stage of
cognitive development. Critical thinking is a thought process
that is based around evidence that is not physically
presented in the topic. I like to think of critical
thinking as "reading between the lines". In almost any
situation, there is more to understand than exactly what
is said in the first place. Whether it is finding
an underlying meaning, a connection to be made, or
problem to be solved, critical thinking is just going
beneath the surface to fully understand the topic at
hand. To become a true critical thinker, one must
have attributes of analytical thinking as well as a
great understanding of language and tone of voice. A
great way to test someones critical thinking is a
riddle. The whole point of a riddle is to listen
and try to look at the question in a different
light, or think about how connections to be made
that are not readily apparent. In the TED talk from
this week, Margaret talks about how two people with
two very different personalities, which leads to different
ways of thinking, are able to work well together.
Having another set of eyes on a piece of work
makes it easier to spot inconsistencies or issues that
one person may not have picked up originally. Someone
who is a great critical thinker is able to look at
something as if they had another set of eyes and
still get the same results as two people working on
it would. Critical thinking is a way of thinking about
any topic and using evidence and analyzing it with
logical support to form judgment of belief or action.Some
characteristics that a critical thinker should have good
analytical skills, effective communication skills, participate in
collaborative learning and open-minded scepticism. Some common
barriers to critical thinking are resistance and narrowmindedness.
Resistance is the repeated use of premature defense
mechanisms when your viewpoint is argued. Some types
of resistance include avoidance, conformity, and denial.
Narrow-mindedness is the inability to change your belief
or views. Some types of xx nrrow mindedness include
egocentrism, fear of challenge, and absolutism. Some ways
to overcome or avoid these barriers are to think for
yourself, evaluate existing evidence, and question things.
Something that expanded my ideas about critical thinking
this week was the milgram experiment and the Stanford
Prison experiment. These experiments showed me that without
good critical thinking skills we are more likely to
listen to authority figures. We might think authority
figures are always right, and we should do what they
want without asking questions or challenging them. Critical
thinking is the ability to evaluate, organize and develop
a plan, to resolve challenges that arise. It provides
the tools to help develop the skills needed to make
decisions with thought and effectiveness to stimulate self-
development by encompassing reasoning and rationality. A
critical thinker has developed several distinctive characteristics.
They have the capability to differentiate opinions from
truths analyzing the situation. Another characteristic is the
ability to listen, gather and evaluate the information by
using effective communication. A critical thinker must also
be flexible and open minded to assess challenges from
different views. Critical thinking does not lack barriers.
Many individuals are resistant to change. They believe
in the phrase “If it isn’t broke, it doesn’t need
fixing”. Other individuals are non-confrontational. They would
rather remain silent than challenge a view. Additionally,
stress is another barrier that limits the ability to
evaluate a situation and make a sound decision. To
overcome these barriers individuals need to invest in the
development of healthy self-esteem and self-improvement. These
characteristics boast the ability to strategize and react to
challenges in a reasonable productive manner.
In the reading assignments this week, the Critical Thinking
and Self Development section gave me insight to the
importance of self-improvement and the development of a
rational life plan. I consider myself a planner however,
I never take into consideration my own self health.
