Barriers to Critical Thinking

Barriers to Critical Thinking

Danielle Church

HUM/114

June 11, 2014

Charles Flowers

Barriers to Critical Thinking

Critical thinking helps thinkers to act instead of reacting. Reacting results in hasty decisions that are not always well thought-out. Quick decisions can lead to error or cause more problems. Evaluating a decision is critical to the decision-making process. During reflections, a thinker can rethink what the outcome was and if addressing the problem in a better manner. By evaluating decisions a thinker is learning what works and what does not work, therefore, fostering successful problem- solving and decision-making skills (Tucker-Ladd, 1996). However, critical thinking can be damaged or affected by known or unknown barriers. These barriers include but are not limited to egocentric thinking, social thinking, biases, arrogance, pressures, group thinking and drone mentality (Clayton, 2009).

Egocentric thinking is the awareness of everything in relation to oneself (Tucker-Ladd, 1996). Such individuals are self-centered and concerned about their interests. It is very difficult for many people to identify this characteristic within themselves. They are closed-minded to the thoughts and ideas of others. Open-minded thinking is one of the fundamental critical thinking skills. The best defense to minimizing thinking egocentrically is to be aware of it and to be mindful of the needs of others. In essence, to continually strive towards viewing ideas and concepts from multiple viewpoints.

Social conditioning can be a benefit or drawback to your ability to think critically (Tucker-Ladd, 1996). Age, IQ, race, genes, gender, culture, family, friends, and a wide array of other factors have a dramatic effect on how we view the world and with the interaction of people (Clayton, 2012). It may not be possible to completely understand others, but open minded critical thinking can enable you to listen, learn and empathize. Social conditioning helps you understand others better. For example, because someone is a Christian, that doesn’t mean he or she can’t appreciate the beliefs of Judaism, Buddhism, or Confucianism. The same is true for any religious, social or political belief system.                                                                              Schedule pressures can be an enemy of sound critical thinking. That can lead to mistakes and poor decision making. Poor decision making can also lead to mistakes and bad decision making (Clayton, 2012). Poor decision making comes from not knowing how or where to start. Poor decision making can lead to even more stress and cutting corners (Clayton, 2012). The result is excessive cost and time to correct (Clayton, 2012). Unfortunatally when proper planning and execution could have helped tasks to be done right the first time (Clayton, 2012) . Many times tasks can be done within the budget allocated. Think of a time when you or someone you know had some excessive pressures from tight schedules (Clayton, 2012). There is an overused statement at many work places. It is: (Clayton, 2012) “We don’t have time to do it right the first time, we will fix it later!”

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