BARRIERS TO

CULTIVATING
THINKING
Why is thinking significant?
Why is there a need to
improve one’s thinking?
Thinking is the main thing we
do. In each moment of our life,
we think. Even if we want to,
we cannot escape thinking.
How well do we think of our
thinking? Why are we thinking
Drawing Assumptions
An assumptions is
something we take for
granted or presuppose. All
of our thinking and
Assumptions can be
true or false, verifiable
or disputable,
depending on what and
1.What is
the woman
doing?
Where is
 2.With the
caption, what
do you think the
woman is up to?
Every Sunday, she feels so at home in a
state prison
3. With the facts
presented, what is the
woman up to?
4. How did you arrive at
your conclusion?
Sandy Ebrada, M.A. is a
practicing Psychologist who has
spent every Sunday the past six
years giving free Psychology
classes and group therapy
session to prisoners in the
Through her work, she sees that there
is hope and goodness in them. She tells
the time that one of the prisoners she
helped offered her a carved-out rock
that held a plant he had taken care of
for three years. She speaks of the
generosity of another who despite the
little that he had in the prison, still
Often, we make assumptions
and end up concluding
without verifying. Critical
thinking process helps us
verify and investigate
It supplants sloppy thinking
with a clear one. Making
assumptions without
investigating is a big barrier
to cultivating critical
thinking. Baseless conclusions
The lady who bought a pack
of cookies got mad with a
man whom she thought was
sharing with her cookies. The
pack of cookies that she
thought was hers was in the
How often do we
think carelessly?
What does it take to
check and verify?
Critical thinking is
analyzing, assessing,
and transforming
one’s thought for the
Assess yourself.
Honestly answer the
following questions by
checking the
1.Do I answer questions I am not
competent to answer? Yes No
2.Do I come to conclusions based on
inaccurate or irrelevant information?
Yes No
3.Do I ignore information that does
not support my view? Yes No
4.Do I make inferences not justified
by my experiences? Yes No
5.Do I distort data and state it
inaccurately? Yes No
6.Do I fail to notice the inferences I
make? Yes No
7.Do I come to unreasonable
conclusions? Yes No
8.Do I often make unjustified
assumptions? Yes No
9.Do I miss key ideas? Yes No
10.Do I use irrelevant ideas? Yes No
11.Do I fail to notice my assumptions?
Yes No
Activity: You are going
to present a short film
which reflects/connects
to the topic being