Analyzing Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. (Critical thinking community, n.d.)

Critical thinking is described as unbiased, clear and factual thought process that helps any student with any decision-making process. Critical thinking is an essential tool that every student will need to master to continue academic success. There are multiple phases of critical thinking as described by Benjamin Bloom which include remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The critical thinking process starts by remembering. If we can remember what we read and apply key facts we will be able to move forward to understand what decisions we need to make. From there we can then apply the facts to the decision we have to make and innovate, or create, as needed.

* Use technology and information resources to research issues in critical thinking skills and informal logic.

If I am to develop my personal critical thinking ability, I must first make a conscious choice to understand the basic concept of a premise and then make critical reflection of this basic concept by expanding my thinking approach. To achieve this, I must ask radical questions that will enhance the scope of analysis and judgment. I must move from the region of subconscious thinking to one of conscious thinking because in so doing, I become aware that I am actually thinking. This awareness will allow me to think beyond rudimentary concepts through critical reasoning and critical reflection to decipher underlying issues that are concealed in the concept under investigation. By understanding the predictable

Beliefs, attitudes and values are three little words that have and make a massive impact on who we are as individuals, who we are as people, and even how the world is viewed by ourselves and others. A belief is something that individuals or groups think, such as believing in a god. Where a Value would be the living life in the ways a religion expects, this value will be made from the belief that the person or group has in their God. The attitude towards this would be the feelings, beliefs and behaviour tendencies towards this, for example praying, reading the holy book,

I received a score of four on the Realistic scale, a score of eleven on the Investigative scale, and a score of nineteen on the artistic scale. I got a score of twenty-six on both the Social and Enterprising scale and a score of two on the Conventional scale. I was slightly surprised by the results because I did not think I would receive such a high score on the artistic scale. I have never viewed myself as a creative person before so it was interesting to see myself receive that result. I anticipated the Social, Enterprising, and Investigative scale would have been my highest three scales. I chose the future job zone, within that I chose an extensive job preparation. My reason for choosing an extensive job preparation is because I wanted to make the exercise/activity as realistic as possible. I see myself going into a graduate program after graduating from the University of Maryland and I wanted to observe potential careers and examine the results.

This assignment will showcase your ability to recognize and examine argument structure.  Please be sure to follow all of the assignment guidelines, which your instructor will give to you in class or listed below.

In 1990, the American Philosophical Association defined critical thinking as “purposeful, self-regulatory process that results in reasoned judgment”. Critical thinking can be defined in a number of similar phrases that all seem to focus on the importance of conscious analysis. Our text starts off with the working phases of critical thinking as analyzing thinking, evaluating thinking, and improving thinking. The process of critical thought is cyclical and not linear. Being a “fair-minded critical thinker” is not a permanent attribute, and it must be consistently worked at as applying intellectual standards and elements of reasoning instead of emotion can be difficult. Overall, to be a strong critical thinker you must work toward strong intellectual traits such humility, courage, and integrity to better represent issues and or arguments.

When a person, such as Ryan, is considering applying to a college or university there can be many psychological factors that can play a part in determining your actions. The things you become exposed to, assumptions about people, and your motivations are all attributing to our life decisions.

Critical thinking involves rationalizing a given situation and objectively evaluating information (Myers, 2011). This particular method of processing information forces one to assess misleading evidence and strive for accuracy in recorded findings as opposed to trusting his/her, often faulty, intuition. The ability to think critically is very crucial to psychology when evaluating test results because it requires one to ask questions, second guess his/her assumptions, and ignore biases. Critical thinking can be influenced in both biological and psychological ways. The skill of thinking critically can be influenced psychologically because one must yearn to want to evaluate properly and question things rather than

The main concepts presented in the article are the varying definitions of each author on the concept of critical thinking. The information the author uses are definitions which are the opinions of varied authors and are similar in foundation in that to apply critical thinking one must be able to identify a problem, pose a question(s), provide valid supporting evidence, and come to a conclusion. Although the author’s definitions do not identify a problem, questions, evidence, or conclusions, the relationship Petress (2004) shows is that the reader must apply this process themselves as it is not always given. The information used does appear to be relevant, significant, and valid. The references the author listed does provide enough information for me to come to this conclusion. Since this work is a literature review and not a case study, numerical data are not necessary to determine validity of the information.

Reflecting upon the four ideas:” Clarify your thinking”, “stick to the point”, “question questions”, and “be reasonable,” these are all key components of critical thinking. Beginning with “clarify your thinking,” this idea asserts that a person must refine their thinking skills and the way that they comprehend and regurgitate information. This means that they must be able to get to the underlying meaning of the information being presented to them, and that they must be able to clearly articulate their meanings to others. Next, “Stick to the point,” this idea explains the importance of staying on subject and not straying away from the main topic. Most of everyone has encountered this type of situation when an individual offers their opinion

The process of critical thinking requires you to ask more questions of both others and of yourself before a decision or determination is made. In order to successfully evaluate data in a critical manner, you must have a system in place to assess information as it is presented. In any situation whether you are having a conversation, observing others, or material you have read, you must be ready to probe deeper and ask the right question at the right time.

Critical thinking takes consistent behavior in asking the right questions about the subject. In my life, I have come across people who ask many questions and some people who “go with the flow” and believe everything they hear because it is spoken with some sort of authority. Assumptions can be damaging to relationships and without critical thinking and communication, our thought process can assume the wrong idea entirely. When I speak with someone who is a critical thinker, they can be so convincing that it is often challenging to decide what the correct conclusions are. To have inferences is to reach a conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning through critical thinking and asking the right questions.

There are said to be six stages of critical thinking, the unreflective, challenged, beginning, practicing, advanced, and accomplished thinker. The unreflective thinker is unable to asses their thinking skills while in the second stage of challenged thinkers, they are becoming aware and figuring out problems. The beginning thinker is similar to concrete thinking, which contains no depth, it regards to the facts and thinking in the periphery. At the fourth stage, the practicing thinker is developing the knowledge for systematic practice, while the advanced thinker now has good habits and can actively analyze information. Lastly, the accomplished thinker can access their intuitiveness and take a position on things in everyday life(Edler, Paul).