Critical Thinking Unit 4 Notes

Critical Thinking Unit 4 Notes

• This unit covers fundamental concepts of critical thinking, distinguishing it from ordinary thinking, and exploring characteristics of critical thinkers.

• It delves into critical thinking skills, argument structuring, recognizing inconsistencies, and the five pillars of critical thinking.

• The unit further explores argumentation versus rhetoric, cognitive biases, tribalism, and politics.

• Case studies are employed to illustrate the application of critical thinking in different scenarios.

• Prerequisites for the unit include fundamental design thinking concepts, understanding good and bad design, and familiarity with human values.

• Learning objectives for Lecture 1 include fundamental critical thinking concepts, a five-step critical thinking process, and the characteristics of a well-cultivated critical thinker.

• Critical thinking is an approach where a person visualizes an idea and follows steps to reach a conclusion, involving research, evaluation, and implementation.

• Effective critical thinking skills reduce worry and anxiety during problem-solving.

• Critical thinking is vital for professional success, and higher education is essential for developing and refining these skills.

• The key pillars of critical thinking include logic, argumentation, rhetoric, background knowledge, and attitudes/values.

• Well-cultivated critical thinkers raise vital questions, assess information, and come to well-reasoned conclusions, evaluating them based on standards.

• They think openly within alternative systems, acknowledge assumptions and implications, and effectively communicate complex problem solutions.

• The difference between critical and ordinary thinking involves assuming versus believing, evaluating versus preferring, principle formulation versus associating concepts, hypothesizing versus supposing; offering reasoned opinions versus simply offering opinions; and making judgments with clear criteria versus making judgments without criteria.

• Critical thinkers possess characteristics such as observation, curiosity, objectivity, introspection, analytical thinking, awareness of biases, determining relevance, compassion, humility, willingness to challenge assumptions, open-mindedness, awareness of common thinking errors, creative thinking, effective communication, and active listening.

• The five pillars of critical thinking include logic, argumentation, rhetoric, background knowledge (subject matter, debate history, human judgment psychology), and character (attitudes and values).

• An argument is a claim defended with reasons, comprising statements (premises) supporting another statement (conclusion). A statement is a declarative sentence, either true or false. In critical thinking, an argument presents reasons to support a viewpoint; it's not a quarrel or dispute.

• Main components of an argument include premises (statements supporting the conclusion) and the conclusion (what the author wants you to believe/do).

• Implicit conclusions and premises are statements not explicitly stated, but assumed to be understood.

• Incongruence, a concept from humanistic psychology, describes the discrepancy between the perceived self and the ideal self. Discomfort, anxiety, stress, and frustration can arise from large gaps between these two.

• Argumentation is the process of forming reasons, drawing conclusions, and applying them to a case.

• Persuasion is influencing others to believe or act in a particular way. Argumentation usually considers both sides of an issue, while persuasion is often one-sided.

• Rhetoric, the art of effective speaking and writing, often appeals to human emotions and values.

• Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that occur when processing information, affecting judgments. Examples include anchoring bias, availability bias, bandwagon effect, choice-supportive bias, confirmation bias, and others.

• Case studies involve a senior caught cheating, and a scenario where teachers are drinking beer in class, prompting students to analyze the implications and their decision-making process.

• A variety of case studies on Amazon's practices related to design thinking, customer understanding, and the iterative process of development; emphasizing steps such as Empathize, Define, Ideate, and Prototype and Test/Iterate.

• Study material also features quizzes, weekly assignmenets, and related video links to supplemental learning aids.