Ch. 2: Critical Thinking

Shiraev & Levy

Thinking

Natural and Essential for every day life

Critical Thinking

Thinking about thinking

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Involves being conscientious about the how and why we think the way we do

Metathinking

A series of a cognitive skills that can be taught and learned to develop analytical thinking

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Specific strategies for inquiry and problem solving

Metathoughts

Thoughts about thoughts

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Serve as antidotes

Antidotes

A remedy used to prevent or counteract an adverse event

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Help counter our natural biased, rigid, and simplistic way of thinking

Language

Allows to describe various phenomenon

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Events, situations, people

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Attempt to describe rather than to evaluate/judge

Objective (Descriptions)

Free of judgment

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Everyone agrees with perception/label

Evaluations (Subjective)

Based on judgment

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Individual differences in perception/label

“To describe is to prescribe”

The natural tendency to describe things subjectively when attempting to do so objectively

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We unconsciously label things that we like and dislike by using words that simultaneously describe and evaluate

Reciprocal influence (of attitudes and language)

Our beliefs, values, perceptions influence our language and vice versa

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How we refer to someone/thing shapes how we perceive and treat them

Bidirectional relationships

Influence the choice in words that we use

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Made changes in how we label others or others have changed the way they label themselves

Dichotomous Variables

Two mutually exclusive or contradictory categories

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We tend to describe things that are continuous as dichotomous

Continuous Variables

The various points between two polar opposites

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Tend to be more accurate and meaningful descriptions or explanations

Barnum Statements

Statements directed towards an individual or group that is true for just about all human beings

Barnum Effect

When individuals accept Barnum statements as true

Schema

A cognitive structure that organizes our knowledge, beliefs, and past experiences, thereby providing a framework for understanding new events and future experiences

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The “lens” through which we see the world

Accomodate

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Assimilate

What we do when we encounter new information or experiences

Accomodation

Modifying our schema to fit the data

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Changing our lenses to make sense of the new info/experience

Assimilation

Modifying the data to fit the schema

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Trying to make the new info/experience match what our existing lenses wants us to see

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May cause one to distort the truth just to hold on tight to their original values for dear life

Assimilation Bias

The tendency to engage in assimilation rather than accommodation

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To reject rather than accept information

Heuristic

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb strategy for problem solving

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Allows us to process information quickly; Sometimes, causes errors in processing that could have been avoided if we had fully processed the information

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Using them might cause us to make underestimations or overestimations

Representativeness Heuristic

A method used to estimate the probability of two entities are related

Representativeness Bias

When representativeness heuristic cause a systematic error in information processing

Availability Heuristic

Process by which individuals determine frequency, incidents, or the likelihood of an event based on how accessible it is from memory

Availability Bias

When availability heuristic causes a systematic error in information processing

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When we can easily conjure up an image in our minds about an event, we are more likely to overestimate it. We are likely to underestimate events that are hard to imagine.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Individual’s tendency to associate behaviors with internal factors and give external factors less consideration or completely ignore them

Cognitive Bias

Errors produced by our limited thinking capacity

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Caused by fatigue, distraction, low IQ

Motivational Bias

Errors produced by efforts to satisfy our own selfish needs

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When people’s attitudes, beliefs, or assumptions about another person actually produce the expected behaviors

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Can happen intentionality or unintentionally; Knowledge of a person’s low expectations of may subconsciously cause someone to perform below their capabilities

1. Awareness of an expectation

2. Subconscious Internalization

3. Behavior impacted

4. Prophecy fulfilled

Four Parts of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Awareness of an expectation (either someone elses or your own)

1st step to Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Subconscious internalization of this expectation

2nd step to Self-Fulfilling prophecy

Subconsciously impacts the person’s behavior (either deflating or boosting their confidence or motivation)

3rd step to Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The predicted behavior is manifested or demonstrated

3rd step to Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Correlation

There is a negative relationship among the variables, positive or negative

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Does not recognize cause and effect

(Unidirectional) Causation

There is a direct influence between variables; one explains the presence of the other

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A relationship between two variables wherein one is the cause and the other is the effect

Bidirectional Causation

Event A causes Event B and Event B causes Event A

Multiple Causation

More than one cause

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Event A, B and C caused/contributed to Event D

Naturalistic Fallacy

An individual’s tendency to determine whether something is good or bad based on frequency

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Four Types in 2 Pairs:

Common = Good

Uncommon = Bad

Common = Bad

Uncommon = Good

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People use one pair or the other to guide their thinking and behaviors

Example of Naturalistic Fallacy

If something’s trending (common), “it’s in!”. If something’s unpopular (uncommon), it’s no good.

