How do emotions positively and negatively influence critical thinking?
I think we all go through a mix of emotions in our everyday critical thinking. In my
experience I have found that positive emotions when making a decision allow us to
make more rationale decisions. This is because if we have positive emotions when
making decisions we tend to put more thought into our decisions, the end result of
this is more wiser decisions. In contrast negative emotions may discourage us into
thinking through our decision, and we end up making poor decisions . An example
would be trying to make a rational decision when we are angry . When we are angry
I think people tend to shut out critical thinking all together , and are quick make
decisions without all the facts.
Describe how you balance your emotion and reason when making
decisions. Include an example of when you had to use both.
Emotion can greatly impact our decision making because I feel if we put to much
emotion in our decision making we end up making decisions based more upon our
feelings towards the topic instead of using the facts that lead to a wiser decision. I
feel our decisions need to be firm , and built with confidence. So I try to balance my
emotion and reason in my decision making by thinking of what the desired outcome
is in my decision making. For me I have a hard time letting emotion take over some
of my decisions with my 3 year old toddler. I think this is a form of emootive
language use to manipulate my decision. For example , if I am asking her to pick up
her toys. She will pout , fuss and make cute little sad faces at me . She melts my
heart then I start to feel guilty , and want to give in and just pick them up for her, but
I have to stop myself and think , ok if let my emotion take over we will not reach the
ultimate goal of teaching her she has to clean up her mess when she is done playing.
This then makes me stronger and a wiser decision is made.
Explain the role of communication in critical thinking and provide an
example of a time when and how language or communication influenced
your critical thinking.
The role of communication in critical thinking , both verbal and non verbal , are very
important in making the most informative and logical decision. Communication
conveys the message or facts that should be used to make a decision. For this
reason it is very important we are provided all the information needed to make the
decision, and as the receiver, listening is an important part of communication so that
we collect the correct information. An example for me would be when I was speaking
to my wifi company to decide if I wanted to upgrade my wifi speed. There was a
language barrier , the represenative had a very deep accent so I could not
understand the information he was trying to give me as far as pricing. Pricing is a
crucial piece of information that I needed to make that decision. Due to this gap in
communication I was unable to make the decision that day. I decided to call back
another time and speak to someone else. Emotions also played a role in this because
I became very frustrated.
Reflect on the learning activities, concepts, ideas, and topics covered this
week. What is the most interesting activity or concept you learned this
week? Mention any concepts that are still a bit confusing to you or that you
have questions about.
In this weeks topic the topic I found most interesting is on verbal communication .
Because body language can say so much , and convey messages even without words
, but at the same time they can be a form of manipulation because you can smile at
someone which sends one message, but the real emotion can be the complete
opposite. I think at times we all put on what is called a " fake smile" , for this reason
this form of communication is not always clear.