I learned that I must address areas of weakness
instead of avoiding them. This will help me to
improve my self-esteem and create a rational pathway to
my long-term success. Critical thinking is being able to
dissect a situation or problem from all angels; as
well as having an open mind in regards to possible
solutions . Asking a lot of questions and being able
to analyze and gather data.Some characteristics of a
critical thinker would be, being able to analyze and
provide logical support and not rely on feelings or
opinions. Communicating effectively when listening, speaking and
writing. Knowing how to communicate with others styles
of communication is highly imperative. Researching is vital
to critical thinking implementing evidential information helps
to evaluate an action plan. Being open-minded is highly
necessary to critical thinking especially when working with
others; which is when tolerance comes into play for
critical thinking, learning to value others opinions and
knowledge. Many people have common barriers when it
comes to critical thinking, resistance comes in many
forms such as avoidance, anger and denial. People often
do not want to be wrong and often times have
issues with being wrong which is a huge barrier in
critical thinking.When learning to overcome the resistance
barrier it would be helpful to understand that it is
ok to not to have all the answers and not have
to be right all of the time. Learning to have an
open mind and understanding that, often times stress
creates resistance especially to change can help one
overcome resistance.For me the passage in the reading
about Buddhist's concept of the "beginner's mind" reminded
me that being a critical thinker is an awesome quality
to have and wanting to learn and seek out wisdom
about our own thoughts, feelings and what is happening
around us is something most everyone needs to be
doing. Critical Thinking; by definition, is the objective
analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form
a judgement. My definition would be the ability to
solve a problem utilizing all the skills that provide
an outcome not based on bias or outside influence.
This definition doesn't allow one to be influenced by
opinions or friendships, but merely by, what is the
best solution. A critical thinker raises vital questions;
they gather and assess all relevant information, they think
open-mindedly with alternative systems of thought, they
communicate effectively with others in figuring out solutions
to complex problems. The problems I see to critical
thinking are peoples emotions, lack of knowledge of the
subject, lack of willingness to understand , misunderstanding
of the truth and being close-minded. I believe that
people can overcome these barriers by understanding that
"they don't know everything there is to know about
anything." I try to do that everyday in my job;
I am not the most knowledgeable, smartest or a know-
it-all, I prefer to find the best answer (option) to
fix our current problem - even if it isn't my
way. The book reading about stress a barrier helped
me expand my ideas about critical thinking; it makes
one wonder, why one subject is able to be so
completely "cool under pressure" yet others tend to fail
miserably and blame others for their incompetence. Own
it. I say it all the time; you must not be
afraid to fail to learn. Critical thinking is a type
of thinking that is in depth and not at a surface
level. Critical thinking is being able to put aside bias
and to look at problems from all angles to come
up with the best solution. Some characteristics of a
critical thinker would be able to analyze information, be
able to find evidence, and be able to problem solve
while looking at all sides of the problem. Barriers
to critical thinking would be ignorance and avoidance.
Thinking critically requires research and avoiding a problem
does not allow for it to be solved. I think these
barriers can be overcome by making sure to thoroughly
inform yourself when you take a stance on a topic.
Find evidence and evaluate both sides. Perhaps find
someone with an opposing view and have a mature
argument. Consider their side and adjust yours accordingly.
Overcome avoidance by realizing how certain situations effect
you and the world around you. Learn more about
things to be motivated and passionate about topics. I
thought the study about how people deal with authority
was very informative. How people tended to do things
they knew was wrong because of being in a lower
position. It reminds me to use critical thinking to
determine if something, even if someone is in a
position of power above me. Critical thinking is the
ability to absorb information, listen to differing views
from outside sources, weigh differing opinions, and process
various pieces of information with an open mind. During
her “Dare to Disagree, TEDTalk,” Margaret Heffernan
discusses the fascinating ability of two colleagues working
with one another in such a close manner, despite
have nearly polar opposite behavioral styles. One being
extremely analytical and introverted, and the other encompassing
more of an outgoing and unmethodical approach to life.
Despite the differences, they embraced each other’s styles
and together achieved their research goal. In many (even
large) organizations, being able to embrace differing opinions
among work groups is not as common as it should
be.
Being a critical thinker will take some key attributes.
Solid communication, effective research, sound reflection ability,
being collaborative, and possessing analytical skills are all
essential attributes to being able to process various pieces
of information in order to arrive at a sound conclusion.
Milgram’s study was an incredible example of people
not practicing critical thinking and sound judgement. Despite
the actor’s clear agony, many of the test subjects
continued to cause pain to the actor, simply because
an authoritative figure was directing them to do so.
