I’m starting to get concerned with what I see as a global decline in critical thinking. The fact that the United States as a country and the world as a whole are both becoming more and more polarized is evidence that people are trending towards banding together in a group-think mentality instead of forming opinions of their own.
In short, critical thinking is the ability to think for yourself. (Read Become a Critical Thinker for a more detailed definition.) It means being secure enough with yourself to have your own opinions even if it means the possibility of ridicule.
Higher Stakes
It may also be possible that the percentage of critical thinkers has remained the same, but the geo-political environment has increased the need for critical solutions. The internet has opened the information floodgates, giving both propagandists and critical thinkers a more powerful medium to spread their word. Since critical thinkers have always remained a minority, this new environment has made it harder to compete.
Bigger Weapons
Nuclear proliferation and extremism have raised the stakes. The price of a bad decision is infinitely higher than it was 100 years ago. Global prosperity has given everyone bigger weapons, from the military level on down to the individual. A person with a lot of money has more power that they have ever had before.
Bigger weapons mean bigger consequences. I just finished a 4-day golf trip where this idea became very clear to me.
In golf, you choose your weapon when you choose your club. You can’t play without one, but the choice of weapon is critical.
Off the tee-box, the masculine instinct inside me wants to choose the biggest weapon possible: my driver. But since I have yet to develop a high-percentage swing, it severely punishes me for the slightest inaccuracy. A fifteen degree error turns into a lost ball; while I would have landed in the fairway with a shorter club. The bigger the weapon, the bigger the consequence.
Critical Thinking
A critical thinker has moved through moral stages of dualism and relativism and has chosen their own principles to stand for. Critical thinkers tend to have a very creative perspective on the world because it is completely unique to themselves. Having gone through the two extremes of dualism and relativism themselves, they tend to respect other peoples’ opinions.
If you haven’t noticed, respect for other points of view is not in style at the moment. America is sharply divided politically and each side is absolutely convinced they’re right. The mutual level of hate seems to be reaching a level that we haven’t seen since desegregation.
The First Clue
The first clue that you’re not a critical thinker is you basically agree with everyone else in your social circle. If everyone around you is a Democrat, you believe that all conservative thought is simple minded, racist, greedy religious fanaticism. If everyone around you is a Republican, you believe that all liberal thought is evil, self-absorbed, entitled theoretical fantasy. This is called being an ideologue.
If you’re a critical thinker, you might agree with some conservative thought and some liberal thought, but you respect both sides. You don’t succumb to the social pressure to agree with everything on one side or the other.
It’s Lonely Out There for Critical Thinkers
Critical thinkers are very threatening to ideologues, and therefore don’t get invited to many parties. To a dogmatist on the right, a critical thinker is a liberal. To a dogmatist on the left, the same critical thinker is a conservative. Like I said, you have to be very secure with yourself to think on your own.
Conventional Wisdom
Conventional wisdom is a term coined by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society to describe thought that’s generally accepted as true because it’s convenient. The problem is that reality is rarely convenient.
A critical thinker is skeptical of conventional wisdom because it’s almost always overturned. We used to believe the world was flat before believing it was round. We used to believe the earth was the center of the universe. We may someday find out that we don’t exist at all.
Emotional Rollercoaster
Human beings have tendency to overreact, especially in response to emotional stimuli. The cumulative tendencies of individuals translate into tendencies of society as a whole. As a people, our collective consciousness tends to swing from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other over several years.
For this reason, critical thinkers tend to be skeptical of mass hysteria. If everyone in society is panicked about one issue, it’s logical to assume that they will forget about it in a few years.
A critical thinker tries to separate hysteria from reality. Cooler heads must prevail if we are to stabilize.
Do You Think for Yourself?
How closely do your political views match those of your parents? How about your friends, your co-workers, your race, your gender, your socio-economic situation. It’s perfectly natural to assume some of your values from your circle of influence, but have you considered other points of view before deciding on your own?
Other Clues You’re Not a Critical Thinker
You think the other side is stupid for believing what they do.
You’re a conformist.
You’re an anti-conformist.
You can be easily categorized politically.
Your opinions are predictable.
You have strong feelings of dislike for the other side.
You feel morally superior to others.
You can’t be friends with members of certain groups.
The American Dream
One of the great things about The United States is our history for critical thinking and, as a result, balance between extremes. In today’s geo-political environment, there’s a need to reclaim this legacy.
For example: historically, we’ve struck an unique balance between capitalism and socialism. We’re not so capitalist that we trample the lower class, but we’re not so socialist that we don’t produce. You might think that we need to move in one direction or the other, but the fact that we have a debate keeps us from going to one extreme.
Respectful debate is one thing, but the sort of malicious debate that we are seeing today is an indicator of a group-think mentality.
Become Secure With Who You Are
To become a critical thinker, you have to be willing to accept the fact that you might be wrong. In order to do that, you have to be secure. An insecure person feels threatened when questioned. A secure person is interested in hearing why they are being questioned.
Have You Heard All Sides of the Issue?
