Definition of Critical Thinking The first reading contained the following defini

Question

Definition of Critical Thinking

The first reading contained the following definition of critical thinking:

According to the article, Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, (http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766), “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief and action. (Critical Thinking.org)

This definition uses words with which you may be unfamiliar. For our assignment this week, you will need to write an extended definition of each of the following words and demonstrate how these words apply to the critical thinking process and to your own experiences:

Conceptualizing

Analyzing

Synthesizing

Your assignment this week will be a five-paragraph essay, each paragraph should address the following:

Paragraph One

Begin by writing your own definition of critical thinking. Consider the following questions to guide your definition:

What does it mean to think critically?

What is the difference between thinking and thinking critically?

What do we gain or lose by thinking critically?

Paragraphs Two, Three, and Four

Once you have your definition of critical thinking, look up the definition for each of the three words listed above, and, in a paragraph for each word, use those definitions to describe how each of them apply to your definition of critical thinking. Be sure to identify the source or sources where you found your definitions. If you use any direct words from a source, be sure to place those words in quotation marks.

Paragraph Five

In your concluding paragraph, give an example or examples of a time or times when you applied critical thinking in your own life.

PLEASE NO PLAGIARISM!!!!! IN YOUR OWN WORDS!!!!!

Explanation / Answer

Critical thinking is the ability of a person to think in a different way, keeping all of the biases aside, that would allow a person to pass on through a situation, in which otherwise taking decisions would become very difficult. The ability to go through a situation without getting affected by surrounding factors is referred to as critical thinking. The most important difference about thinking and critical thinking is the involvement of a rational component. People are habituated to think about most of the things, but critical thinking is thinking about a situation with the evidences at hand, clearing the mind of any assumptions that may affect the person and block them from taking a rational decision.

Conceptualising in critical thinking means the person needs to have an idea about the situation at hand. This allows a person to know the realistic from different angles that allows him to be aware. This awareness of the situation will allow him to formulate an idea based on which he would further build up his analysis. If a person does not create concepts, they would take things as they exist and would think that everything we have around us is inherent, just as it should be.

Analysis in critical thinking is the second most important aspect. A person has to look into the concept developed by him from all angles that will not be biased. Analysis of the concept allows them to figure out the problem or better ways to solve a problem without being affected by any of the cognitive biases. It is the cognitive biases that affect that ability of a person to arrive at a rational decision. Analysis of the concept in smaller parts helps in elimination of these biases.

Synthesis would occur after a situation has been analysed. Synthesis means to arrive at a decision that would be in sync with the concepts and in accordance with the analysis. Synthesis would help to arrive at a solution that would eliminate the present problems based only on the evidence. These conclusions have to be consistent and any interfering assumption should be identified,

Critical thinking could be used in an interview. To show a potential employer that a person has critical thinking skills, it is important that the interviewee should possess effective communication skills and that they should be having good analytical skills. Communication skills form the basis to show the employer of the potential critical thinking abilities. Also, it is important that a person should analyse situations and identify issues along with providing multiple perspectives to show that a person can think in more than one direction. Also, there have been many situations in my life where I had to use critical thinking, one of which could be identified as a standout is while a psychologist is dealing with a patient where the patient is suffering from depression. In order to determine the reasons that have led to the patient’s situation to become as it is, the therapist not only has to hear the patient’s side of story but also has to apply his experience and critical thinking process to evaluate the situations leading up to the same. The patient will never be able to guess the real reasons. That mark his conditions, but it has to be determined by the therapist. Also, it is important that the therapist has to incorporate evidence based practice in planning for interventions to get the patient in a state better than what he is at present.

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