Another topic that really connected with me in the
reading, was “avoidance.” I work for a large company
and despite us having a large management group that
should challenge each other, and be more vocal in
“critical thinking sessions,” the tone of the meetings
generally just are too acceptant. Only afterward, in more
individual settings, behind closed doors, do differing opinions,
concerns, or thoughts arise. I conclude that critical
thinking is the ability to be able to evaluate a
situation and then come to a decision on to how
you feel about it, as well as, how others may
feel. I feel like there are many characteristics that
make up a critical thinker. In order to be a
critical thinker, you must be open-minded. If you are
not open-minded you may be quick to judge or
assume. This is not good because people may see
situations differently from you. I also feel that in
order to be a critical thinker you must also be
creative you must be able to think of more than
one way to solve a problem or a situation. Lastly,
I think every critical thinker must have compassion.
When you have compassion, you must think of all
possible reasons why people do what they do. This
would destroy any bias. I feel like the main barrier
people may face when it comes to critical thinking
is bias. The way people can avoid this is by
reminding yourself that everyone is in fact, different. Not
everyone will think the exact same as you. You as
a person, already have set beliefs and opinions, but
not everyone has been through the same things that
have led you to feel the way you feel. It may
be hard to overcome your bias, but in order to
be the best critical thinker you can be, you must.
The reading assignment this week that expanded my
ideas the most about critical thinking was the reading
on the Milgram experiment. I constantly though to myself
about what I would do in the situation that the
subjects were in. I tried to think about all the
possible reasons why the subjects were just complying.
I tried to remove any bias that I had towards
the reading by reminding myself that I knew fully
what the experiment was about. I used critical thinking
myself while reading about it. I would define critical
thinking as a thought process based on reason and
evidence. Critical thinking allows us to judge a situation
objectively base on logic. Through the process, we will
collect evidence, evaluate it, and ultimately come up with
an action plan. Characteristics that make a good Critical
Thinker are open-mindedness, flexibility, and creativity. A
common barrier in critical thinker is when a group
of people or key players lack such characteristics. As
a group, it can cause delays and additional roadblocks.
Typically, the average person is not just born with
these types of skills. These are skills that need to
be worked, and over time cultivated. I have difficulty
with these characteristics and it is something that I
have to work on every day. Push myself each day
and seeking mentorship from my leaders has helped me
overcome these barriers. Each week, I would set goals/tasks
for me to work on that would help me grow.
That could be something as simple as sitting listening
to my peers' suggestions. It could also be something
more elaborate, such as working on a project to
improve customer satisfaction and bringing creative solutions.
Building my self-esteem and confidence has allowed me
to expand my ideas and critical thinking drive. Prior
to this week, I did not think they had a correlation.
Now, I understand how these two come together to
create a strong foundation. Critical thinking is trying to
see things from more than one point of view, and
realizing that you are not always correct or that there
isn’t necessarily a right answer. In my career I have
always tried to look at things from all points of
view. I try to come up with a resolution, if at
all possible, that will fit everyone’s needs. That is
not always possible; however, you have to at least
try.Critical thinkers are effective communicators and are
flexible in their thinking. Not everyone thinks the same
way, so you have to be able to communicate what
you are trying to say in a way that your audience
will understand it. When speaking to a co-worker about
a specific topic, I can speak a whole lot different
than when I am speaking to a provider or beneficiary
about the same topic. Because my co-worker has all
the same information and has had the same training
as I have, where especially the beneficiary has not.
So, I have to change the way I say what I
am saying so that they will understand it better. I
think the most challenging barrier to critical thinking is
experience.It takes time and practice (experience) to be
able to think outside the box and to learn that
it is ok to say “I don’t agree” or to ask
“Can you explain to me why/how you came to that
conclusion?” I have said for a very long time that
it never hurts to ask a question. Even if the
answer is no, at least you asked. Even if it
doesn’t change the outcome.The examples of real-life scenarios
are what expanded my ideas about critical thinking the
most. It helped me realize that while I definitely
have room to grow, and always will, I use critical
thinking in my everyday life, more then I realized.