Are you getting all your information from one source, or do you diversify. Do you have the courage to listen to both conservative and liberal talk radio? How about newspapers and television? Are you listening to points on both sides before you make up your mind?
It’s hard to take someone seriously when they are just spitting out the same thing as everyone else. To make things worse, dogma is usually accompanied by contempt. Two dogmatics on opposite sides are incapable of having a real conversation. Instead of talking to each other, they talk at each other.
Two critical thinkers may have opposite points of view, but still like each other. They can remain friends and still debate. They are willing to concede a good point. They are willing to say that they were wrong. They are drawn to each other because of a thirst for knowledge.
Become A Critical Thinker
Critical thinking is a muscle that can never get enough exercise. Even our greatest thinkers like Aristotle, Newton, and Einstein were eventually proved wrong.
The minute you think you have all the answers is the minute you lost your ability to think critically.
Great post. We are definitely in need of more critical thinking these days. I also agree completely that those who call themselves “anti-conformist” are not critical thinkers. If you call yourself the opposite of anything, you are still buying into a closed set of beliefs that are just the opposite of those that you purport not to conform to. That is why I consider myself agnostic rather than athiest (not to incite a flame war or anything…); it seems to me that those who profess a complete disbelief in God are still believers in their disbelief no matter how much they think they are backed up by facts. It seems like someone who is thinking critically would stand in the position that we are all incapable of knowing everything, so wouldn’t the most rational conclusion be that one should not completely discount the possibility but be open to it? There are plenty of examples like this currently in many other areas. The point is, to truly be a critical thinker you have to release your grip on any set of beliefs and be open to the possibilities. Basically what you just said
Thanks for putting that out there.
Thank you Brian,
That was a wonderful post about a topic I heartily agree with. It seems like many people form strong views and opinions of off basic surface impressions. They don’t take the time to dig deeper and they don’t bother trying to understand the other side of the story.
I find it much easier to resolve problems and arguments when I listen to the other side and try to understand why they believe what they do. From there, it’s a quick and short step to a resolution both sides can be happy with.
Gal
Thanks for the comment, David.
I think you’re right on, 60 in 3.
Yes, I agree, a very good article on a very important subject. Well written too. I used digg to acknowledge as such. Congrats, Bryan.
“To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Great post! It certainly belongs to a blog entitled GeniusTypes.
Hey, loved “The first clue that you’re not a critical thinker is you basically agree with everyone else in your social circle”, but why only social?
I started to test drive Collin Powell’s rules for making things done lately and posting about the result. One of the recent was about pissing people off by showing responsibility – liked that a lot, it is so true – if i beleive in something with all my heart expect some people that do not and expect that some will get pissed off. That absolutely does not mean war confrontation rather trading off and finding mutually agreed solution… that part is somehow lame these days…
Great post. I’ve noticed the same trend myself and it’s really disturbing.
Great post! I like the last paragraph most
“The minute you think you have all the answers is the minute you lost your ability to think critically”
I think to think critically requires us to have a open cup. Question about current way of doing things allows us to be more creative.
At the same time, we want to speak with good purpose so that we do not irritate other people.
Blogging is a good way to share personal opinions and yet be opened new ideas via comments.
Here is where I have my own opinion about how to get more success in life:-
http://www.secretofunlimitedprosperity.com
Thanks for the Digg, Logan! I’ve yet to make it to the front page. maybe this will be my lucky day.
Thanks, Sanel.
Great point, Practica. I think that the pressures to think a certain way expand beyond your social circle.
Thanks, karenlim. You’re right, blogging is a great way to continually evolve your consciousness.
Thanks for the Stumble, John. You must have some pull on StumbleUpon, because every time you Stumble on of my articles, it takes off.
Great post! I’ve been thinking along those lines myself for some time now. One thing I have noticed, however, is that in many cases, Conservatives think that they have a monopoly on Critical Thinking. Of course, the ones who claim this still can’t see past the left-right dichotomy, so by claiming so, they are proving themselves wrong.
I think part of the problem is the anonymous nature of internet forums, chat rooms, etc. As many people come online in such formats, they have to identify themselves to each other. In many cases, they craft a persona to do so, as a form of role-playing. The more extreme or outrageous the persona is, the more attention it gets, which may have been the goal of joining the forum to begin with. Of course, humans being social primates, like personas tend to band together, reinforcing each other in taking ideological pot-shots at their opposing ‘anti-ideologues’. Critical thinkers usually don’t fit in such situations and are usually ignored.
I love this site and can’t agree more with there is a lack of critical thinking. How can we teach others to think critically and improve upon our own critical thinking skills? I do find that critical thinking takes a lot of mental effort becuase there is so much out there to sift through and most people won’t take even a few minutes to examine misleading assumptions from facts. Even I get lazy sometimes and cave to incorrect assumptions and past experiences.
in your sub-topic “Become Secure With Who You Are…”
Few words were discussed but solid and direct. i agree when you said that “secure person is interested in hearing why they are being questioned.”
Great Brain Brian..