CRIT THINKING MIDTERM

Critical thinking focuses on not what causes a belief but wether it is _____?

Worth believing

A belief is worth believing if we have __________.

good reasons to accept it.

statement

assertion that something is or is not the case (true v false)

Premise

A statement meant to provide reasoning to the conclusion in an argument.

Conclusion

The claim that you are trying to make in an argument

Indicator words

Signal a premise or conclusion is present: given that, since, for, the reason being….

Conclusion indicator words

Consequently, we can conclude that, it must be that….

Self centered thinking

Accepting a claim solely because it advances/councides with our beliefs + saves face.

Consequences of self centered thinking

Limits ability to question and come to reasonable conclusions, or being able to recognize & challenge deception.

Group centered thinking

Pressure to conform for peers (peer pressure), popularity (appeal to popularity) actions (appeal to common practice)

Consequences of Group thinking?

Generates narrow mindedness, resistance to change and stereotyping.

Obstacles to Critical Thinking

a. Resisting contrary evidence

b. Looking for Confirming Evidence

c. Preferring Available Evidence

d. Motivated Reasoning

e. Homophily

f. Mere Exposure Effect

g. Illusion of Truth effect

h. False Consensus Effect

i. Dunning-Kruger Effect

Resisting Contrary Evidence

Being presented evidence and rejecting it to ease your pride or further a statement in order to be right.

Looking Confirming Evidence

Actively only searching for evidence that confirms your statement/argument even if it isn’t completely true.

Preferring Available Evidence

Relying on evidence because of shock value of proximity and not truth value.

Motivated Reasoning

When you’ve already reached a conclusion on a topic you’re learning about. This causes a bias because you’ll look for evidence to something you’ve already pre-determined.

Homophily

You believe something you hear from a friend more.

Mere Exposure Effect

What we listen to, grow up around and are exposed to, influences our beliefs and thought processes.

Illusion of Truth Effect

Religion in things like ads allowing for the sullying of true and false due to familiarity.

False Consensus Effect

Believing that many if not all people share the same beliefs as you do (the internet corroborating everything on the timeline certainly doesn’t help things)

Dunning Krueger Rffect

Mansplaining.

Hasty Generalization

Makes a very large statement without considering all the facts (my high-school is predominantly black therefore all highschool students are black).

Slippery slope

Making an extreme hypothetical conclusion based of the consequences of a small action (not studying will lead to making you homeless)

Straw Man

Distorting someone’s claim so that you can make an easier rebuttal.

(Waffles and pancakes debate)

Ad Hominem

An attack on someone’s person to win an argument

False Dichotomy

An argument presents 2 points while ignoring the rest possibilities in order to narrow down the convo in THEIR favor. (You are WITH our cause or AGAINST our cause. Aka mob mentality)

Appeal to Emotion

Use of emotional language to persuade someone to a specific belief/position

Equivocation

When an argument is presented to be double sided in order to skew conversation….

Bandwagon Appeal

Group thought perspective is presented in order to peer pressure someone into swaying their beliefs (all my friends believe Trump is a great person, therefore that must be right and any other opinion is wrong)

False Analogy

When 2 un-alike things are compared based on a really reallyyyy small similarity in order to prove a point. (Children are like clay, they are meant to be molded into whatever you’d like)

Circular Reasoning

An argument is restated instead of proven why it is or isn’t true. (A is true because B is true, B is true because A is true OR teddy bears are supreme leaders because they posses supreme leadership skills)