Critical Thinking
Management 350
Critical thinking is a process in which a person pursuits reliable and pertinent information about the world. Critical thinking is often described as reasonable, ruminative, trustworthy, and a well practiced form of thinking that assists people with deciding what they should believe in and what actions should be taken. A practiced critical thinker will ask good questions, collects pertinent data, categorizes common characteristics, logically reasons with the new data and then he or she will come to a trustworthy and dependable conclusion. Critical thinking makes use of many processes and procedures. Some processes include but is not limited to asking questions, making judgments, and identifying assumptions (Beyer 1995).
Critical thinking is more than just thinking about why to not touch fire or how to brush ones teeth. The kind of thinking it takes for teeth brushing and personal safety is a much lower level of thinking and most people do this type of thinking without much effort. Critical thinking is a higher level of thinking that allows people to make responsible judgments for future activities and decisions; like whom to vote for in a presidential election, the ability to serve on a jury or evaluate the realities of war or global warming (Beyer 1995).
Everyday life activities like buying a car, choosing courses at school, moving out on one’s own, deciding between several job offers, selecting a phone or cable package, travelling from city to city with time and budget restrictions requires people to seek information, find and evaluate alternatives then reach a conclusion. Each of the preceding processes are part ...