Critical Thinking Unit 4

Critical Thinking Unit 4

• The unit covers fundamental concepts of critical thinking, the difference between critical and ordinary thinking, characteristics of critical thinkers, critical thinking skills (linking ideas), structuring arguments, recognizing incongruence, five pillars of critical thinking, argumentation versus rhetoric, cognitive bias, tribalism, and politics, and case studies on applying critical thinking in different scenarios.
• Prerequisites for the unit include fundamental concepts of design thinking, an understanding of good and bad design, and familiarity with human values.
• Lecture 1 objectives include fundamental concepts of critical thinking, a five-step process of critical thinking skills, and defining a well-cultivated critical thinker.
• Critical thinking as an approach involves visualizing an idea and following steps to reach a conclusion, including research, investigation, evaluation, conjecture, and implementation. Utilizing the five-step process can reduce worry and anxiety in problem-solving. The steps outlined include Identifying the Problem, Gathering Information, Evaluating the Evidence, Considering Solutions, and Choosing and Implementing a solution.
• Critical thinking is vital for success in college and professional life, enabling objective analysis and evaluation of complex subjects and situations.
• The five crucial pillars of critical thinking are logic, argumentation, rhetoric, background knowledge (subject matter, debate history, and human judgment psychology), and attitudes/values.
• A well-cultivated critical thinker raises essential questions, gathers and assesses relevant information, and reaches well-reasoned conclusions and solutions.
• The critical thinker also considers alternative perspectives, evaluates assumptions, and understands practical consequences.
• Effective communication and problem-solving abilities are essential components of this type of thinking, and the commitment to overcoming egocentrism and sociocentrism is also stressed.
• Differences between critical and ordinary thinking are outlined in a table format highlighting how critical thinking involves assuming, evaluating, formulating principles, and hypothesizing from different types of ordinary thought, which relies on believing, preferring, associating concepts, and supposing.
• Characteristics of critical thinkers include observation, curiosity, objectivity, introspection, analytical thinking, identifying biases, determining relevance, inference, compassion, humility, willingness to challenge the status quo, open-mindedness, awareness of common thinking errors, creative thinking, being effective communicators, and active listeners.
• There are 12 cognitive biases listed, including anchoring bias, availability bias, bandwagon effect, choice-supportive bias, confirmation bias, fundamental attribution error, halo effect, ingroup preference bias, the "jerk" factor, ostrich effect, recency effect, and zero-risk bias.
• A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people process information and impacts decisions and judgments.
• These mental shortcuts save energy but may lead to errors. Some biases are related to memory, while others relate to attention issues. Examples are given for each cognitive bias
• Tribalism is the state of being organized by or advocating for tribes or tribal lifestyles, and it can include discriminatory behavior or attitudes.
• A case study of a high school senior caught cheating illustrates the implications of a teacher ignoring policy, which can create ethical dilemmas and have broader consequences.
• A different case study illustrates issues that can be encountered on a college campus, concerning ethical behavior and decision-making under pressure.
• A recap of case study types for the course covers one-to-two-sentence case study, as well as the more elaborate case study and video/news story case study.
• Various sample quiz questions on critical thinking concepts and principles are included, covering topics such as: wishful thinking, egocentrism, self-confidence, moral subjectivism, group bias, stereotypes, self-serving bias, and relativistic thinking.
• A weekly assignment list is provided detailing topics like recognizing incongruence, critical thinking pillars, argumentation/rhetoric comparison, cognitive bias examples, tribalism/politics explanations, and case study analysis.
• Video links related to critical thinking are present, covering fundamental concepts, characteristics, and other relevant content.
• Topics on the syllabus and related reading resources are included, including links.