Applying critical thinking gives individuals the opportunity to draw conclusions based on fact instead of blindly accepting information on face value. This is a great skill to have and develop during the life planning process. It will allow you to make educated and informed decisions in all aspects of your life.
Don’t take everything on face value
By gathering information from a variety of sources, it is easier to form an educated opinion. It is as simple as rectifying an argument between two squabbling children. It would not be fair to make a judgement when just hearing one side of the story. In the Children analogy, you would need to speak to them both before forming an opinion.
Assumptions are the mother of all f&*@ ups
The media can traditionally be biased for a number of reasons and different outlets will present stories in different fashions, angles and perspectives. Whilst on the train reading today’s METRO, no one is thinking ‘I better buy the Sun, Guardian and Daily Mail to check these facts’, but the point here is that to get a truly accurate picture of what is happening, you would have too.
The question is, do you think Donald Trump’s claims of ‘Fake News’ are based on critical thinking? Probably not…
You can apply methodical critical thinking at various stages of the life planning process. The below three step method is simple way of articulating how to apply critical thinking to any problem:
- Investigate ALL evidence available, you may need to find more sources than you already have
- Analyse and compare ALL the evidence you have collected
- Conclude your findings and form an opinion based on the facts
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