If something’s trending (common), “It’s overrated.” If something’s unpopular (uncommon), “I love it because I like to be different”

Belief Perseverance Effect

Occurs when an individual’s beliefs are being challenged

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The individual tends to protect their belief, and holds onto their belief despite facts that dismiss the belief

Parataxic Reasoning

A kind of “magical thinking,” frequently responsible for superstitious behaviors, in which events that occur close together in time are erroneously construed to be casually linked.

Post hoc Error

The logical error that because Event B follows event A, then B must have been caused by A

Twittification effect

The amplification and disproportionate influence of a limited number of voices via the use of mass media platforms

Worldview

A psychological perception of the world that determines how we think, behave, and feel.

Etic Perspective

An attempt to build theories of human behavior by examining commonalities across many cultures.

Emic Perspective

An attempt to derive meaningful concepts within one culture.

Imposed Etics

The forcing of one culture’s worldview on another culture, assuming that one’s own worldviews are universal

Delay of Gratification

The ability to want for a more desirable reward instead of taking a less desirable reward instead of taking a less desirable reward immediately

Male and Female Differences in Worldview

1. Issues of Safety

2. S*xual Harassment

3. Choices of having children

4. Workforce issues

Well-Meaning Clashes

Cultural differences in interpretation that are not meant to harm others but that cause problems because there are different emic interpretations of situations or concepts.

Individualism

A social pattern in which individuals tend to be motivated by their own preferences, needs, and rights when they come into conflict with those of a group or collective in which the individual is a member

Collectivism

A social pattern in which individuals tend to be motivated by the group’s or collective’s preferences, needs, and rights when they come into conflict with those of the individual

Idiocentrism

Individualistic tendencies that reside within an individual.

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Individualism refers to the society, where this refers to an individual.

Allocentrism

Collectivistic tendencies that reside within an individual.

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Collectivism refers to the society, whereas allocentrism refers to an individual.

Countercultural Individuals

Idiocentric individuals residing in a collectivistic culture, or allocentric individuals residing in an individualistic culture.

Horizontal & Vertical

Ways of being Individualistic and Collectivistic

Horizontal Individualism

Places everyone at or near the same level

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Sees everyone as being equal and having an equal opportunity to live independent of others

Vertical Individualism

Deals with hierarchical structures of societies

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Reflects competition, with each person trying to outdo others

Horizontal Collectivism

Sees one person’s happiness as being a shared (collective) experience.

Vertical Collectivism

Requires that the individual accede to the collective’s desires and the belief that family is more important than the individual.

Guilt

A prominent negative emotion in individualistic cultures that involves an individual’s sense of personal regret for having engaged in a negative behavior.

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Reflects on what we have done

Shame

A prominent negative emotion in collectivistic cultures that involves an individual’s sense of regret for having engaged in a negative behavior that reflects badly upon his or her family and/or upbringing

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Reflects on who we are as a person

• Focused on self

• Harder to resolve

• Felt over long term

• Caused by critical self judgment

Shame is…..

• Focused on the act

• Can be resolved in a healthy way

• Felt over shorter terms

• Caused by fear of harming others

Guilt is…

Losing Face

Involves being publicly revealed for negative behavior

Saving Face

Being able to protect one’s own public persona

Face Giving

Extolling the virtues of another person in public

Giving Face

Doing this for yourself would be considered boastful and individualistic

WEIRD Ideology

Western

Educated

Industrialized

Rich

Democratic

Time Focus

Human Activity

Social Relations

People/Nature Relationship

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value Orientation model

People to Nature/Environment

Middle-Class European Americans: Mastery over Future

Asian Americans: Harmony with past-present

American Indians: Harmony with present

Black Americans: Harmony with present

Hispanic Americans: Harmony with present

Time Orientation

Middle-Class European Americans: Future

Asian Americans: Past-present

American Indians: Present

Black Americans: Present

Hispanic Americans: Past-present

People Relationships

Middle-Class European Americans: Individual

Asian Americans: Collateral

American Indians: Collateral

Black Americans: Collateral

Hispanic Americans: Collateral

Preferred Mode of Activity

Middle-Class European Americans: Doing

Asian Americans: Doing

American Indians: Being-in-becoming

Black Americans: Doing

Hispanic Americans: Being-in-becoming

Nature of Man

Good and bad

Good

Good

Good and bad

Good

Derald Wing Sue’s Worldview Model

Locus of Control & Locus of Responsibility

Locus of Control

The focus of control over outcomes of one’s life, be it internal or external control

Locus of Responsibility

The focus of responsibility for one’s position in life, be it internal feelings of responsibility or external, societal responsibility

ALANA

Helms’s acronym for African Americans, Latinxs, Asian Americans, and Native Americans

VREG

Helms’s acronym for members of visible racial/ethnic groups

BIPOC

A new acronym, emphasizing skin color, for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color