I really liked the video though. I liked the idea
of having a co-worker/friend that doesn’t have the same
“beliefs” as I do so that they are constantly challenging
me and making me think. Not to be mean, but
just so that I can look at things from all points
of view before coming to a decision. I would define
it as the process of gathering factual data and
analyzing that information to form a conclusion to a
certain topic or idea. Meaning, someone who is a
critical thinker, would not make a blanket statement or
judgement based on their opinion of something but
instead, research and gather relevant data to back up
their justifications. Contrarily, being a critical thinker can
have it’s disadvantages. Just as it is stated in the
discussion post topic, “sometimes, the word critical means
being picky” and I can agree with that.
Criticism, in my opinion, is normally something that is
not appreciated amongst most people I know, because
it’s basically a form of judgement of another person
or anything. For instance, while a critical thinker could
be addressing an issue from an analytical point of
view, to someone who doesn’t think that way, may
feel as if that person is being very judgmental.
The best way to overcome or avoid a situation such
as that, in my opinion, is to first acknowledge the
other person’s viewpoint before dissecting or critiquing them
or their work, then engage them in your thought
process by using effective communication so that no one
misinterprets the message and actually become open-minded
and appreciate the critical perspective.I found the Cognitive
Development in College Students piece to be very
enlightening. Reading about the 3 different stages: dualism,
relativism and commitment expanded my understanding of
the many classifications of critical thinking and how we
each can have a different approach to a situation at
certain times in our lives. Critical thinking is having
the ability to analyze information open-mindedly and using
that information to form an opinion on the given
information. Some characteristics of critical thinkers can
include (but are not limited to): open-mindedness, problem
solving, optimism, and etc.
Some barriers to critical thinking might be group thinking,
laziness, or fear. Group thinking can lead to less
critical thinking on each persons part within a group.
While laziness and/or fear can cause lack of motivation
or a lack of confidence in ones critical thinking
abilities. Ways to overcome such barriers as these might
include using other areas to gain more self-confidence
and using methods to decrease procrastination and/or laziness
in order to have the time to put into research
and such to form an educated opinion or judgement.
There were many things within the reading assignment
for this week that expanded my ideas about critical
thinking. But, I think that the one that stuck out
to me the most was reevaluating how open minded
I actually am. I always thought I was very open
minded, however I was a little less than I originally
had thought. Overall, I really enjoyed the first readings
of this class and think they were very informative. I
would define critical thinking as the key to being
able to obtain a deeper understanding of different people
and subjects that we encounter throughout our daily life.
The reason I would define it as that explanation is
because if you don't accept certain information at face
value, and you find yourself wanting to know more
or why or how, that information that you obtain is
more knowledge than you knew before, and more than
what a standard thinker would learn.Some characteristics of
a critical thinker are being able to be flexible. You
want to allow yourself to be flexible because when
you are used to analyzing things you know that, not
everything happens the way it is set to. Allowing
yourself to be flexible correlates with the characteristic
of being open minded too. When you are able to
listen and understand all points of view and degree's
of certain things, surprises are less likely to through
you off the horse and cause a stir.Common barriers
to critical thinking and its' characteristics are resistance.
I'm not sure if there is one person on the Earth
that doesn't have something that they are completely
passionate about. When you feel strong towards something,
it is normal to become resistant when there is
something pushing against. With critical thinking, you should
be able to back yourself up with logical reasoning
and not running solely on what you've heard or seen,
and you also have to be accepting of what the
other party has to say as well.I really liked the
self assessments. I'm always a sucker for seeing where
I am at on a scale, whether it's like the one
from our reading, or knowing what color my personality
is. I learned that I have become more of a
critical thinker and I believe I have to owe that
to my job working at the Childrens Hospital when I
lived in Phoenix, and my job now that I hold
after I moved back to where I was raised. I
knew I grew as a critical thinker because I was
able to compare where I am at now, being able
to understand different people, their way of thinking, and
problem solving, to where I was before I moved out
to Arizona, which was the type of person that thought
the world was going to end with every bump in
the road. Being able to move to AZ on my own
and learn that independence when I didn't know the
area, or the people, I realized I had obtained many
critical thinking skills during those three years, and
honestly I am very grateful for it. Critical thinking
can be defined as the ability of a person to be
well informed, attentive, creative, and open-minded with the
ability to evaluate, analyze, and problem solve in a
intellectual manner and identify and resolve issues that
may happen in our lives. Most people can be good
critical thinkers as long as they are able to communicate
and be open minded to any situation without bias.
