Our brain is just amazing, provided we give our actions and our thoughts, a critical consideration! Isn’t it?
Well, did you know that your mind is like a gearbox, though with two gears only? Yes, that’s true! Operating from System 1 or System 2. While the first one relates to your impulses, your immediate reactions even animal urges (if I can put it in a not-so-polite way). Something like you reached home from work in your thoughts and reaching your door-step you wonder, “How did I reach? I don’t even remember what I saw on my way?” that was your system 1 guiding you. Your system 2 allows you to prove that Yes! You are human. Thoughtful computation, careful efforts, deliberate practice and consciousness in the action. Here, you are not just reacting, you are responding. When you respond, “Hold on a second, let me think this through.” You are in your gear 2, I mean system 2.
We say that every child is different, well our minds are different too. So, one may see an ace of spade, another may see a floral design! Of course, both the minds are right, they are looking at a member of a deck of cards. This is about perspectives. When you want to give critical thought to something, you likely want to look at the matter from all the different angles. In fact, you may also want to be open-minded to other people’s perspective. However, that’s going to be debatable and why not? We are doing critical thinking.
While your beautiful brain is smarting out for being smart, psychiatrists have given an endless list of ‘cognitive biases’ – a systemic error in your thinking for all the worldly reasons. When you thought your husband left a wet towel on the bed, just to tease you, you might be experiencing intentionality bias or when your parents just do not wish to visit the doctor with a variety of excuse, they might have an ostrich effect going on. In a way, hiding away from reality.
And finally, when you learn to be a critical thinker, this is what you do – “Murder your darling.” That’s what we did, we deliberately researched, keeping our confirmation biases aside, about the true picture of our favourite product or a brand. Something like looking at the flip side of the coin. A side that you are most likely not going to like. In between of these, we debated on China and Covid-19 and gave our opinions on politics (not so the favourite subject of mine). At the end of Day 3, we halted at culture and critical thinking.
