Obstacles to Critical and Creative Thinking Notes
Introduction and Lecture Objectives
Introduction to Thinking Obstacles:
It is a regrettable reality that unclear thinking remains very common, even among the most highly learned individuals.
The primary focus of this lecture is to examine the various factors that prevent people from thinking clearly and creatively.
5.2 Lecture Objectives:
By the end of this lecture, students should be able to identify and demonstrate various factors that prevent people from thinking critically and creatively.
Major Obstacles to Critical Thinking (Idols of the Mind)
i. Ego-centricism:
Definition: This is self-centered thinking characterized by a tendency to perceive reality as centered entirely on oneself.
Character Traits: Ego-centrists are typically selfish and self-absorbed. They view their own interests, ideas, and values as inherently superior to those of everyone else.
Common Forms of Ego-centricism:
Self-centered thinking: A tendency to accept and defend beliefs specifically because they accord with one’s own self-interests and self-serving biases.
Self-serving interest: The tendency to see oneself as better or more important in some respect than one actually is; essentially, the tendency to overrate oneself.
Impact on Critical Thinking:
It limits one's points of view because only the individual's perspective is considered to matter.
It hinders the employment and cultivation of intellectual virtues.
It promotes relativistic thinking and its negative implications.
Decisions are often made on the basis of desires or appetites rather than reasonable criteria.
It inherently lacks objectivity.
ii. Socio-centricism:
Definition: This is group-centered thinking.
Common Forms of Socio-centricism:
Group bias: The tendency to see one’s own culture or group as being better than others. This "mine is better" mentality is at the root of many human conflicts, such as tribal conflicts.
Conformism: The tendency to follow the crowd and conform, often unthinkingly, to authority or to group standards of conduct and beliefs. This includes authoritarianism.
Impact on Critical Thinking:
It hinders critical and creative thinking in the same manner as ego-centricism, though it operates at a group level.
Because conformism includes authoritarianism, the obstacles associated with authority also apply here.
Authoritarianism and Unwarranted Assumptions
iii. Authoritarianism:
Definition: The uncritical and/or blind appeal to authority, leading to unreflective acceptance of what authority dictates.
Foundational Belief: It is grounded on the false belief that knowledge is validated or guaranteed simply by authority.
Mechanisms of Influence:
Individuals are often led astray by the prestige of an authority figure.
People fail to realize when an authority is speaking outside of their specific area of competence.
Reliance on authority often stems from a lack of self-confidence or intellectual laziness.
Authority can move, impress, influence, and intimidate people to the point where they abandon their own values, beliefs, and judgments, sometimes even doubting their own sensory experiences.
Impact on Thinking:
Makes one accept things uncritically and without question.
Blocks progress in further thinking and investigation.
Leads individuals to surrender their own thinking process to others.
Remedy: Individuals must beware of the seductive power of peer pressure and reliance on authority. One must develop habits of independent thinking to combat these influences.
iv. Unwarranted Assumptions:
Definition: These are things taken for granted without good reason, proof, or conclusive evidence.
Warranted vs. Unwarranted: Assumptions are only "warranted" if there are good reasons to hold them.
Stereotypes: These are a common form of unwarranted assumptions. They involve generalizations about a group of people where identical characteristics are assigned to all members regardless of actual accuracy.
Impact on Critical Thinking:
Leads to reliance on hasty generalizations.
Fails to demand evidence or reasons.
Discourages taking the time to evaluate issues or objects under observation.
Remedy: Become more conscious of the assumptions that base our important attitudes, actions, and decisions.
Relativistic Thinking and Propaganda
v. Relativistic Thinking:
Definition: Thinking based on the idea that there is no objective or absolute truth; truth is seen as a mere matter of opinion.
Moral Relativism: The most popular form, which includes:
Moral Subjectivism: What is morally right/good varies from individual to individual.
Cultural Relativism: What is morally right/good varies from culture to culture.
Note on Tolerance: Cultural moral relativism does not necessarily support the value of tolerance; it dictates that we should accept the customs and values of our own society regardless.
Impact on Critical Thinking:
Encourages intolerance of new ideas and different ways of life.
Promotes mental or psychological fixation.
Promotes intellectual laziness, as people will not put in the effort to search for absolute truth beyond their cultural acceptance.
