Critical thinking skills
Critical thinking is a very common term that (to put it as simplest as possible) implies to some proper way of thinking and reaching conclusions. ‘Critical’ in this sense does not have some negative meaning, but rather it implies to a detailed analysis and evaluation of some object of thinking. It is the term that is very often seen in job postings and in CVs and is apparently highly valued in today’s job markets. And although it can be said that there is some kind of consensus among authors about what lies in its core, it seems that in public opinion there is a variety of different notions and understandings of critical thinking.
That is why a numerous list of different skills is mentioned when explaining critical thinking, some of them being mentioned more often than others. Critical thinking is described by following terms: analysis, problem-solving, information seeking, evaluation - judging by a standard, logical reasoning, inference, observation, interpretation, creativity, open-mindedness, self-regulation, communication, collaboration and even some other attributes related to motivation and emotions.
Critical thinking is also proclaimed as a highly desired educational goal, and some of the high schools and universities around the world have subjects or courses which are specifically designed to develop critical thinking skills. On the other hand, some consider that critical thinking should be the educational outcome of all subjects and courses, while education system is often criticized as not developing critical thinking skills among students.
Below, we will touch on some of these aspects in order to better understand this complex and very hot term in today’s educational and business world.
Analysing information
If we would have to describe critical thinking in just one word, it would probably be ‘analysis’.
Analysis means a detailed examination of the structure or separate parts of some object of thinking. Breaking a complex matter into smaller parts in order to understand it.
Searching for information or evidence to back-up some claim or hypothesis, analysing information according to some standards and evaluating each segment of it is what is most often stated as a vital critical thinking skill.
“Critical thinking is the act of analysing facts to understand a problem or topic thoroughly”, says one very short and simple definition. One longer and often cited definition says: “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action”.
Problem-solving ability
Critical thinking isn’t just a free thinking about anything in particular, it is a goal-oriented thinking, with the goal of finding an answer, resolving some problem or making a decision.
That’s why critical thinking is often defined in relation to the problem-solving ability. Some consider problem-solving as one of the critical thinking skills, while other think that critical thinking is a crucial skill for problem solving. Compared to critical thinking, the term problem solving seems to be intuitive and easy-to-understand - it is the ability to solve problems, right? But this still doesn’t tell us what kind of ‘problems’ we are talking about, neither how that ‘solving’ part works.
Common steps of using critical thinking for problem solving are: 1) identify a problem, 2) search for information, gather data, 3) organize and evaluate it, distinguish between important and less important, 4) identify assumptions/biases, 5) make inferences, develop a solution, 6) communicate or execute it. These steps don’t have to be placed in that order and can intertwine, but this is some most common order of sequence.
Self-regulatory thinking
Some authors point out freeing from one’s own subjectivity and biases when performing critical thinking. We have to be aware of our own process of thinking (and feelings) and to, in a way, stand aside from it, so we could be able to catch our own flaws and biases in thinking.
It is said that critical thinking includes identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. This requires to be able to perform that ‘meta’ level of thinking, which sometimes can be confusing or can make the process of thinking too slow. That is why some describe critical thinking as “thinking about thinking”—identifying and fixing flaws in the way we think.
Indeed, many considerations on this subject point out to self-regulatory aspect of critical thinking, its awareness of itself and being disciplined in that. Thought in this way, critical thinking is an important skill for self-development and improvement.
Being curious and asking questions
Socrates is considered one of the fathers of critical thinking with his method of thoughtful questioning of some opinion or a world view in such a way as to reveal the foundation or the very core of that opinion/view and its validity.
It is said that critical thinkers are curious people with a love for truth and finding answers to the questions they are (most often) asking themselves.
Rational thinking
One of the definitions of critical thinking states that it is “the ability to think in an organized and rational manner in order to understand connections between ideas and/or facts”. The trust in reason and confidence in rational way of thinking is one of the important pillars of critical thinking. But, critical thinking is so complex (and some would argue vague) term, that some researchers point out to importance of imagination, intuition and emotion for critical thinking.
Content based or free from content
Is critical thinking essentially tied to the content it reflects upon or is there something that could be considered a universal critical thinking skill(s)?
If we analyse some examples of critical thinking from different areas of expertise (a triage nurse analyses 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, an attorney reviews evidence and devises a strategy to win a case or to decide whether to settle out of court, a manager analyses customer feedback forms and uses this information to develop a customer service training session for employees) we could ask what they have in common. At the first glance, it seems that these examples don’t have anything in common and that they all show some level of mastery in different areas. To perform critical thinking, in this sense, would actually mean to be proficient or to show some level of mastery in a given area, which is inevitable tied to the nature of the content in that area.
But if we dig deeper into the process of performing critical thinking, we could come to the conclusion that what they have in common is related to procedural stuff - analysing some information, evaluation of different parts of the information, inferring or making decision based on that evaluation, etc. That is why it is said that although critical thinking principles are universal, their application to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization.
References:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/critical-thinking-definition-with-examples-2063745
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/critical-thinking-skills
https://zety.com/blog/critical-thinking-skills
https://www.insightassessment.com/article/fifteen-positive-examples-of-critical-thinking
https://www.onlinecolleges.net/career-resources/critical-thinking-101/
http://www.umich.edu/~elements/probsolv/strategy/ctskills.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-thinking/
