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5 ways to improve critical thinking
Critical thinking is way too different from mere thinking because it requires a logical analysis of available facts, observations, evidence, and arguments to form an accurate and rational judgment. On the one hand, critical thinking is an unbiased evaluation of factual evidence. On the other hand, it is more complex than just thinking, which occurs as a form of mere personal opinion. Let me explain the difference between mere and critical thinking using an example from ordinary life.
Critical thinking example:
A long weekend is coming, and you are planning to go on a trip to a coastal side. Your destination will be one of the seaside hotels, and you want to check the quality of your stay by referring to the selected hotel website. There you see an attractive gallery consisting of the serenity of the seashore, kids playing on the shore while adults are surfing, some delicious seafood menus, etc. Now, you are impressed and feel like going to that place. But the critical part of your brain nudges you to search some more. So, you dive into the reviews given by previous travelers. Happily, you find 5 star-reviews on the top of a hotel review.
Then you go deep and deep into the reviews and find that food they serve is inadequate and only the firstcomers are served well. And there is a continuous complaint that the hotel staff cannot cope with the large crowd coming to the hotel, and there is a time lag in responding to room services. After going through these reviews, you are having second thoughts about selecting this hotel because you are not choosing this destination to disappoint during your long weekend stay. Obviously, you will look for other options and make a better decision.
Why is Critical Thinking Important?
Everyone is making decisions, and everyone is thinking. Therefore, nothing is new in thinking, but only critical thinking gives us effective results. Thinking is common to all, while critical thinking is something you need to develop with rational choices based on evidence and careful observation. Polishing your critical thinking skills makes you stand out among others and help you to excel in your professional and personal life. Even though critical thinking is essential to anyone, people like entrepreneurs find it most important to make profitable decisions by combatting challenges.
5 ways to improve critical thinking
This article is about what is critical thinking and the ways to improve it. Therefore, let us learn five ways to improve critical thinking by reading along.
- Formulating the question
- Gathering information
- Applying gathered information
- Consider implications
- Explore other points of view
Carefully following these 5 ways to improve critical thinking will help you as an investment for your future.
Formulating the question
This is the primary stage of diving into your problem. Let us assume that you have an exam you must take to excel in your career. So, it would help if you had the plan to solve this problem without being cornered and crying over spilled milk. First, you need to understand which areas you should have studied last time. Then you need to understand the essential areas to pay special attention to. Likewise, you need to break down the list of things you need to follow.
Gather information
After breaking down the aspects of your problem, you know what is essential and relevant for making a decision. As you have failed the exam, you may need to find relevant books and notes to follow and good tutors too. Reaching a tutor and having discussions with experts or your friends on the subject will educate you to a considerable extent.
Applying gathered information
Facing a decision, you need to question yourself about three things.
- What concepts are at work?
- What assumptions exist?
- Is my interpretation of the information logically sound?
Referring to a situation where someone promises you to do something, you need to understand why that person is promising you. What are the benefits that a person has in return? People often make decisions for their benefit; as Adam Smith mentioned, people follow self-interest. That is why you need to follow these 5 ways to improve critical thinking. If you do not, the other will think critically and surpass you. Before jumping to a conclusion, you need to question whether that person is telling the truth by examining the available evidence.
Consider implications
If you are a chess (which is all about critical thinking) player, you may find it easy to understand what I am going to tell you now. Sometimes, you may need to see your decisions’ long-term consequences, which is critical. Therefore, you must consider all possible outcomes before making an important decision. For instance, the degree you are going to study, the life partner you will marry, and the job you will have are some good examples of strategic choices. At these points, you need to use critical thinking to foresee short-term, medium0termand long-term effects of those decisions.
Explore other points of view
Wayne Dyer said, “if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Each person has their thinking pattern and perspective. Two people have differing views on the same situation. That is why social sciences have become such a complex area to define social behavior. Each person thinks differently. But you can try and understand how other people think, judge, or make decisions. For that, you need to think in the way they do. In other words, you can learn more about another subject by understanding other perspectives.
Why these 5 ways to improve critical thinking is Important?
In life, we have to face different situations. In society, there are lots of conflicts. The way each person reacts to these conflicts is different. A person may fail to solve a problem to which someone may have an intelligent answer. This is because of the different levels of critical thinking practiced by each person. You have plenty of real-life examples: one Prime Minister steps down due to his inability to solve problems, and another Prime Minister commences his office to solve the same problems. So, this is all about critical thinking capacity. I hope you got an idea of critical thinking by reading our article on 5 ways to improve critical thinking.
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