Andrew Badham 2021-06-03 10:58:58
Is critical thinking the most important skill you’ll ever learn? To put any one skill into that prestigious position would take quite a sound argument. After all, there are so many skills that you rely on daily to get through work and life, how could you possibly pick anyone above another? My simple reason is that critical thinking influences everything we do.
Have you ever wondered why people believe things that seem blatantly crazy or get sucked into business ideas that are clearly a scam? And, If they can hold ideas that are so obviously false, can we be guilty of the same thing and not realise it? Of course, we can. But how does this happen? It’s all about what we take in.
There is a concept in computer science called GIGO, garbage in garbage out. It’s the idea that, if you have bad inputs, you’ll have bad outputs. In other words, if you feed the computer flawed information, you’re going to get flawed results. Our brains are no different. Our decisions are only as good as the information they were based upon.
When we think critically, we decide which information to trust or be sceptical of at home or at work. We might need to analyse whether a team has actually found the root cause of a problem or just another symptom. We might need to decide if that article we read on herbal remedies is helpful or hokum. Essentially, critical thinking will be involved in every decision we make from what we eat to which service providers we choose.
Instinctively, there will be things that we trust and those we don’t and, sometimes those instincts are right, but often they are wrong. Critical thinking teaches us to challenge our instincts, not to dismiss them outright, but to question them and see if they stand up to scrutiny. It also teaches us to challenge our doubts and be more open-minded. It is the skill of holding off on a conclusion, of being uncertain.
And, just like any other skill, we need to develop it. People are not born critical thinkers, we are educated and trained in it, and it requires practice to make it a habit. We need to be shown where we have cognitive biases or logical fallacies. We need to be taught how to judge whether a source is credible or kooky. We need to practise coming to conclusions based on evidence and not instinct.
Now, if you’ve looked at all of this and thought, “I’m not so sure about what you’ve just said. How do you know we need to practice these skills? How do you know we can’t always trust our instincts?” Good. That uncertainty, that scepticism is a first step in thinking critically but it’s only useful if followed up with investigation.
So, if you haven’t already, go explore the world of critical thinking, find out how we know the things we know. This is a skill that is genuinely transformative and will permeate everything you do.
And, if you need a little assistance in your journey, we’re always here to help.