What Critical Thinking Is
Critical thinking in one page
Critical thinking involves: analysing, conceptualising, defining, examining, inferring, listing, questioning, reasoning, synthesising.
When you are thinking critically
- Relying on reason rather than emotion
- Requiring evidence; following it where it leads
- Asking questions; analysing apparent confusion
- Self-aware about motives, biases, assumptions
- Honest about emotional impulses and self-deception
- Open-minded; willing to consider alternatives
- Disciplined: precise, meticulous, comprehensive
- Resistant to manipulation and snap judgements
- Able to weigh evidence and recognise the merit of alternatives
Other types of thinking (not critical)
- Habitual thinking
- Brainstorming
- Creative thinking
- Prejudicial thinking
- Emotive thinking
A non-critical thinker
- Sees things in black and white
- Treats questions as yes/no
- Misses linkages and complexities
A teacher who claims to think critically and a teacher who actually does think critically often look similar from the outside. Both ask questions; both consult evidence; both seem deliberate. The difference is in what they do when the evidence contradicts what they want to believe. Critical thinking is, in working terms, the discipline to follow the evidence even when it points away from a comfortable conclusion.
What critical thinking involves
Critical thinking is reasoning that aims to evaluate information in a disciplined way, to refine the thinker’s own thinking. It involves a set of cognitive moves:
- Analysing
- Conceptualising
- Defining
- Examining
- Inferring
- Listing
- Questioning
- Reasoning
- Synthesising
These are the operations a critical thinker uses to work through a claim or a situation. Each one does different work. Together they form the working repertoire of careful thought.
Critical thinking and critical reflection
Critical reflection is the application of critical thinking to one’s own practice. The reflective practitioner who is thinking critically wants to be better at thinking. She seeks out and is guided by knowledge and evidence that fits with reality. The pattern is:
- Belief. A working idea about how something is.
- Test. Examining whether the belief stands up to evidence.
- Change. If the belief is shown to be unfounded, a change of position and an appropriate response.
The third step is the hard one. Most people resist changing a belief that has been shown to be unfounded, because changing the belief means admitting it was wrong. Critical thinking includes the discipline to make this change anyway.
Reasoning over emotion and social pressure
Critical thinking involves reasoning based on sound, consistent logic. Truth is not determined by the emotions that accompany a claim, nor by the beliefs of the social groups around the thinker.
This does not mean emotions are ignored. Critical thinking takes emotion seriously as data. It just does not let emotion settle the question of what is true. Similarly, social pressure is recognised as a force, but not as an authority.
A teacher in a staff meeting where everyone agrees that a certain student is “lazy” is in a situation where social pressure is producing a label. A critical thinker can hold the label up against the evidence and ask whether it actually fits, even if the meeting has already moved on.
Marks of a critical thinker
Several qualities show up in critical thinkers across the literature.
Reliance on reason rather than emotion
The thinker uses emotion as data but does not let emotion decide what is true.
Demand for evidence
The thinker requires evidence, ignores no known evidence, and follows the evidence where it leads. The goal is finding the best explanation, not being right.
Analytical questioning
The thinker analyses confusion and asks questions. Vague claims get unpacked. Hidden assumptions get surfaced.
Self-awareness
The thinker weighs the influence of motives and biases, and recognises her own assumptions, prejudices, and points of view.
Honesty
The thinker recognises emotional impulses, selfish motives, immoral purposes, and other modes of self-deception.
Open-mindedness
The thinker evaluates reasonable inferences, considers a variety of viewpoints, remains open to alternative interpretations, accepts new priorities in response to new evidence, and does not reject unpopular views out of hand.
Discipline
The thinker is precise, meticulous, comprehensive, and exhaustive.
Resistance to manipulation
The thinker resists irrational appeals and avoids snap judgements.
Good judgement
The thinker recognises the relevance and merit of alternative assumptions and perspectives, and weighs evidence accurately.
Other kinds of thinking
Not all thinking is critical thinking. Several other kinds exist, and each has a place in life and teaching, but each is different from critical thinking.
| Type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Habitual thinking | Based on past practice without considering current data |
| Brainstorming | Saying what comes to mind, without edit, judgement, or evaluation |
| Creative thinking | Putting facts, concepts, ideas, and principles together in new and original ways |
| Prejudicial thinking | Judging based on prior bias rather than current evidence |
| Emotive thinking | Responding to the emotion of a message rather than the actual information |
Each kind has uses. Brainstorming generates options. Creative thinking produces new combinations. Habitual thinking gets routine work done quickly. The point is that none of these is a substitute for critical thinking when the question requires careful evaluation.
Generation versus evaluation
Creative thinking generates new combinations of ideas. Critical thinking evaluates them, asking which ones hold up to evidence and reasoning. The two are complementary. A teacher needs both: creative thinking to come up with options, critical thinking to choose between them. Neither one alone is enough.
A non-critical thinker
The opposite of a critical thinker can be described in three habits.
Black-and-white thinking
The non-critical thinker sees things in black and white. Situations are either good or bad. People are either competent or incompetent. There is no middle ground.
Yes/no questions
The non-critical thinker treats questions as yes-or-no, with no room for subtleties. “Was the lesson successful?” gets a yes or a no, when in fact it had successful and unsuccessful aspects worth examining separately.
Missed linkages
The non-critical thinker fails to see linkages and complexities in information and situations. The connection between two events is missed; the way one factor depends on another is not noticed; the multiple causes of a single outcome are reduced to one.
A reflective teacher who recognises these habits in herself can choose to work against them. The work is slow, but the alternative is staying inside the habits.