Remedy: Realize that deep disagreement about an issue does not mean objective truth is non-existent. Most disagreements result from superficial study and shallow thinking; therefore, extensive research is required.
vii. Propaganda (Susceptibility to Propaganda):
Definition: Information that is deliberately tainted, manipulated, or distorted by a source to achieve a predetermined end (e.g., political goals).
The Propagandist's Method: They first arouse strong emotions or desires in people and then suggest a line of action that appears to satisfy those emotions.
Common Users: Politicians and advertisers typically utilize mass media for propaganda.
Impact on Thinking:
Controls and manipulates thinking.
Makes it difficult for individuals to think for themselves.
Leads to biased and inaccurate conclusions.
Leads to "massmanship" or group thinking.
Wishful Thinking, Habit, and Prejudice
vii. Wishful Thinking:
Definition: Believing something because it makes one feel good, rather than because there is a good reason for it to be true.
Mechanism: Often driven by fear of the unknown. Individuals invent comforting myths to make the universe seem less hostile and more predictable.
Examples: Due to the fear of death, people may listen unquestioningly to stories of healing crystals, quack cures, communication with the dead, or psychic predictions from miracle workers.
Impact on Thinking:
Keeps people in a "world of dreams" rather than in touch with reality.
Promotes denial of problems, which prevents the search for actual solutions.
viii. Habit:
Definition: Habits form when we perform actions repetitively without careful reflection or criticism. We learn to do things in only one particular way.
Impact on Thinking:
Impedes the capacity for reflection.
Makes individuals dogmatic.
Causes blindness to alternatives and creates psychological blocks or fixation.
Causes individuals to recognize only familiar evidence, making it difficult to handle new situations.
ix. Prejudice:
Definition: A pre-judgment or mental bias resting on emotional grounds. It often aligns with self-interest, pride, or comfort.
Rationalization: We tend to find reasons to continue believing what we value.
Impact on Clear Thinking:
Forces the individual to recognize only favorable evidence (based on gender, tribe, group, etc.).
Causes one to ignore or minimize unfavorable evidence while overestimating favorable evidence.
Limits the point of view and prevents the ability to draw accurate conclusions.
Biases and Guidelines for Overcoming Obstacles
x) Emotional and Psychological Biases:
Ideological or mental fixity.
Myside bias.
The need to be right.
The desire for certainty.
Identification with our beliefs.
Defensiveness.
Rushing to respond.
x) Cognitive Biases:
Representative bias.
Overconfidence or poor calibration.
Confirmation bias.
Guidelines to Overcome Obstacles to Inquiry:
Know your initial views and biases:
Identify the position you are starting with.
Identify the perspective you bring to the evaluation.
Reflect on personal experiences that might color judgment.
Monitor your process of inquiry and dialogue:
Check if preconceptions are biasing the evaluation of arguments.
Ensure you are listening and considering all views.
Represent other positions fairly.
Remain open to criticism and ensure responses are measured.
Avoid fallacious reasoning and undue influence from group views.
Evaluate your own view:
Identify the weaknesses and likely criticisms of your favored view.
Consider alternative arguments and evidence that would count against your view.
Determine what would change your mind about the issue.
Creativity and Criticality
The Connection: All barriers to critical thinking also hinder creativity. One can rarely think creatively without first thinking critically.
Negative Attitudes toward Creativity:
Denial attitude.
Over-reliance on divine providence.
Paralysis, surrender, or defeatism.
NIMBYISM: The "Not In My Backyard" mentality.
Thinking "I am not an expert."
Thinking "this is childish."
Fear of failure and fear of criticism.
Positive Attitudes toward Creativity:
Acceptance of the problem/challenges.
The belief: "I am part and parcel of the solution" and "Yes I can."
Believing that the problems of others also concern us.
Knowing that we learn through failure and mistakes.
Recognizing that many inventions did not come from experts.
Maintaining a positive stance on receiving criticism.
Discussion and Reference
Further Activity Topics:
Conformism, stereotyping, biases, poor reading skills, peer pressure, narrow-mindedness, selective perception, selective memory, denial, and overlap.
The assertion that creativity presupposes criticality.
Review Question: Justify why uncritical thinking is common even among the learned, explaining the factors behind the phenomenon.
Reference: Mbithi Julius W., (2020) Critical Thinking (Canada: Nisemia Publishers) p.g. 58-63.