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First published in Polish by dr hab. Dorota Gierszewski 

Developing critical thinking skills

We are bombarded with thousands of pieces of information throughout the day. This is why thinking critically is crucial in the era of fake news. It helps you manage message overload. Accepting and believing everything that is communicated to you can be tricky.

It is worth knowing that critical thinking does not automatically develop over time. However, it helps in many situations, both in private life and at work. It allows you to make the best possible decisions but also to separate fact from nonsense. It greatly impacts how you see the world and, as a result, your life.

^{Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash}

What is critical thinking?

The adjective 'critical' is based on two Greek words; ktitikos, which can be translated as 'understanding judgement' and kriterion, meaning 'standards' and 'criteria'. Critical thinking can thus be understood as sound judgement based on specific criteria. Essentially, critical thinking requires the use of reasoning skills. It is, therefore, the ability to collect and analyse information to conclude.

How to train critical thinking muscles?

Critical thinking, the ability to reason and structure to understand the relationships between facts, can be learned. To do this, addressing various skills that make up critical thinking is recommended.

• observation

It allows you to see things beyond plain facts and consider varying points of view.

• allowing oneself to acquire new knowledge and accepting alternative opinions

Keeping an open mind is one of the most important foundations of critical thinking. Many times one settles for what they have already learnt. Many believe they know enough about various things and do not need to expand or update this knowledge. Critical thinking, however, means broadening your understanding and thus introducing new content to incorporate diverse perspectives. Open-mindedness helps you analyse and process information with the view to draw unbiased conclusions.

• questioning

Questioning what you have learnt is an important aspect of critical thinking. The right questions are crucial in this context. Asking questions prompts you to think critically.

• objective thinking

We all have illusions. Your way of thinking depends on the various filters you have at your disposal. Before you picture reality, one refers to past experiences and values we hold. However, it is important to remain objective and consider alternative points of view. Oftentimes you obtain contradictory information, in which case it is worth assessing its credibility and objectivity and ask yourself where it comes from and if facts support it.

Why is critical thinking significant, and will it be even more important in the future?

There are several reasons why critical thinking grows in importance. Life today is different from what it used to be. Firstly, we are increasingly flooded with information. It affects everyone, and it could be said that the world is now driven by information. Being overwhelmed by data forces you to invest more effort in receiving and selecting information, making it difficult to single out true and relevant news. The phenomenon of information overload itself is not new, yet its current characteristic feature is its intensity.

The second element is the ever-growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms. Systems using artificial intelligence algorithms are becoming increasingly popular and progressing rapidly. This, in turn, requires human judgement and decision-making skills, e.g. predicting how an algorithm can be manipulated.

Discover your ability to think critically

How do you verify if you can think critically?

• you check the facts and use different sources of information;
• you hypothesise;
• you make logical connections;
• you identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning; 
• you use substantive arguments and justifications;
• you can tell between facts and opinions;
• you can recognise your own emotions and these of other people;
• you think about thinking;
• you process information;
• you are open to ideas that challenge your beliefs;
• you are aware of the temporary nature of each position and are ready to change your point of view if new information is available.

You can feel at ease if you agree with most of the above statements. You have developed this competence well, which is your path to success. It is worth realising that none of us can always think critically. Remember that critical thinking takes time to learn and that it requires effort, persistence and patience. You also need relevant tools; to learn more about them, look at Rafał Żak's posts on EPALE.

Ask what advantages of critical thinking are the most important to you. Find your advantage, and this will certainly help you develop.