We all like to be right. Reduce complex issues down to make them simple and, if possible, Manichean. We are also happy to slip superficial thoughts into typical bar conversation, more cathartic than reflective.. We even like to debate but not so much to confront ideas and enrich our own, but as a social act, a dance-like interaction.
However, that does not mean that we all have to be like this all the time or that we are doomed to be continually biased. There are people whose thinking is more or less sophisticated. And the importance of critical thinking in our daily lives cannot be underestimated, especially in these confusing times, so punctuated by rapid and often misleading information.
The theory of stages of critical thinking development, devised by psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul, can help us gauge the sophistication of our current mental approaches and provides a roadmap for the thinking of others.
The researchers identified six predictable levels of critical thinkers, from the lowest in depth and effort to advanced mental masters, who are always one step ahead. To level up the pyramid you just have to make an effort, train, as if you were going to a gym, because it would be rare for a person to be born spontaneously on the cusp.
Next, the six stages of intellectual thinking.
1. Thoughtless thinker
They are people who do not reflect on thought and the effect it has on their lives. As such, they form opinions and make decisions based on biases and misconceptions while their thinking does not improve. They also do not consistently apply standards such as accuracy, relevance, precision and logic..
As the psychologist points out Gary Marcus in This book will make you smarter:
When two people disagree, the cause is very often to be found in the fact that their previous convictions lead them to remember (or focus on) different pieces of information.
Most university graduates, for example, could still be on this first step. Social networks are a good place to see how this type of reasoning proliferates (due to the structure of the social network itself, not necessarily because the thinker is terrible, per se).
2. Questioned thinker
They can recognize that their own mental processes may have many flaws. However, they may not be able to identify all defects.
A questioning thinker may have the sense that sound thinking involves navigating assumptions, inferences, and points of view, but only at an initial level. They can also detect some cases of their own self-deception. As the philosopher explains Julian Baggini in Do they think we are stupid?: We prefer “that is true” or “that is false” to “the factual part of that information is true, but its supposed advantages are not real.”
3. Beginning thinker
They can begin to look at the concepts and biases underlying their ideas. Additionally, these thinkers develop higher internal standards of clarity, precision, and logic, realizing that your ego plays a key role in your decisions.
There is some capacity to receive criticism of their mental approach, even though they still have work to do and may lack sufficiently clear solutions to the problems they detect.
4. Intern Thinker
This type of more experienced thinker not only appreciates his own shortcomings, but has the ability to deal with them. A thinker at this level will practice better thinking habits and analyze their mental processes regularly. With everything, They can still fall prey to egocentric and self-deceptive reasoning..
In short, you will begin to take into account some notions such as those introduced John Allen Paulos in A mathematician reads the newspaper:
What difference is there between the empirical and the a priori proposition, between scientific induction and mathematical induction. Is a certain consequence valid in both senses or is its inverse false?
5. Advanced thinker
The advanced thinker is comfortable with self-criticism and does it systematically, seeking to improve. Among the key traits required for this level are 'intellectual insight' to develop new habits of thought, 'intellectual integrity' to 'recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one's life, 'intellectual empathy' to put oneself on the spot. place of others in order to genuinely understand them, and the 'intellectual courage' to confront ideas and beliefs that they do not necessarily believe in and towards which they have negative emotions.
This type of thinker is no longer burdened by the so-called effect Lake Wobegon, as Kathryn Schulz explains in her book In defense of error:
Many of us go through life assuming that we are essentially right, always and about everything: about our political and intellectual convictions, about our religious and moral beliefs, about our appreciation of others, about our memories, about our way of thinking. understand what is happening. If we stop to think about it, anyone would say that our usual situation is to unconsciously assume that we are very close to omniscience.
6. Master thinker
An expert thinker achieves great understanding of deep mental levels, and is strongly committed to being fair and gain control over your own egocentrism.
Such a high-level thinker also exhibits superior practical knowledge and insight, always re-examining his assumptions. looking for weaknesses in your logic and or the existence of biases.
A skilled thinker would also not bristle at being intellectually confronted and would spend a considerable amount of time analyzing his or her own responses. Nor will it label those who defend diametrically opposed beliefs as "reds", "cavemen", "liberal lunatics", "right-wing bastards" and a long and creative etcetera. It will analyze ideas and not people or groups. He will flee like the plague of ad hominem. Will be vaccinated for the call Dunning-Kruger effect, that is to say, the inability of a subject to recognize his own ineptitude.
In times when those offended are bothered by any statement that even slightly departs from their mental parameters, or that They can cancel you because you go out of your way, you can already imagine more or less what rung of thought the majority of society is on:
Why is all this so important? Precisely because the human mind, left to its own devices, pursues what is immediately easiest and simplest and most absent of uncertainty. The mind worships what is comfortable and what serves its selfish interests. At the same time, he naturally resists what is difficult to understand, what implies complexity, what requires penetrating the thoughts and difficulties of others, whether empathically or simply intellectually.
Whether as educators or ordinary people, we must treat thinking (quality thinking) as our top priority. When we learn together as developing thinkers, when we all seek to elevate our thinking to the next level, and then the next, we all benefit.
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The news
According to this model there are up to six levels of critical thinking: from thoughtless thinkers to master thinkers.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.
