Month: September 2016

After critical Thinking workshop. I had many thoughts on where I apply CT or where I think I apply but I actually don’t. All these thoughts had to be put to rest or atleast penned down for future reference. So Thank God for the blog!

Did I say God?

My takeaway from the workshop is that critical thinking does not really ask us to “not believe” in what we want, it just requires us to think before we blindly give ourselves to our instincts. (Which according to the “Rosie Project” are stronger than reason)

Taking an example of Homeopathy or Therapeutic healing which works for some people and raises questions in the minds of others.

The enlightening Placebo effect states :

“a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment.”

The human will is extremely strong and has the power to fight diseases, mental, physical etc. However, sometimes due to external validating demotivations (eg: Migraine treatment not working) It needs something to sort of retrieve its faith. Therefore, when we believe that Homeopathy or therapeutic healing  is working, its not really the drug but our will which has found support in the promising narrative.

One of the underlying statement of pseudo science is that “there are no side effects”. So logically as a protective parent, I would choose something that will cure without any side effects than choose something that might work adversely on the immunity of my child if given frequently.

If we do not think critically and believe in the unknown/ unseen then one day we might become slaves of something that works purely on belief and not on evidence. In which case emotions will overtake (Eg: blaming god for all that has gone wrong in our lives) and it will then be difficult to gather oneself and fight back.

Having said this, I guess there are moments in which the instinct is so strong that there is just no time to reason out. So which means that Critical thinking is an effort that has to be made till it becomes a habit.

I guess it will just make us identify tough spots and deal with them.

Life is critical with lots of problems, where we need to do critical thinking to find the solutions. We have to change with time and we make changes in life for the best. During the sessions, we got an opportunity to browse through a list of biases which revolves around an individual throughout his/her life, I came to know about my bias too. I do have confirmation bias, which means the tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions. Focusing effects which means the tendency to place too much importance on one aspect of an event.  My aim to join this workshop is to exploring  into new learning with new ideas . I am trying to apply and, now I am looking forward to  become a critical thinker and watch my thoughts and analyse my thinking so that it goes in the right direction. Keep thinking critically.  I have started thinking Critical in my thought while buying things and while making decision of life . I am positive about this workshop.

With regards

Jugnu Rajput

Some further information about Critical thinking from: http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/ct.php

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to do the following :

• understand the logical connections between ideas
• identify, construct and evaluate arguments
• detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning
• solve problems systematically
• identify the relevance and importance of ideas
• reflect on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values

Why Critical Thinking?

The Problem

Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or downright prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

Critical thinking. it’s too critical. What is it, how do we do it, why is it essential, and how can we get better at it?

The importance of critical thinking

Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill.

Critical thinking is very important in the new knowledge economy.

Critical thinking enhances language and presentation skills.

Critical thinking promotes creativity.

Critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection.

Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and democracy.

—

I felt fresh, learning something new, different and significant in the the Critical thinking workshop. While reading the list of biases, I could relate myself to a number of biases but was also happy in identifying a few that I couldn’t relate too. Phew!!
Accepting and challenging my own biases suddenly seemed necessary to me.I am sharing two examples where I could identify the biases in my thought process.

Recently, I bought a pack of muesli. I opened the pack to gave some to Dev and stapled it and kept it aside. Few days later , I saw a trail of red ants on the edge of the kitchen platform. Following the ants, I realized that they were feasting on the NEW muesli. I immediately opened the packet to see the intensity of damage. They were there!! Immediately I emptied my the packet in a tray and kept it in the balcony in sunlight.

I would check the tray every few minutes. Every time I would check, I would want to see the number of ants reducing. I was wanting to avoid feeling of the loss (muesli ) as the packet was bought just a few days back and to worsen that feeling, I hadn’t used it much. Just one time serving to Dev!!

To my surprise, I was able to critically evaluate that I was thinking out of “ aversion to loss bias” or “ Sunk cost fallacy”.

Before couple of months I was facing trouble with my old laptop.I was on verge of purchasing a new laptop which enables me to work efficiently. So I inquired few models of laptop as per my limitation of budget. So after communications with different friends, options were listed before me as per my budget. Apart from that I had few more reviews too which were based upon its features and performance. Also I saw few videos on you-tube where contrasting results for the different models which was followed by comments expressing their likes and dislikes which grades the products based on their prior experiences.Like I was inclined to go for few models of DELL or HP based on my visit to showroom where sales person was interested in sale of the certain products.As more and more information became easily accessible, my attention span became more narrow.But at last I called upon my brother-in-law for piece of advice.He asked me to go for ASUS zenbook UX305 which offers some competition to Mac book air.I was flooded with information with my confirmation bias for product with strong mind-set to not to buy ASUS laptops as such as reviews were concerned. But I made my view-point sharp by identifying few of my fundamental needs.It was really different experience as there was more mass to pull me over their biases.Hence this experience made me open-minded.It allowed me to think of few far-out alternatives too.

