Barriers to Critical Thinking

EGOCENTRISM

is the tendency to see reality as centered on oneself

SELF-INTERESTED THINKING

is the tendency to accept and defend beliefs that harmonize with one’s self-interest.

SELF-SERVING BIAS

is the tendency to overrate oneself — to see oneself as better in some respect than one actually is.

SOCIOCENTRISM

is group-centered thinking. It can hinder rational thinking by focusing excessively on the group.

GROUP BIAS

is the tendency to see one’s own group (nation, tribe, sect, peer group, and the like) as being inherently better than others.

CONFORMISM

refers to our tendency to follow the crowd - that is to conform (often unthinkingly) to authority or to group standards of conduct and belief.

UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS

is something we take for granted, something we believe to be true without any proof or conclusive evidence

stereotype

are arrived at through a process known as hasty generalization, in which one draws a conclusion about a large class of things from a small sample.

RELATIVISTIC THINKING

is the view that truth is a matter of opinion

SUBJECTIVISM

is the view that truth is a matter of individual opinion

CULTURAL RELATIVISM

is the view that truth is a matter of social and cultural opinion.

MORAL RELATIVISM

is the idea that there are no absolute or universal moral values.

CULTURAL MORAL RELATIVISM

is the view that what is morally right and good for an individual is whatever his/her society or culture believes to be morally right and good.

WISHFUL THINKING

is believing something because it makes one feel good, not because there is good reason for thinking that is true.