Critical Thinking …!

Table of content

Definition of critical thinking

Critical thinking features

Advantages and disadvantages of critical thinking

Perception and what influence it

Argument and fallacy

What does Criticism mean?

The act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the

quality of a work, musical performance, art, dramatic
production and so on….
Definition

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the ability to think in an organized and rational manner in order to
understand connections between ideas and/or facts.

It is a way of thinking in which you don't simply accept all arguments and conclusions
you are exposed to but rather have an attitude involving questioning such arguments and
conclusions.
Critical thinking has six critical features:
1) Being curious

2) Being open-minded to different sides.

3) Being analytical.

4) Being persistent to truth.

5) Being confident about critical thinking itself.

6) Being mature.
The circumstances that require critical thinking vary from industry to industry. Below
some examples of critical thinking in different fields :

● A nurse analyzes the cases at hand and decides the order by which the patients should be
treated.
● A plumber evaluates the materials that would best suit a particular job.
● A lawyer reviews evidence and put a strategy to win a case .
● A manager analyzes customer feedback forms and uses this information to develop
the service training session for team.
 Advantages :

- Academic Success

Memorizing exactly what the teacher told you will serve you well on questions that ask for such
verbatim recitation of information, but the best grades and future success will go to students
who can ask questions about those facts, draw connections between them.

- Professional Success

Critical thinking skills will make you more effective in whatever field you choose to go into
Advantages
- It enhances creativity

evaluating new ideas, selecting the best ones and modifying them if necessary

- It's a Multi-Faceted Practice

It promotes the development of things like Reasoning skills,Analytical thinking, Evaluative

skills , Logical thinking, planning skills, Language skills, etc …..
Advantages

- You Can predict How Things Will Turn out

Critical thinking is considered to be a better predictor of real-world outcomes than intelligence

 Disadvantages

Critical thinking is the killer of dreams

when you start to analyze critically you will start to have second thoughts and will be
confronted with countless dilemmas. So you must avoid “overthinking” to avoid the dryness
and confusion.

Questioning your beliefs

Critical thinking can lead you into new and frightening territory. You might find yourself
questioning the values, even the religion,
 Disadvantages

Losing all benefits of other ways of thinking

Sometimes people get caught up in the sequential nature of critical thinking and exclude
other forms of thinking, such as creative thinking. It means you will lose all benefits of other
ways of thinking. This would be a disadvantage, since creative thinking, for example, tends to
produce innovation and invention.

Quick decisions lost

Sometimes the time to make the decision is long. Critical thinkers often try to weigh every
little detail out before making a decision. This can influence the outcome if it is a
time-sensitive matter.
 Perception
Definition:
Perception (from the Latin percipio) is the organization,
identification, and interpretation of sensory information in
order to represent and understand the environment.

Perception is formed through observation of one’s

surroundings

The behavior exhibited by an individual is ultimately

influenced by how that individual sees the world
(Ferguson & Bargh, 2004).
Perception’s two main process

1- processing sensory input (low level) 2-processing person’s concepts (high level)

transforms low-level information to higher-level processing which is connected with a person's

information (e.g., extracts shapes for object concepts and expectations (knowledge) and
recognition) selective mechanisms (attention) that influence
perception
Low level examples
Low level examples
Low level examples
High level examples

1-Predicting future events

2- understanding body language

3-understanding human behaviors

etc...
3 main steps for perception

1-selection

2-organization

3-interpretation
What influences
perception ?

Perception is an unconscious
process where you take in sensory
information from the environment
and use that information in order
to construct your own version of
reality
Factors That influence perception:

Physiological Influences:

● biological cycles:
○ Body temperature, Alertness, Stress,Tolerance, etc.

● Sensory information:
○ Hunger, Aging, Health, Exhaustion, mood, etc.
Psychological Factors:

Internal factors:

● Personality – Personality traits influence how a person selects perceptions.

For instance, conscientious people tend to select details and choices that
will benefit themselves.

● Motivation – People will select perceptions according to what they need in

the moment.

● Expectations – also called “prior beliefs,” help us make sense of what we

are perceiving in the present, based on similar past experiences.
Psychological Factors:
External factors:

● Size – A larger size makes it more likely an object will be selected.

● Intensity – Greater intensity, in brightness, for example, Colourful items.

● Motion – A moving perception is more likely to be selected.

● Novelty and familiarity – When a perception is new, it stands out in a person’s

experience. When it is familiar, it is likely to be selected because of this
familiarity.
Social Influences:
● Socioeconomic level.

● Family background.

● Position in the community.

● Educational background.

● Gender.

● Relational rule.
 Argument
“That's the beauty of argument, if you argue

correctly, you're never wrong.”

Christopher Buckley
Argument

● Definition: is essentially a conclusion or claim, with

assumptions or reasons to support that claim.

● Arguments
○ Bring out the active side of our human nature.
○ Categorized to
■ logically correct
■ logically incorrect
Argument

Types of arguments
1. Deductive arguments
An argument is deductive when you move
from universal premises to a particular conclusion
2. Inductive arguments.
one moves from particular premises to a
universal conclusion
Argument Deductive Arguments Inductive argument

If all the premises are true The If all the premises are true, the
conclusion must be true conclusion is probably true but
not necessarily true.

All of the information or The conclusion sometimes

factual content in the contains information not
conclusion is already present, even implicitly in the
contained, at least implicitly, premises
on the premises.
 Fallacy
“Now there are almost as many
fallacies in this sentence as there are
words.”

Millicent Garrett Fawcet

Fallacy

● Fallacy: Is an illogical step in the formulation I. Formal fallacies: have to do with the violation of rules of
valid inference.
of an argument.

II. Informal fallacies are errors in reasoning that we fall into

● fallacies can make illogical arguments seem because of carelessness or inattention or because we want
logical, tricksters use them to persuade their to trick others into accepting our position based on

audiences to believe illogical claims. convictions that are not factual

● Divided into
○ Formal fallacies
○ informal fallacies
Fallacy

NO Fallacies Description
1 Ad hominem This trick, literally translated as “to the man,” subtly or overtly distorts a person's character,
destroying their credibility no matter how valid their argument is.

2 Appeal to authority Traditionally called Argumentum ad verecundiam. "It's the brand Oprah uses."

3 Appeal to fear This trick causes your audience to fear others and seek your protection. "

4 Appeal to pity (or sympathy) " allows manipulators to avoid responsibility for something

5 Appeal to popular passions Traditionally called Argumentum ad Populum. This trick implies that the manipulator shares the
same views as the audience

6 Begging the question Traditionally called Petitio Principii, this fallacy leans on an argument that may not be true in the
first place.

7 Disinformation Manipulators know that merely launching a rumor is sometimes enough to discredit a person.

8 Faulty statistics This involves manipulating numbers or quoting statistics from questionable sources to gain the
perception of validity. "