Krishna 🙂

For me, critical thinking is about objectively analyzing an issue or an argument based on its merits or demerits.  It is not about being judgmental or getting personal. Before attending this workshop, I had not realized the extent of impact of critical thinking on our everyday behavior and its consequences. I had always thought that critical thinking applies to larger issues and not to our day to day life. This workshop has made me realize that critical thinking is applicable everywhere whether it is buying dove for us or the kind of milk that we have to choose.

When I was going through the list of biases, it seemed to me that all of them have been designed specifically just for me.  But after careful consideration, I realized that I have is status quo bias, which says, every change is painful. You don’t accept changes easily because you don’t want to come out of your comfort zone. Even a small change, like changing the direction of my bed, makes me sleepless for a night or two. But then I have realized that the change is inevitable. Though changing is difficult, not changing can be fatal.

Jyoti Khandelwal

Shiv used to go to Robogenius for learning Robotics. He had made this choice. Initially he enjoyed those classes a lot. Soon, the interest started to fade away. On being asked, why? He said , ” I don’t enjoy the class.” This was the time I thought I could help him apply my learnt lesson. We as parents sat with him and told him to analyze the situation, write the pros and cons of the workshop and take a decision. Writing didn’t take place, but decision was clear. Now, he was clear why he didn’t enjoy the sessions. He didn’t like following the steps given to him in a given format. He said he knew how to build a model but it’s application was unclear including why certain parts are used in one model but not in other.This was a learning for him as a child that I cannot just say “No” or “Yes” for everything without an analysis of it. It helps me take a better decision.

To our surprise, the lesson he had learnt was applied when we went to buy a gift for him for his birthday. He likes being given a game or a sports tool or an encyclopedia or book on places as a gift. We took him to the this new store “Decathlon” for the purchase. He wanted to buy cricket stumps which she expected his grandparents should gift  him and some undecided gift from us. He had already bought a dart game from the store a week before which he enjoyed playing. He bought stumps and explored the store on his own. At the end , he told us , “I think, I should wait as I am not clear what to buy or when time comes I will decide on basis of what I require.” We agreed. Although, I bought a surprise gift for him from Mumbai, a table tennis kit which he can play on our dining table itself. He was very happy. He said, ” Good I waited that day because I liked this gift a lot.” On being asked, this is not your decision and you can still buy one , he told “No”.

In fact , I have applied this too in many situations when buying the monthly stuff for home, deciding the tailor and buying books from Crossword versus Amazon :). But, thought of sharing these two stories here.

Regards,

Bhargavi.

Critic is always been about criticizing, negative thoughts or hurtful words.
But after attending the workshop I understand CRITICAL THINKING is something which one does after putting their feeling and opinions to rest and relying their decision more on research, calculations, facts and figures.

Yesterday when I sat down to do some critical thinking, I realized that I fall under many biases but most of times I follow reactance bias (The urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice) When I experience event like somebody instructing me to do what they want me to do, without taking my opinion then that moment -I feel that someone or something is taking away my choices or limiting the range of alternatives. I feel caged. Wish to go against and then land up being frustrated.

I do realize that this is harming my peace of mind as well as of my family. I’m trying hard to control it conciously.

This workshop enlightened me and it made me realize that there are a few things which I really need to work upon.

I would like to add on that confirmation bias activity(pattern) was an eye opener. And I was so thrilled about it that I also shared the same with my friends.

I’d like to conclude – Workshop was ineffable.

Regards,

Kiran Tulsiani

Well, I think it’s not too late to write, as somewhat I still possess a negativity bias in me. Yes, I do at times have a greater recall of unpleasant memories compared with positive memories. Whether it is a workplace or family experience, I invariably remember the instances where I sensed a complete distrust on me; I was disappointed by others actions and words. I would also mention here, that today I am quite self aware about this particular bias in me and making an attempt to balance my thoughts.

Let me add, I am much happier now, not because my views or my situations have changed. I am happy because I envision my life differently; I see myself surrounded differently; the people I interact with are very different; and I am happy to experience this difference in me.

I don’t want to get lost in search of my story, and I am not in a hurry to bring about a change in my life. First, let me experience the dive – deep into my thoughts and taste the progressive fall in my life. I wish to grow a little older to experience a phenomenal rise and would then express my say, based on my biases and the changed time.

I have been reading this book called “Sophie’s World” –  a novel about the The History Of Philosophy” by Jostein Gaarder. It is a short history of western philosophical thought from Socrates to Sartre, and talks about how human thinking has evolved over the years. What we know today about the existence of everything in the universe, right from the big bang to our own existence is all because of critical thinking.

Over the past few days, I have been consciously watching my thoughts, and I have successfully  been able to connect the behavior of people around me to some or the other bias and thereby justify their behavior in a given situation. I have tried to identify the biases that I usually operate from, and have recognized  traits of different biases in various instances.  This path of mystery should lead inward and it is still work in progress. As rightly said by Albert Einstein – the important thing is to never stop questioning.