Barriers to Critical thinking

[valerie]

There are many factors that can get in the way of our ability to think critically. In the video we see that our inherited opinions, or those belief systems passed to us become significant on how we view the world. These inherited beliefs and opinions can actually stop us from thinking critically. They are often not grounded in thoughtful reasoning or logic ; for example, some children who grew up in homes affiliated to a particular political party normally support and vote for the same party their parents voted for. Their views are often those of their parents and no amount of reasoning can sway their view of certain political figures. Some are not able to give a substantive reason why they vote the way they do.

Our (pure) emotions also play a huge role in our ability to make critical decisions as they can lend heavily to our biases. When we are happy, sad or fearful, we must ensure that our decisions are grounded in careful and intentional reasoning. It was noted that if our fears can be justified by reason, we are not just being irrational but have reasons to support our fear.

There was a concern between another manager and I where I failed to think critically. I noticed each time we had a gathering she had so many things to say. I saw it as her venting and left it as that. One day I got an email from her that was very upsetting to me and right away I went to our Director. I am an advocate for workers communicating but failed to communicate with my peer By the time I got to our director I realized that I had allowed my emotions to control my thinking, and that I made a decision because of the way I was spoken to, but I also responded without slowing down and thinking it through. I failed to think critically, and failed to ask her any questions. I was reacting off my emotions of being hurt. After I thought about her email to me, I reached out to the manager and we talked about her concerns and we both apologized. We discovered the issue was really manufactured and was not grounded in reality. I have resolved to not be so fast, but to slow down and think before I react.

[Admin]

Emotions can certainly be problematic in the thinking process. It's hard to see what's factual as we can actually believe through our emotions that what we are experiencing is factual / real. I've made that error myself many times and have found that emotionally disconnecting from the matter helps - easier said than done. When I struggle with that I will use a sounding board to share the situation and see if I can get clarity from an impartial party who is not afraid to tell it to me like they see it.

[valerie]

I like that idea of sounding board. thank you