Critical Thinking is an important and valuable skill. The perception process in critical thinking allows information to be sorted, organized, interpreted and evaluated. Creation of importances in this process is crucial, as it allows information to be ranked according to its logical strength and importance.
Intuitively, almost everyone has a basic understanding of critical thinking. It is articulate reasoned thought, based on reason and insight, as opposed to emotion and a lack of logic. Facione (1998) notes that at one level we can think of critical thinking as "good thinking, almost the opposite of illogical, irrational, thinking" (p. 1).
The perception process of critical thinking is crucial. Facione (1998) notes that perception is an important component of beginning to evaluate the credibility of information. In the perception process, an individual selects what information to pay attention to, organizes the information, and interprets and evaluates this information.
The creation of importances is a critical component of the perception processing in critical thinking. Here, interpretation of information in order to discern its meaning or significance is an essential start. Once meaning, significance, and categorization has been determined, information can be "sorted" in terms of relative importance. This involved analyzing information, and evaluating factors such as its logical strength and credibility. Thus, a good critical thinker will be able to infer reasonable conclusions from information, and create a ranking of importance of the given information.
Facione (1998) argues that critical thinking offers a number of advantages. It allows individuals to be able to think for themselves, and "leads us away from "naive acceptance of authority, above self-defeating relativism, and beyond ambiguous contextualism. It culminates in principled reflective judgment" (p. 12).
In conclusion, critical thinking is an important and purposeful skill that can be profoundly helpful in categorizing and analyzing the wealth of information available in today's complex society. The perception process of critical thinking is an important step in interpreting information, and allows the individual to develop reasoned conclusions. Altogether, a solid understanding of critical thinking provides a solid basis for reasoned, independent evaluation and interpretation of information.
References
Facione, Peter. (1998). Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts. California Academic Press. 12 October 2004. http://www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/what&why98.pdf
Critical Thinking Self-Analysis I always assumed that psychology was a bunch of mumbo jumbo related to Freud and sexuality. I always thought that I was a decent learner, prior to taking this course. I now see that I have the potential to be an excellent learner if I simply make the effort. Cognitively, I thought that this assignment and the article it is based on would be dull due to the
Critical Thinking Application "Every job, and every company, can benefit from critical thinking" (Pauker, 2010). Pauker makes this assertion with good reason. In considering this argument, Pauker suggests taking a second to think about any job, and the daily responsibilities and decisions that people need to make. She argues that if one considers the margin of error that could ultimately cost a company a project, a client, profits or even its
Normally, the level of performance that this employee demonstrated was so poor as to warrant a written warning, the first step in the process towards dismissal. However, I applied my critical thinking skills to the situation. The person's current behavior was inconsistent with her past behavior. I decided to gather information. The next morning I noticed that she was late again, and I monitored her behavior. I continued monitoring over
A work experience of mine from a few years ago demonstrates this pretty clearly. It was the Christmas shopping season and I was working in a small toy store where we offered gift wrapping, and where we still wrote out the receipts by hand (no barcode scanners or computerized registers). There was a line form the register counter at the back of the store to the entrance, a pile
For many, the focus is on creating a workable treatment plan based on solid diagnosis. Earning trust through consistency of communication, deciding when and if the level of detail about their diagnosis needs to be shared, and focusing on the patient through customer skills all when combined lead to a cured patient. Client or patient skills are an area that is the most rapid in learning from a critical
Although we were all in the same situation together, one of my fellow employees took this sudden abuse very personally. She thought that she was being punished for what she thought was her "laziness" earlier during the year. She was suffering from an illness and had to take a significant amount of paid leave, along with all her available sick leave, in order to recover sufficiently to return to
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now