CRWT CHARACTERISTICS OF A CRITICAL THINKER Flashcards
(19 cards)
is considered as one of the first innate critical thinking skills that people
learn as a child. You observe when you perceive your environment to be more aware of the world around us. As you observe, you also take mental notes of relevant details, which you can use to develop deeper insight and a more profound understanding of the world.
Observation
- is a core trait of many successful leaders. It is prerequisite to learning. Without it, there would be fewer discoveries and fewer inventions. Furthermore, there would be less radical principles as people would have been afraid to challenge the status quo, resulting to dormancy in our society.
- Being inherently inquisitive and interested in the world and people around you is a hallmark of leaders who are critical thinkers. Rather than taking everything at face value, a curious person will wonder why something is the way it is, and will not be afraid to impose changes as deemed necessary.
- forces you to keep an open mind and propels you to gain deeper knowledge all of which are also fundamental to being a lifelong learner.
Curiosity
- A critical thinker remains objective despite the situation being affective and personal. That person is able to distinguish facts from opinions, logic from emotions and reality from wishful thinking. Moreover, judgment is not dictated by other compelling people.
- Nevertheless, being objective does not mean losing all your personal beliefs, biases and preferences. It only means being aware of your own weaknesses, and knowing how to separate subjectivity from objectivity. It is also the first step to becoming an analytical thinker.
Objectivity
- is the state of being aware of your own manner of thinking and train of
thoughts. It means knowing when to shift thoughts or to stop altogether. - allows you to stay alert and attentive at all times. It is also a good quality
to have when self-reflecting on your decisions and actions
Introspection
- Critical thinkers are innate analytical thinkers, and analytical thinkers are on their way to becoming critical thinkers.. The ability to analyze information is key when looking at anything, whether it is a piece of business document, statistical data or a pressing situation.
- To analyze information, you need to break information down to its component parts and evaluate how well those parts function together and separately. Analysis relies on observation—on gathering and evaluating evidence so you can come to a meaningful conclusion.
Analytical thinking
Critical thinkers challenge their own beliefs by verifying the sources of their information and looking for alternative sources. Doing this helps you understand your own biases and question your preconceived notions.
Identifying biases
When gathering information, you should not be distracted by the reputation of the source, the complexity of the data and the popularity of the information. Only look at its relevance to the topic and the arguments that you are planning to raise
Determining relevance
- Information does not always come with a summary that spells out exactly what it means. Critical thinkers need to assess the information and draw conclusions based on raw data. Inference is the ability to extrapolate meaning from data and discover potential outcomes when assessing a scenario.
-It is also important to understand the difference between inference and assumptions. For example, if you see data that someone weighs 100 kilograms, you might assume they are overweight or unhealthy. However, other data points like height and body composition may alter that conclusion since the normality of weight depends on the combination of weight and height, also known as the body-mass index (BMI)
Inference
At first, having compassion and empathy may seem like a negative quality for critical thinkers. After all, being sentimental and emotional can skew our perception of a situation. However, the point of having compassion is to have concern for others and to value the welfare of other people.
Compassion and empathy
- is the willingness to acknowledge one’s shortcomings and see one’s positive
attributes in an accurate way. It makes us aware of our own assets and flaws, which shows how open minded you are and willing to learn. - When you have intellectual humility, you are open to other people’s viewpoints. This is without saying that you accept all viewpoints presented in front of you. You only acknowledge their existence, but not their validity.
- You are also able to recognize when you are wrong, and you are willing to challenge your own beliefs when beneficial.
Humility
- Critical thinking means questioning long-established beliefs and practices, and refusing to adhere to traditional methods. Critical thinkers are looking for smart, thoughtful answers and methods that take into account all the current and relevant information and practices available. Their willingness to challenge the status quo may seemcontroversial, but it is an essential part of the innovative and creative mind of a critical thinker.
- By challenging the status quo, you acknowledge that everything can change and has to be changed when deemed necessary.
Willing to challenge the status quo
Critical thinkers avoid launching into a frenzied argument or taking sides—they want to hear all perspectives. Critical thinkers do not jump to conclusions right away. They approach a question or situation with an open mind and embrace other opinions and
views.
Open-mindedness
Critical thinkers do not allow their logic and reasoning to become clouded by illusions and misconceptions. They are aware of the common logical fallacies, which are errors in reasoning that often creep into arguments and debates.
Awareness of common thinking errors
in which the premise of an argument or a conclusion is used
as support for the argument itself.
Circular reasoning
in which you stubbornly stick to a favored view or argument when other more effective possibilities or explanations exist.
Cognitive shortcut bias
In other words, asserting that when two things happen together, one causes the other. Without direct evidence, this assumption isn’t justified
Confusing correlation with causation
It is hard to strictly define effective communication as a person’s effectiveness varies depending on the situation and the people involved. In general, though, a person is said to be an effective communication when the 7Cs of effective communications are observed both in oral and written forms: clarity, clarity, conciseness, concreteness, correctness, coherence, completeness and courtesy
Effective communication
- Effective critical thinkers are also largely creative thinkers. Creative thinkers reject standardized formats for problem solving. They think outside the box and dare to defy standards when deemed more beneficial. They have a wide range of interests and adopt multiple perspectives on a problem. They are also open to experimenting with different methods and considering different viewpoints.
- The biggest difference between critical thinkers and creative thinkers is that creativity is associated with generating ideas, while critical thinking is associated with analyzing and appraising those ideas. Creativity is important to bringing in novel ideas; critical thinking can bring those ideas into clearer focus.
- Incidentally, creativity is also considered as the extension of the 7Cs of effective communication, sometimes calling it the 9Cs of effective communication with the inclusion of “creativity” together with “credibility.”
Creative thinking
- Attentive listening is often classified into two: active listening and passive listening. Both involve intent listening, which is good as it shows genuine interest, but between the two, only active listening shows adequate feedback.
- Attentive listening, in as far as communications is concerned, is great, but being a passive listener may not always be the best option. Hence, one has to practice active listening and make his or her presence feel in the group. This is known as the precursor to assertiveness as one has to participate in the discussion first before asserting opinions.
Active listening
