Week 1 Fundamentals of Creative and Critical Thinking PDF

Critical and Creative Thinking: Definition So, what do we mean by “thinking critically”? When we talk about critical thinking, the term doesn’t describe thinking that is severe, negative, or harsh; instead, critical thinking refers to thinking that uses reason to decide what to do and what to believ...

Critical and Creative Thinking: Definition So, what do we mean by “thinking critically”? When we talk about critical thinking, the term doesn’t describe thinking that is severe, negative, or harsh; instead, critical thinking refers to thinking that uses reason to decide what to do and what to believe. Often times people use the word critical to mean something negative like fault-finding, or disapproval of an idea, almost always making “Critical Thinking” evoke a kind of thinking which is concerned with an undesirable thought about other people’s opinions/ideas. This is wrong. Critical thinking involves “exercising skilled judgment or observation.” The term “critical” is derived from the Greek word, “krinein,” meaning, “to judge.” A critical thinker, therefore, is a judge of situations, and issues. Critical Thinking, therefore, is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide to belief and action. Critical thinking is an intellectual disposition which enables one to identify, analyse, and evaluate arguments and truth claims; to discover and overcome personal preconceptions and biases; to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions; and to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do. It entails a set of skills to process and generate information and beliefs, and the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behaviour. When it comes to creativity, there is always a tendency to think of it as the production of great scientific discoveries or famous works of art. Creativity, however, is not just for artists and scientists. We need creativity to solve the countless problems we encounter in our workplaces and in our daily life. Whether you are a student writing a term paper or a company CEO expanding your business, a creative mind brings better results. In life, generally, people who exercise creativity feel happy and contented with themselves, and develop a very positive attitude towards life. They feel like they are in-charge of themselves and their surroundings. One good news about creativity is that anybody can learn it to be creative. There are concrete steps you can take to make yourself more creative. The gist of creativity is, simply, the ability and skill to combine old ideas into new ones. That, in short, is the genesis of new ideas. The observation that new ideas come from old ones is of practical importance, because it tells us that creativity requires knowledge. Creativity does not happen in a vacuum. Our imagination depends partly on what we know. If you know very little, you can only recombine a few ideas to get new ones. When you know more, the combination of new ideas you can come up with increases exponentially. Creative achievements are usually built on past successes by other people. creativity relies on knowledge and information as raw material. You need to understand things in order to invent beyond them. Coming up with something new in itself is not hard, but it is not sufficient for creativity. Creativity is a matter of coming up with new ideas that are also useful. It is at this point that critical thinking merges with creativity. First, we use critical thinking to analyse a problem and identify the limitations of existing solutions. So, we know what a better solution might look like. And when we have a new solution, critical thinking helps us determine whether it really works. Actual creative process involves trial and error. We might have to fail several times before getting the best solution. Good critical thinking enables us to learn from our mistakes and solve our problems more efficiently. There is a distinction between a creative idea and an innovation—an idea becomes an innovation when it is implemented and brings about substantial practical impact. This crucial process of creating a practical impact also requires good critical thinking. Differences Between Critical and Creative Thinking Using Venn’s Diagram Key Critical and Creative Thinking Dispositions Critical thinking (CT) consists of a number of skills and dispositions that, when used appropriately, increase the chances of success in academic pursuits as learners, as well as our everyday life, as individuals. By Critical Thinking dispositions we refer to the inclination, tendency or willingness to perform a given thinking skill. Different types of Critical Thinking dispositions are essential for understanding how we think and how we can make our thinking better, in both academic settings and everyday situations. 1. Inquisitiveness: This is the inclination to be curious; desire to fully understand something, discover the answer to a problem and accept that the full answer may not yet be known; and make sure to understand a task and its associated requirements, available options and limits. 2. Open-mindedness: refers to an inclination to be cognitively flexible and avoid rigidity in thinking; to tolerate divergent or conflicting views and treat all viewpoints alike, prior to subsequent analysis and evaluation; to detach from one’s own beliefs and consider, seriously, points of view different from one’s own without bias or self-interest; to be open to feedback by accepting positive feedback and to not reject criticism or constructive feedback without thoughtful consideration; to amend existing knowledge in light of new ideas and experiences; and to explore such new, alternative or ‘unusual’ ideas. 