Practical questions

 

•              American Psychological Association 7 (APA7) is the standard format for the entire paper.

•              No less than 700 words

•               A minimum of 3 Level One Headings (the conclusion will not count as a Level One Heading).

•               A minimum of 3 references must be used to support entries

 

2. TITLE PAGE:

 

•              Title of Paper (Title Case)

•              Student Name (Full Name)

•              school

•              Class number

•              Instructor's Name

•              Date (Paper due date)

 

Standard:  write a total of 350 words on the three topics below using the material provided how your ability to influence your subordinate leaders as well as your superiors.

1. A definition of critical thinking

2. Facts and assumptions

3. Paradigms

Paradigms:

Paradigms are generally accepted models or patterns that define how people see the world working. They have repeated validation and are accepted as “conventional wisdom” by the group. Paradigms may be rooted in doctrine or tradition and are often reinforced by ideology and dogmatic belief systems. Many paradigms are rooted in cultural background and are not visible to the group. Paradigms are normally only re-examined after a significant emotional event. An example of a paradigm from American society is that the “jocks” on the football team are less intelligent than the average student. This paradigm is reexamined when a football player graduates as the Valedictorian of their class. The paradigm acts like a filter. What a person “believes” (their paradigm) influences what they “see” (their perception or interpretation) and this results in a mental model that could limit thinking and creativity. A story that relates to the idea of a paradigm controlling or limiting one’s thinking is that of training an elephant. A baby elephant is chained to a big concrete block for several months when it is young. After struggling for months to move this block unsuccessfully, it accepts the fact that it cannot move the block. When the elephant has accepted that fact, the trainer can replace the block and chain with a wooden peg and a rope which the elephant could easily break if it thought it could. Everyone has paradigms constraining their thoughts and actions which come from their culture or upbringing. Our enemies do too. They will take advantage of our self-imposed limitations, our unwillingness to use children or women as shields or decoys and how difficult it is for us to accept that the contemporary enemy has no such inhibitions

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking involves examining problems from a fresh perspective to develop innovative solutions. Creative thinking occurs by consciously generating new ideas and re-evaluating or combining old ideas to solve a problem. Creativity is a willingness to accept change and apply a flexible outlook for multiple perspectives, new ideas, and possibilities.

3-51. Identifying hidden assumptions is useful for developing greater creativity and insight. Producing reasons against a preferred conclusion or option instead of favoring that conclusion or option improves thorough reasoning and identifies possible contingencies. Imagine what causes a speculative conclusion to be incorrect. Considering ways something would not be true allows determining other possible situational aspects and ways to shape the outcome to avoid those undesired states. Finding hidden assumptions or imagining failure are similar techniques that protect against group think and hasty agreement with conventional wisdom. Think about what could cause failure. Those causes are likely assumptions that were not evident. Identifying hidden assumptions can mitigate the risk of an incorrect assessment.

Facts 3-21. Facts are verifiable pieces of information or information that has objective reality. They form the foundation on which leaders base solutions to problems. Regulations, policies, doctrinal publications, commander’s guidance, plans and orders, and personal experiences are just a few sources of facts.

Assumptions 3-22. Assumptions are specific suppositions of an operational environment (OE) or problem that are assumed to be true, in the absence of positive proof. Planners and commanders only use assumptions that are essential for the continuation of planning. In other words, an assumption is information that is accepted as true in the absence of facts, but at the time of planning cannot be verified. Appropriate assumptions used in decision-making have two characteristics: • They are valid; that is, they are likely to be true. • They are necessary; that is, they are essential to continuing the problem-solving process. 3-23. If the process can continue without making a particular assumption, the assumption is unnecessary and not used. So long as an assumption is both valid and necessary, leaders treat it as a fact. Leaders continually seek to confirm or deny the validity of their assumptions. The confirmation or denial of an assumption may require the problem and plan to be reassessed.

Standard: write a total of 350 words on the three topics below using the material provided how your ability to influence your subordinate leaders as well as your superiors.

1. Attitudes that promote creativity

Evolution. This is the method of incremental improvement. New ideas stem from other ideas, new solutions from previous ones, the new ones slightly improved over the old ones. Many of the very sophisticated things we enjoy today developed through a long period of constant incrimination. Making something a little better here, a little better there gradually makes it something a lot better—even entirely different from the original. For example, look at the history of the automobile or any product of technological progress. With each new model, improvements are made. Each new model builds upon the collective creativity of previous models, so that over time, improvements in economy, comfort, and durability take place. Here the creativity lies in the refinement, the step-by-step improvement, rather than in something completely new. Another example would be the improvement of the common wood screw by what are now commonly called drywall screws. They have sharper threads, which are angled more steeply for faster penetration and better holding. The points are self-tapping. The shanks are now threaded all the way up on lengths up to two inches. The screws are so much better that they can often be driven in without pilot holes, using a power drill. The evolutionary method of creativity also reminds us of that critical principle: Every problem that has been solved can be solved again in a better way. Creative thinkers do not subscribe to the idea that once a problem has been solved, it can be forgotten, or to the notion that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” A creative thinker’s philosophy is that “there is no such thing as an insignificant improvement.”

2. Blocks to creativity

Negative Attitudes That Block Creativity 1. Oh no, a problem! The reaction to a problem is often a bigger problem than the problem itself. Many people avoid or deny problems until it’s too late, largely because these people have never learned the appropriate emotional, psychological, and practical responses. A problem is an opportunity. The happiest people welcome and even seek out problems, meeting them as challenges and opportunities to improve things. Definition: a problem is (1) seeing the difference between what you have and what you want or (2) recognizing or believing that there is something better than the current situation or (3) an opportunity for a positive act. Seeking problems aggressively will build confidence, increase happiness, and give you a better sense of control over your life. 2. It can’t be done. This attitude is, in effect, surrendering before the battle. By assuming that something cannot be done or a problem cannot be solved, a person gives the problem a power or strength it didn’t have before. And giving up before starting is, of course, self fulfilling. But look at the history of solutions and the accompanying skeptics: man will never fly, diseases will never be conquered, rockets will never leave the atmosphere. Again, the appropriate attitude is summed up by the statement, “The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.”

3. Logic fallacies:

Importance of them. Explain how hasty generalization is bad in the military.