Developing Critical Thinking Skills
One of the critiques which is being levelled at schools now (That in my mind is actually a justified one as opposed to a difference of opinion) is that for a long time, children have been simply trained to memorize and spit out information rather than analyzing it. In other words, they are taught what to think, not how to think. But good critical thinking and intellectual growth requires you to know how think: how to build connections between different ideas, how to analyze ideas, how to put ideas into a broader historical, cultural, and social context, and how to refute it in a constructive fashion. An inability to evaluate information makes people more susceptible to misinformation.
You can develop your critical thinking skills as an adult and it’s something that requires maintenance, otherwise like body muscles, the skill can atrophy. So how can you develop critical thinking skills in yourself and others?
Ways to Create and Strengthen Critical Thinking Skills
1. Take the time to evaluate the sources of information. Nowadays, it’s not that hard to take a claim and run it through a google check to see who said it, where it came from, and how credible that source is. You can even use things like ChatGPT, but keep in mind that you will have to vet its information as well as ChatGPT and other large language models often get their information not quite right or ‘hallucinate’ information. It’s a good place to start, but shouldn’t be where you end.
2. Learn to be ok with scientific uncertainty. Humans absolutely crave rock solid certainty, but the reality is that the world is a shifting, uncertain place. Science in particular is an evolving process and it never ends. We can see how the two worldviews clashed during the Covid-19 pandemic where medical scientists were regularly coming out with new (and often contradictory) information, but most people were craving absolute certainty and so began to mistrust the medical science in favour of simple, clear answers – even when those answers were wrong. In order to be good at critical thinking, you have to learn to be okay with the fact that there is a lot of uncertainty and information is regularly being updated and changed as more facts come to light.
3. Encourage and foster open inquiry. In school and in life, encourage discussion and debate with your friends and family. Ask people plenty of questions about the topic they are discussing, hit the internet discussion threads (credible ones!) to ask questions, and foster an open mind.
4. Watch out for emotional appeals. Misinformation spreads because it exploits emotions, often negative and inflammatory ones like fear, anxiety, or outrage. It’s the same idea that scammers use when they use inflammatory phone calls or email to get you to panic before you’ve had a chance to think. In this case, the misinformation is being spread because people are getting emotional and spreading it before checking up on it. Try to practical rational thinking over emotional outbursts and take the extra few minutes to follow up on the information before deciding what to do with it.
5. Find and take in multiple perspectives. It’s important to engage with diverse viewpoints and be willing to think about where they are coming from. Obviously, this engagement can even mean simply following up on a claim, realizing it’s bunk, and then telling others why it’s bunk, or it can be mean listening to other viewpoints and adding them to your own repertoire of knowledge (and everything in between). If nothing else, practicing ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’ sharpens analytical thinking and improves empathy.
The Importance of Critical Thinking
Information is everywhere now with multiple sources and stories vying for our attention all the time. But the truth now is far harder to find; misinformation and disinformation has become a weapon in the hands of people looking to make money, influence businesses and elections, and even wage war. But it can be combatted by utilizing and strengthening critical thinking skills and passing those skills on to the next generation. It can be stressful and difficult (and may cost you friends and family), but the ability to dissect information and analyze it is a powerful tool in today’s world and well worth improving.
