Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero [61]
CRITICAL THINKING INVENTORY
In addition to the foregoing questions, numerous questions are suggested by the previous fifteen chapters. To assist you in taking inventory of the habits and attitudes that affect your critical thinking, ask yourself these questions:
Exactly what influences have shaped my identity? How have they done so? How has my self-image been affected? In what situations am I less an individual because of these influences?
In what ways am I like the good thinker (as outlined in Chapter 2)? In what ways like the poor thinker? What kinds of situations seem to bring out my best and worst qualities?
To what extent has my perspective on truth tended to be reasonable? (See Chapter 3 again, if necessary.)
How careful am I about separating hearsay and rumor from fact? About distinguishing knowing from assuming, guessing, or speculating?
How often do I take the trouble to make my opinions informed?
To what extend do I think that "mine is better"? (Not only the personal "mine," but the ethnocentric "mine," as well.) In what ways has this kind of thinking affected my view of personal problems and public issues?
In what matters am I most resistant to change? Is the cause of my resistance insecurity? Is it fear of something? If so, of what?
To what or whom do I feel the strongest urge to conform? In what situations ahs this conformist tendency interfered with my judgment?
How strong is my need to save face? What aspect of my image is most precious to me? Which of my roles am I most sensitive about? Which people am I most anxious to have think well of me? In what situations have my face-saving maneuvers corrupted my thinking?
Do I tend to make hard generalizations (stereotypes) about members of my own race or other races? Religions? Political or social organizations? Any of the other people, places, or ideas mentioned in Chapter 10? What caused me to first form those stereotyped views? In what ways have those views interfered with my evaluation of particular people, places, or ideas?
To what extend do I tend to oversimplify complex maters? Am I just unwilling to take the trouble to learn the truth in its complexity? Or do I feel threatened by answers that are not neat and tidy? What has made me this way?
To what extend do I tend to jump to conclusions? Do I tend to do so in some areas but not in others? If so, which areas? And why the difference? Do I draw my conclusions prematurely out of convenience? If so, is my purpose to sound authoritative and impress people? In what recent situations have I formed hasty conclusions?
Am I aware of the degree to which I assume certain things to be so? In what matters am I most inclined to assume too much, to take too much for granted?
Which of my beliefs have been influenced by logical fallacies: specifically, by illogical conclusions, either-or thinking, attacking the person, shifting the burden of proof, false cause, straw man, or irrational appeals?
To what extent have the problems listed above combined to undermine my thinking about important personal and public issues?
Which of the problems in questions 1 through 15 interfere with my thinking most frequently and significantly?
USING YOUR INVENTORY
As important as the foregoing questions are, these is one question that is considerably more important – how can you most effectively use your personal inventory to improve your critical thinking performance? The answer is by following these steps:
First, answer all the questions in the critical thinking inventory honestly and thoroughly, acknowledging not only the pleasant facts about yourself, but also the unpleasant ones. (If you ignore the latter, they will influence you no less; in fact, your refusal to face them may intensify the harm they do.)
Next reflect on your answers, noting the areas in which you are especially vulnerable.