3. Self-efficacy: refers to the tendency to be confident and trust in one’s own reasoned judgments; to acknowledge one’s sense of self while considering problems and arguments (i.e., knowledge, biases, culture and environment); to be confident and believe in one’s ability to receive and internalize resulting feedback positively and constructively; to be self- efficacious in leading others in the rational resolution of problems; and recognize that good reasoning is the key to living a rational life. 4. Attentiveness: refers to a willingness to focus and concentrate; to be aware of surroundings, context, consequences and potential obstacles; to have the ‘full picture.' 5. Intrinsic goal orientation: refers to being positive, competitive and enthusiastic towards a goal, task, topic of focus and, if not the topic itself, the process of learning new things; to search for answers as a result of internal motivations, rather than an external, extrinsic reward system. 6. Perseverance: refers to being resilient and motivated to persist at working through complex tasks and the associated frustration and difficulty inherent in such tasks, without giving up; the motivation to get the job done correctly; the desire to progress. 7. Organization: refers to an inclination to be orderly, systematic and diligent with information, resources and time when determining and maintaining focus on the task, conclusion, problem or question, while simultaneously considering the total situation and being able to present the resulting information in a fashion likewise, for purposes of achieving some desired end. 8. Truth-seeking: refers to having a desire for knowledge; to seek and offer both reasons and objections in an effort to inform and to be well-informed; a willingness to challenge popular beliefs and social norms by asking questions (of oneself and others); to be honest and objective about pursuing the truth even if the findings do not support one’s self-interest or preconceived beliefs or opinions; and to change one’s mind about an idea as a result of the desire for truth. 9. Creativity: refers to a tendency to visualize and generate ideas; and to think differently than usual. 10. Scepticism: refers to an inclination to challenge ideas; to withhold judgment before engaging all the evidence or when the evidence and reasons are insufficient; to take a position and be able to change position when the evidence and reasons are sufficient; and to look at findings from various perspectives. 11. Reflection: refers to an inclination to meditate upon one’s behaviour, attitudes and opinions, as well as the motivations behind these; to distinguish what is known and what is not, as well as limited knowledge or uncertainty; to approach decision-making with a sense that some problems are necessarily ill-structured, some situations permit more than one plausible conclusion or solution and judgments must often be made based on analysis and evaluation, as well as feasibility, standards, contexts and evidence that preclude certainty. 12. Resourcefulness: refers to the willingness to utilize existing internal resources to resolve problems; to search for additional external resources in order to apply analogies and resolve problems; to switch between solution processes and/or knowledge to seek new ways/information to solve a problem; to make the best of the resources available; to adapt and/or improve if something goes wrong; and to think about how and why it went wrong. The Significance of Critical and Creative Thinking in Classroom, Work, and Civic Life 1. Critical Thinking in the Classroom Educators in various disciplines—business management, criminal justice, nursing, psychology, biology, and others—recognise the importance of their students applying critical thinking skills in in these fields so as to gain appropriate knowledge and understanding. professors consider these skills so important to students in their disciplines for a number of reasons: One is that at the University you are expected not only to learn more advanced material than you learned in high school, but also to do things with that material that are more cognitively sophisticated and demanding than what has been expected of you until now. From primary school through high school, your learning has focused on basic information such as the main, the structure of a grammatically correct sentence, the proper procedures for a chemistry experiment, how to solve mathematical equations, all of which is important knowledge. At the University, however, you must go far beyond these basics both in content and in what you are asked to do with the information you learn. Of course, at the University you still must demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of subjects. However, you are also expected to employ higher-order cognitive skills of application, analysis, evaluation, and creation. So instead of merely memorizing good and relevant information to repeat back on exams or in written work, you must dismantle the parts, apply them in new ways and to new problems, and determine what works well and what doesn’t. That is, you must use higher-order cognitive skills. Two is that as you learn more about a subject, you move beyond the material everyone in the discipline accepts to ideas, theses, and formulations that experts in the field disagree about. Take, for instance, a controversy over Kenya’s independence struggle, pitting those who endorse the armed fighters as the key wing in making independence possible, versus those who endorse the negotiators as the real progenitors of Kenya’s independence. Strong critical thinking skills can help you understand what’s at issue in controversies like these, understand the strengths and flaws in each side’s reasoning, and reach your own conclusion. Three is that for courses in all disciplines—whether history, sociology, biology, business, or anything else—arguments play a large role in the University classroom. Having information, especially in the Internet era, is not sufficient in your advanced courses. You must be able to use that information as never before by applying it in new situations and critically appraising the results of others doing the same. That is, you must be able to recognize, analyse, evaluate, and construct arguments in a variety of disciplines. 