GED 101 – CASE FEU Gen Ed Prof. Leo F. Cada, Jr.

Barriers to Critical Thinking

By: Denis Korn

Name: Jaimee Valerie D. Jonson

Section: Section 134

Time/Room: 1:30-3:00 PM/ ENB 806

Date Submitted: May 13, 2020

GED 101 – CASE FEU Gen Ed Prof. Leo F. Cada, Jr.

Barriers to Critical Thinking:

According to the article written by Davis Korn (2011), there are a lot of barriers to

critical thinking which is also the reason why uncritical thinking is so common. As critical

thinkers, we must be aware of these barriers and overcome these using our best ability.

Personally, two of the barriers stated in the article influence my critical thinking and those are

egocentrism (self-centered thinking) and over reliance on feelings.

1. Egocentrism (self-centered thinking)

The term egocentric is a concept that originated within Piaget’s theory of childhood

development. It refers to someone’s inability to understand that another’s perspective and beliefs

may be different than their own (Clarke, 2019). Honestly, I have only figured out now that being

so focus only on the things that you believe in is one of the reasons why it is hard for us to think

critically and even make the right decisions. We become so attached to the things that we know

that when new ideas are presented to us, it is so hard for us to accept it and we tend to ignore it or

find a way to connect it with the things that we are believing. Little did we know that that is a big

act of being self-centered and a very big barrier to be able to think critically.

2. Over reliance on feelings

Emotions and feelings are parts of everyday lives and they undeniably affect the actions

and behavior that we obtain and even our critical thinking. However, we have to learn how to

control these. Research has shown that when we are very dependent on our feelings, our critical

thinking abilities decrease dramatically. The more emotional we get, the more we lose our focus.

Unfortunately, it has a lot of consequences such as not being able to decide properly and it can

also affect how we deal with the things and people around us (Matsumoto, 2009).
GED 101 – CASE FEU Gen Ed Prof. Leo F. Cada, Jr.

Conclusion:

If I find that I am acting like egocentric and dependent on feelings again, I will do my

best to calm myself and stop it. It is important to be aware of these kinds of attitudes because if

not, it will cause us a lot of consequences. So as early as possible, we have to do our greatest

ability to overcome it. Therefore I conclude that barriers to critical thinking such as egocentrism

and over reliance on feelings can badly affect our critical thinking and that can result in having

poor decision making and poor interaction with the things and people around us.

References:

Clarke, J., (2019). Verywellmind. What It Means to Be Egocentric. Retrieved from

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-egocentric-4164279

Matsumoto, D., (2009). Humintell. Do emotions Affect Critical Thinking? Retrieved from

https://www.humintell.com/2009/08/do-emotions-affect-critical-thinking/