Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero.original_ [57]
AVOIDING THE PROBLEMS IN COMBINATION
When combinations of problems occur, the effect is to multiply the obstacles to critical thinking. One error reinforces another, triggers a third, and so on. More over, though such chain reactions usually occur in one area – with Claude it was politics, with Alma fashion, with Sam sex – they often spread and influence our thinking in other areas as well. A person who indulges unthinking reactions to one aspect of life will very likely become more unthinking, not less. For simple, given the complexity of many everyday problems and the general temptation to deal with them in the easiest, quickest way possible, ready-made pat answers have a certain undeniable appeal.
The first and most important step in solving these problems in combination, like the first step in solving them individually, is to recognize that you are prone to them. The are not the "other person's" problems. Nor do they afflict only the uneducated or less intelligent. They can be found in varying degrees in all people.
Another helpful step is to remind yourself from time to time what each problem consists of and how you can most effectively deal with it. To help you do this, here is a brief summary of all the problems discussed in Chapters 6 through 14.
The problems
How to recognize and deal with them
"Mine is better"
Preferring your own ideas for no other reason than that they are yours. Remind yourself that all people tend to regard their ideas that way, but critical thinking demands that you examine your ideas as you would other people's.
Resistance to change
Proffering familiar to unfamiliar ideas. Expect your first reaction to new ideas to be negative. Set that reaction aside and judge the idea on the basis of your critical appraisal.
Conformity
Thinking the way others do because of the group or your desire to belong. (Or, conversely, thinking the way others do not, simply because they do not.) base your thinking on the evidence and not on how others do or don't think.
Face-saving
Attempting to preserve your self-image or the image you project to others when some unpleasant reality threatens it. Distinguish between what you wish were so and what is so. Be honest with yourself.
Stereotyping
Making fixed, unbending generalizations about people, places, or things. Remind yourself that most things do not fit into neat categories. In addition, resist the feeling that you know what the correct judgment is when that feeling arises early in the information-gathering process.
Oversimplification
Simplifying that does not merely scale down complex matters to more manageable proportion but twists and distorts them. Be sure your views are an accurate representation of reality.
Hasty conclusions
Judgments made before sufficient evidence is obtained. Withhold judgment until you have answered all important questions pertaining to the issue. If you must answer without sufficient evidence, use the "If… then" approach. If the evidence will support probability but not certainty, limit your conclusion to one that is merely probable.
Unwarranted assumptions
Ideas that you have in mind and that influence your reasoning without your being conscious of it; ideas you take for granted. Develop the habit of reading (and listening) between the lines for ideas that are unexpressed but nevertheless clearly implied.
Logical fallacies
Specific errors that occur in your reasoning about issues. Monitor your thinking for signs of these errors. Especially when you are planning an oral or written presentation of your views.
APPLICATIONS