Critical thinking: what it is, characteristics and how to develop it

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Critical thinking is a type of complex thinking that allows the individual to reflect on unresolved issues or on others already established, with the aim of generating new responses. This type of thinking requires processes of analysis, inference, evaluation and deduction whose purpose is to recognize what is just and true. It is, after all, the thinking of a rational human being.

In the following Psychology-Online article we will analyze in greater depth what critical thinking is , its characteristics, what it is for and how it is acquired . Finally, we will detail how to develop critical thinking in adults and children.

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Index

1. What is critical thinking: definition and examples
2. Critical thinking characteristics
3. What is critical thinking for and how important is it?
4. How to acquire critical thinking
5. How to develop critical thinking in adults: 10 tips
6. 10 strategies to develop critical thinking in boys and girls

What is critical thinking: definition and examples

The critical thinking is a complex skill that a definition that encompasses the whole process is not easy to perform. According to Paul, R. and Elder L., authors of ” The Mini-Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools” , critical thinking is ” that way of thinking – about any topic, content or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of their thinking by seizing the inherent structures of the act of thinking and subjecting them to intellectual standards. “

It is a rational, reflective and self-directed thinking that occurs when solving problems. Its main function is not so much to generate ideas as to review, analyze and evaluate them from a critical and objective perspective, generating contrasted and accurate answers.

Some examples of formulations that are made from critical thinking, based on the elements that compose it (which we will detail in the next section), could be:

• What is my purpose and why?
• What question (s) sums it up?
• What assumptions do I make?
• What perspective do I start from?
• Is the information collected clear, accurate and relevant?
• Are the key concepts well defined?
• What conclusions can I draw from the evidence obtained?
• What consequences and implications does my reasoning have?

In this article you will find the different types of thinking according to psychology .

Critical thinking characteristics

According to Paul, R. and Elder L., critical thinking is composed of 8 elements:

1. Purpose of thought: goal or objective.
2. Problem or issue to solve.
3. Assumptions from which it starts.
4. Point of view or perspective from which one starts.
5. Information collected to carry out the analysis: data, facts, observations, experiences, etc.
6. Concepts and ideas that shape the information collected.
7. Inferences and interpretations concluded.
8. Implications and consequences of said conclusions.

Critical thinkers are people who routinely apply the following intellectual standards to these elements of the thought process: clarity, accuracy, relevance, logic, breadth, precision, importance, completeness, fairness, and depth .

What is critical thinking for and how important is it?

Critical thinking has many advantages. In general, it helps to promote reflective and metacognitive thinking or knowledge about one’s own cognitive processes and about the properties of learning and information. Here you will find what metacognition is . In other words, the practice of this type of information processing contributes to:

• Expand thinking skills
• Clarify understanding
• Get feedbackon teaching / learning
• Provide tools to correct strategies
• Create links between different ideas
• Encourage curiosity and creativity
• Provide challenges

The consequence of applying this mode of analysis to the critical thinking process is the development of more complex intellectual characteristics such as:

• Humility: he is aware of the limits of his knowledge.
• Autonomy: master your own thinking and reasoning process.
• Integrity: be honest and humble, recognizing the need to use intellectual standards in your reasoning process.
• Fortitude: the courage to abandon stereotypes and unfounded beliefs and accept proven truths even though we did not originally share them.
• Perseverance, despite difficulties, obstacles and frustrations
• Trust in reason, as something that will benefit the whole of society by establishing fair and accurate truths
• Empathy, to put yourself in the place of other people and understand their approaches. Here you will find How to practice empathy in your life .
• Impartiality: adhering to intellectual standards regardless of personal interests.

Faced with content learning, which is still the majority learning in most schools, critical thinking is important because it encourages students to learn to learn . Internalizing this way of perceiving the world and processing information will allow us to become more humble, tolerant and reflective people, which will feed much more efficient responses to the conflicts that arise in our day to day life.

How to acquire critical thinking

The development of critical thinking occurs through several phases:

1. Unreflective thinker: in this first phase, people are not aware that there are problems in our thinking, we do not perceive incongruities within us.
2. Challenged Thinker: At this moment, we become aware that there are divergences in our thinking.
3. Beginning thinker: from this awareness, we try to correct the incongruities but only sporadically.
4. Practicing thinker: we recognize the need to practice this way of processing information and we get to it.
5. Advanced Thinker: As we practice critical thinking, we advance our skills and the development of our thinking.
6. Master thinker: it is from the constant and lasting practice of this thought that we end up internalizing it and applying it in each and every one of our facets of life.

To develop the mastery of critical thinking, it is very positive to be surrounded by favorable educational environments that encourage this way of processing information. For this reason, it is so important that teachers and professors incorporate this way of working in their day-to-day life so that, realizing the advantages of this procedure, they encourage their students to act in this way.

How to develop critical thinking in adults: 10 tips

The practice of critical thinking is precisely necessary today. We are in the information age thanks to which we have immediate access to all kinds of information and data. Adopting critical thinking as adults and teaching it to our children will allow us to differentiate between false and true information , something very important to discard misleading information that also circulates on the internet.

Simultaneously, it will allow us to become aware of our thoughts to analyze and interpret them effectively. Important aspect to act honestly with respect to our thinking and feeling in our relationship with ourselves and with others.

In relation to this, we describe below 10 tips that will allow adults to develop critical thinking:

1. Be awareof the importance of being and always staying informed.
2. Spend a specific time “thinking about thinking”: observing our thinking, what we think, how we do it, what conjectures we arrive at, etc.
3. Encourage curiosity: from those moments of observation of thought, pay attention to those things that attract our attention the most
4. Trust in the process of rational inquiryand in your own reasoning skills.
5. Show ourselves open and flexibleto perceive and attend points of view divergent from our own.
6. Be honestin recognizing your own stereotypes and prejudices.
7. Work with disciplineto advance the development of critical thinking.
8. Persistdespite difficulties.
9. Be thoroughin the search and treatment of information.
10. Act impartiallyduring all phases of critical processing.

10 strategies to develop critical thinking in boys and girls

In most classrooms, content learning is encouraged through the teaching of basic school subjects, despite the few benefits that such long-term learning generates. Faced with this method, critical thinking arises as an option the formation of critical students, who become aware of or who question their social reality and participate in their role as social actors.

From this approach, it is important to work on those strategies that allow children to develop critical thinking in the classroom (and, why not, also in the family environment). How to promote critical thinking? Below we list 10 practical strategies that will promote this cognitive development in children:

1. The teacher will adopt the role of mediatorand inquirer, rather than transmitter of knowledge.
2. Create an environment that encourages critical thinking that promotes truth, open-mindedness, empathy, rationality, autonomy, and self-criticism.
3. Encourage studentsto believe in their own mental processes.
4. Posehigher-level problems and ask for elaborate answers.
5. That the created environment allows children to discover their own thoughtsand beliefs, express their feelings and opinions and reinforce them when they raise different points of view on the same topic.
6. Adopt the rhythm of workthat allows children to develop their thinking.
7. Encourage debateand the exchange of ideas.
8. Favor scientific procedures.
9. Stimulate teamwork.
10. Extrapolate this analysisprocedure to problems of everyday life.

Encouraging critical thinking will favor in our children and students a self-critical attitude towards life that will allow them to manage themselves more efficiently when solving the problems that arise in their life. That is why it is so important to keep critical thinking in mind in education. It is worth investing time in organizing and planning this type of learning at school and in the family through activities to develop critical thinking.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.