2. Critical Thinking in the Work Place One: Most employers prefer employees with “analytical reasoning” skills, the kind of which are leant in critical thinking. Whether one is an account, for whom mathematical and business skills seem more important for the career, or one is a nurse, for whom the knowledge of medicine may seem more important, one must also have a full complement of higher-order thinking skills. People in these, and certainly other kinds of careers, must be prepared to solve difficult problems by applying their knowledge to new situations. In addition, they must be able to decide which new ideas they should accept or reject and be able to justify their decisions. On any given day, any professional must be able to effectively use critical thinking skills. Two: When you apply for a job in whatever career, you will have to write an application letter in which you justify your suitability for the position. Imagine that you are an employer who receives a letter of application such as the following: I am writing to apply for an accountant’s position currently open. Recently I accompanied a friend of mine to a funeral, where I learnt that the deceased was an accountant in your company. I am, therefore, certain that you are looking for someone to take up his duties, and I am the person for you. I am a good accountant and I can do the job very well. Try me and you won’t regret it. When should I come for the interview? Does this letter convince you that you should interview this candidate? What are the qualifications of the candidate? We don’t know. On what basis is the candidate staking the application? That an accountant from the company died, and he/she attended his/her burial. Period! Compare the first letter to the following letter: I am writing in response to your advertisement for an entry-level accountant in your tax division. I believe that I am a strong candidate for this position because I have a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting, I completed two accountancy internships while in the University, and I have experience preparing tax returns. Notice that this person is giving an argument to convince you that he or she is qualified for the position. When you want to convince someone to hire you, you will have to give him or her good reasons to do so. 3. Critical Thinking Skills in Civic Life One: Critical thinking skills are also useful to us as consumers in the marketplace. Commercial advertisements are notorious sources of nonrational means of persuasion. At times sales people make us purchase what we don’t need, simply because of much persuasive advertising. Good critical reasoning skills can prevent us from succumbing to persuasive appeals that are neither rational nor reasonable. People are emotional creatures, and descriptions of cosy fireplaces, sounds of sizzling steaks, and images of frosty beer mugs all appeal to our minds powerfully. Sadly, the result is too often the purchase of a product that we don’t really need, with a lustre that fades all too quickly. With polished reasoning skills, such as the ability to detect fallacious reasoning, we are better able to assess the reasons we have been given to buy a particular product. Look at this advert, for instance: Why spend years earning a university degree? With AcademicDegree.com, you can earn a degree in as little as three months and begin earning the good salary you deserve. Visit our website to begin your new life today. This advert sounds very appealing, at first glance. After all, college is hard work, and it takes a long time. If you can get your degree in so short a time and start earning good income, why not go for it? But notice the qualifier “in as little as three months.” What does this tell us? It will take three months, at the minimum, but it certainly could be much longer. Does the advert give you the cost of this great education? And come to think of it. What can you learn in such a short time that will really be of use to you? You might be provided with some information, but you certainly will not have the time to develop the higher-order cognitive skills that employers need. Two: The world of politics also tries to grab your attention, support, and money. In many cases, it might seem wiser to let your political leader decide for you about whether or not health-care reform, bank regulation, or free education from primary to tertiary and university levels is a good idea. However, if you want to think for yourself and make your own decisions about who and what warrants your support, you need to have critical thinking skills. With so much at stake, politicians and partisans of all stripes will use whatever they can to persuade you to support them and their causes. However, to make a smart decision, you really must insist on looking at the evidence and making your own judgments. Impediments to Creative and Critical Thinking As important as critical thinking is, it hardly gets practised, and a number of obstacles stand accused for this. Some of the include: 1) Intellectual sloth and discouragement. The society, most of the times, kills critical thinking in us. A child discovering his/her environment is filled with wonder and is full of questions to try to understand it. When the child asks the adult why the grass is green, because the child can envision the grass purple, the adult retorts back at the child with, “do not ask dumb questions! What colour do you expect it to be?” Our culture often works against the critical sense by exerting pressure on children to remain quiet and follow instructions rather than ask questions. Thus, natural inquisitiveness is soon replaced with passivity and sloth. Children stop asking  questions that occur to them and seek to ask questions which adults would approve of. By the time most students enter the university, the inner-directed child has become the other-directed young adult. Passivity and caution have replaced inquisitiveness and curiosity, and taking notes on the thoughts of others has replaced thinking for oneself. 