What is critical thinking? In 1997, Halpern stated that critical thinking usually requires us to consider general issues that cut across several domains. These problems are frequently ill-defined and have many possible solutions, or even maybe unsolvable. Consider some issues we must weigh when choosing a president: how to eliminate or at least reduce the national debt, the constitutionality of abortion and immigration, and whether financial aid should be offered to formally hostile foreign nations.
Most critical thinking is directed towards one’s internal states (Butler, 2024), using the example of politics again, how does one consider a political affiliation? This requires that we first need. To clarify and evaluate our beliefs and expectations about each of the parties and candidates, So one definition of critical thinking is reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do in a particular context (Ennis, 1987).
Critical thinking is better thinking (Perkins, 2001). This view suggests that learning to think critically improves our ability to gather, interpret, evaluate, and select information for the purpose of making informed choices. Many suspect we suspect that this is a definition most teachers and parents have in mind when they say students need to think critically about their lives (Bruning et al., 2004). In other words, considering how the decisions we make today will affect our future.
Nickerson (1987) proposed that critical thinking is directed at adopting versus clarifying a goal. This view emphasizes critical thinking as a means to an end, i.e., reaching a decision, versus the view that emphasizes a process one uses to reach a decision. I believe that both sides of the process are important. Halpern (2014) expands this line of thought when she implies that the use of critical thinking skills increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed—the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions.
At this point, you might ask yourself how I can improve my critical thinking. This means changing the way you evaluate contrasting positions or the clarity of ideas. The process of critical thinking involves many essential skills. Halpern (1998) Distinguishes between two major classes of critical thinking: dispositions and abilities. The former refers to effective and dispositional traits that each person brings to a thinking task, such as open-mindedness, the attempt to be well-informed, and sensitivity to others’ beliefs and feelings. The latter refers to the actual cognitive abilities necessary to think critically, including focusing and judging. Over the next week, see how you can use your critical thinking skills to improve your daily outcomes. Practice some new critical thinking skills and let me know what you find out.