Some common barriers are self-centered or societal/cultural-
centered thinking. As human beings we tend to be
bias and let our emotions and feelings get the best
of us and it can cloud our judgement.Having a open
mind and putting yourself in the other person shoes.
Being empathetic and sometimes sympathetic can help avoid
a lot of barriers that we face everyday. Taking a
second to think and process before speaking and having
the correct information as well and not being narrow-
minded. Many of us have resistance as well that
affect our critical thinking.Reading the assignment for this
week really stood out because in certain situations I
am narrow-minded and I can also be open-minded as
well. I feel as long as I can communicate and
understand a person point of view I can critically
think clearer. Critical thinking, in my opinion, is evaluating
something or a situation and making a decision about
how you feel about it. I think it was really
interesting to see how the participants in the experiment
reacted to the instructions they were given. Many of
them only continued to give the electric shocks because
they were responding to authority and were afraid of
being defiant. The other participants knew it was wrong
and made the decision not to continue with the
experiment after a certain point. This really expanded
what I thought I knew about critical thinking before
this course. Some characteristics of critical thinkers are
self- confidence in your ability to reason, openness to
learning and thinking and the willingness to change your
opinions when necessary. When it comes to critical
thinking, it can be difficult sometimes to form our
own opinions about situations and how we believe we
should react. It can be much easier to follow the
directions or opinions of others and take them on as
our own even though we may feel differently. It's
important to stay strong in our beliefs and use critical
thinking skills to evaluate every situation and form your
own opinions. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze
and evaluate issues/topics to develop informed opinions or
action plans in an intellectual manner. A critical thinkers
is someone who has good communication and analytical
skills, is open minded, creative and is good at
problem solving. Barriers to critical thinking are narrow
mindedness as well as resistance/denial. Overcoming barriers
to critical thinking such as the ones I have mentioned
can be challenging as we are sometimes set in our
ways. Allowing yourself the ability to approach critical
thinking with an open mind (doesn't mean you agree
with everyone) will give you the opportunity to see
things in a different light and to learn something
about a topic/issue you would have never thought. It
also may bring you tolerance and compassion toward
others. Resistance/denial restricts our ability to make well
informed decisions therefore selling ourselves and others short
in our decision making. There were many things in
reading this assignment that expanded my idea regarding
critical thinking but the one thing that really stood
out to me was how although I perceived myself as
open minded I just may not be as open minded
as I thought. Listening to someone else's perspective on
issues does not make me open minded, having the
ability to change the way I think (not always agree)
and work with others constructively is really having an
open mind. Critical thinking requires that we reflect upon
our own experiences and then participate in a systematic
examination of other views and facts related to the
topic. A key component within this process is the
willingness to ask questions. This process enhances and
deepens one's understanding of an issue or a problem.
As part of the examination of one's thinking, he or
she should explore the strengths and weaknesses of the
views held. In addition to understanding the strengths
and weaknesses of our one's views, it is important
to understand the strengths and weaknesses in any
opposing views. As emerging professionals in your career
you are expected to understand a body and foundation
of knowledge, as opposed to having specific answers to
questions or a fixed set of facts. As technology and
culture change, so will the questions being asked and
their answers. They key is that you know how to
solve complex problems and create solutions to tough
problems and situations. If you only had answers to
specific questions, you may be limited on your ability
to apply problem solving skills.
