5 tips to improve your critical thinking

Ever wondered about what works behind your decision-making process? Yes, it’s the job of Critical thinking.

Let’s see how it works.

Contents

How does critical thinking work?

Critical thinking goes decodes a problem entirely by breaking it into smaller pieces so that it’s easy for you to understand better. Behind every problem, there exists two issues- Bias and Manipulation. These act as two factors that sway us to think in a particular manner about the problem at hand.

As the name suggests, critical thinking might sound like something negative. And in a way, it is, because it goes beyond just simply accepting something. When you use critical thinking to find a solution to a problem, it makes you question and then counter-question. As a result, you don’t end up nodding your way yes to just anything and everything. Through critical thinking, you weigh in all the available options and then cancel out the unnecessary ones.

How can one approach critical thinking?

There are 5 steps to achieve this-

  1. Formulate your question: This step refers to clarifying what you’re actually looking for. Furthermore, this requires you to look into the problem you’re trying to approach more deeply. This helps you find the real answer to your problem, as to why you’re doing what you’re doing. However, in order to achieve that, you must know how to ask yourself the right questions.
  2. Gather your information: In order to ask the right questions, you need to know the way around your problem. To do that, you can seek counseling from an expert on the issue you’re tackling and refer to as many sources as possible to gather everything that you can on the topic.
  3. Apply the information: The next step in the cycle requires you to use the previously gathered information. The application of it revolves around some more questions like- “what concepts are at work?” “What assumptions exist” ” What Is my interpretation of the information?” “Is it logically sound?”
  4. Consider the implications: After applying the knowledge earned in the previous step, you must also take the possible results into count. Think about how a particular decision of yours can turn out to be. Is it the desired result you were looking for?
  5. Explore other points of view: It’s never enough to look at a problem with a single-track mind. You must consider other options or ideas that exist in opposition to the one you’d been considering. All sides and variables should be looked into. Not only does that widen your sense of understanding, but it also helps you examine the pros and cons of the situation. Moreover, it isn’t necessary that what appeals to you may be preferred by others as well, and vice versa.

Now, you’re better equipped to handle the situation with a wider spectrum of information laid down in front of you. By completing this cycle, you know much more about the topic in question than you did before. This ultimately aids in making up your mind after considering multiple ideas and how they can benefit you or not.

 

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