What is critical thinking?Even if you want to be a better critical thinker, it is hard to improve upon something you cannot define. Critical thinking is the analysis of an issue or situation and the facts, data or evidence related to it. Ideally, critical thinking is to be done objectively--meaning without influence from personal feelings, opinions or biases--and it focuses solely on factual information.
Critical thinking is a skill that allows you to make logical and informed decisions to the best of your ability. For example, a child who has not yet developed such skills might believe the Tooth Fairy left money under their pillow based on stories their parents told them. A critical thinker, however, can quickly conclude the existence of such a being is probably unlikely--even if there is money under their pillow.
Someone with critical thinking skills can:
-understand links between ideas
-determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas
-recognize, construct and evaluate arguments
-identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning
-approach problems consistently and systematically
-reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values
6 High Leverage Critical Thinking Skills
While there is no universal standard for critical thinking skills, there are some common competencies that recognizers look for. Focusing on these can put you on the path to becoming an exceptional critical thinker.
1. Identification
The first step in the critical thinking process is to identify the situation or problem as well as the factors that may influence it. Once you have a clear picture of the situation and the people, groups or factors that may be influenced, you can then begin to dive deeper into an issue and its potential solutions.
How to improve: When facing any new situation, question or scenario, stop to take a mental inventory of the state of affairs and ask the following questions:
-Who is doing what?
-What seems to be the reason for this happening?
-What are the end results, and how could they change?
2. Research
When comparing arguments about an issue, independent research ability is key. Arguments are meant to be persuasive--that means the facts and information presented in their favor might be lacking in context or come from unreliable or questionable sources. The best way to combat this is independent verification: find the source of the information and evaluate.
How to improve: Develop the ability to evaluate unsourced claims. Does the person posing the argument offer where they got this information? If there is no clear answer, that should be considered a red flag. It is also important to know that not all sources are equally valid. You should discern the difference between popular and scholarly, valid and reliable sources.
3. Identifying biases
It is difficult to recognize biases. Strong critical thinkers do their best to evaluate information objectively. Think of yourself as a judge or juror in that you want to evaluate the claims of both sides of an argument, but you'll also need to keep in mind the biases each side may possess.
It is equally important--and arguably more difficult--to learn how to set aside your own personal biases that may cloud your judgement. You must be aware that bias may exist. When evaluating information or an argument, ask yourself the following:
-Who does this benefit?
-Does the source of this information appear to have a bias or agenda?
-Is the source overlooking, ignoring or leaving out information that does not support its beliefs or claims?
-Is this source using unnecessary language to sway an audience's perception of a fact?
4. Inference
The ability to infer and draw conclusions based on information presented to you is another important skill for mastering critical thinking. Information does not always come with a summary that spells out what it means. You will often need to assess the information given and draw conclusions based upon raw data. The ability to infer allows you to deduct and discover potential outcomes when assessing a scenario. It is also important to note that not all inferences will be correct. For example, if you read that someone weighs 260 pounds, you might infer that they are overweight or unhealthy. Other data points like height and body composition, however, might alter that conclusion.
How to improve: An inference is an educated guess, and your ability to infer correctly can be polished by making a conscious effort to gather as much information as possible before jumping to conclusions. When faced with a new scenario or situation to evaluate, first try skimming for clues--things like headlines, images and prominently featured statistics--and then make a point to ask yourself what you think is going on.
5. Determining Relevance
One of the most challenging parts of thinking critically during a challenging scenario is figuring out what information is the most important for your consideration. In many scenarios, you will be presented with information that may seem important, but it may turn out to be only a minor data point to consider.
How to improve: The best way to bet better at determining relevance is by establishing a clear direction what you're trying to figure out. Are you tasked with finding a solution? Should you be identifying a trend? If you figure out your end goal or desired result, you can use this to inform your judgment of what is relevant.
Even with a clear objective, however, it can still be difficult to determine what information is truly relevant. One strategy for combating this is to make a physical list of data points in ranked order of relevance. When you approach things this way, you will likely end up with a list that includes a couple of obviously relevant pieces of information at the top of your list and some points at the bottom that you can likely disregard. From there, you can narrow your focus on the less clear cut topics that reside in the middle of your list for further evaluation.
6. Curiosity
It is incredibly easy to sit back and take everything presented to you at face value, but that can be disastrous when faced with a scenario that requires critical thinking. It is true that we are all naturally curious--just ask any parent who has faced a million "Why?" questions from their child. As we get older, it can be easier to get in the habit of keeping that impulse to ask questions at bay. However, that is not a smart approach for critical thinking.
How to improve: While it might seem like a curious mind is just something you are born with, you can still train yourself to foster that curiosity productively. All it takes is a conscious effort to ask open ended questions about the things you see in your everyday life, and you can then invest the time to follow up on those questions.