2) Ideology. Ideological positions limit people from critical reflection. By their nature are rigid doctrines which do not admit of evaluation and criticism. They expect people to subscribe to them without questioning. 3) Propaganda. A propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of people toward some cause, for the benefit of the propagator. Propaganda presents information with the purpose of influencing opinion towards some desired outcome. It is, therefore, selective in presenting facts, either lying about and issue, or omitting some information, to direct thought in a particular direction. Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist in toral disregard of reasons contrary to what he/she perpetuates. 4) Peer and Social Pressure. The influence of our contemporaries, especially, when they have vested interest in our behaviour can greatly affect our critical thinking abilities. Social consciousness and sense of belonging can force us to endorse ways of life which are outright irrational since we fear excommunication from the social group, which pretends to offer us social safeguards in case of any unfortunate happenings in our life. Because of the fear of being left alone while in trouble, we may succumb to pressure and accept the irrational over the rational. 5) Paternalism. Rigid family structures where elders wield unbridled control over the young can negatively affect critical thinking. The norms of the family or society may be a source of stifled mental activity, leading to naivety and passive surrender to the whims of the social environment. Many timid persons, i.e., those lacking self- confidence or self-trust are products of intimidating social environment or humiliating lifestyles and experiences. 6) Religious dogma. Most religious organisations have rules, regulations, and tenets to which followers must adhere. Most times, these are not open to question from believers. The teachings rules, regulations and teachings are sacred, and open only to the knowledge and interpretation of the shepherd. The shepherd, as the anointed one of God, is taken to be above question and any attempt to interrogate his/her pronouncements is seen as apostacy. The fear of excommunication hangs huge upon the head of any faithful who attempts to entertain a contrary opinion to the teachings of the religious entity, through the shepherd. This situation compromises critical thinking in a very negative way. 7) Prejudice. Prejudice is a preconception, or background knowledge one entertains about someone, some group of persons, or an issue, without prior rational scrutiny and evaluation. Prejudices present themselves as predetermined truths about people, communities, or occurrences. We, normally, bring our prejudices/biases into our encounter with people and events, and this blocks us from seeing the true character of  people or things. These biases make us misjudge people and things, and take quite wrong attitudes about them. 8) Stereotypes. A stereotype is are general characteristics with which people are branded, describing people as groups. Often times, stereotypes pick on the undesirable characteristics, or distorted aspects of a people, and uses that to describe every individual belonging to that group, without exception. Stereotypes are a source of inter-ethnic animosity and often act as a ground for inter-ethnic flareups which may result into full fledged social unrest. But stereotypes are based on biases which are unexamined preconceptions. Stereotypes do not describe the truth about a people, for not every member of a community can possess exactly the same characteristics as the other. 9) Authoritarianism. This is the tendency to acquiesce to the opinions of those who claim expertise in different fields. An authority is any person, agency, or institution that claims expert knowledge over an issue. Parents, elders of the clan, formal school teachers, religious officials, political leaders, newspapers, books, sacred texts, celebrities, and professionals of various stripes, all claim authority in various ways. It is admitted that these may have authority, but it is significant to recognise that authority may be limited, and must not be trusted blindly. Sometimes those claiming authority may not have real, genuine authority. Any claim to authority must be ascertained through thorough verification. Otherwise, one would be submitting to an inappropriate authority. But even if we were to submit to authority, it is not desirable for authority to admit of no individual space to think for oneself. Heavy handed suffocating authoritarianism is inimical to human growth. 10) Ethnocentrism. This is the tendency to think that one’s ethnic heritage is the ultimate standards of measure for behaviour and interactions with the rest of humanity. An ethnocentric person tends to think that whatever his/her ethnic community endorses is best at all times, and that any alternative way of doing things must be invariably wrong. This is a serious drawback to critical thinking.