Critical Thinking in the 21st Century

What is the traditional understanding of critical thinking?

• Providing good reasons to believe that things are true

• Creating good excuses for not believing in things

• Ignoring the reasons behind beliefs

What is the gambler's fallacy?

• Believing that the outcome of a game of chance is random

• Believing that each time you win, the next time you have a greater chance of losing

• Believing that the outcome of a game of chance is predetermined

• Believing that each time you lose, the next time you have a greater chance of winning

What is Chatfield's view on the effectiveness of critical thinking?

• It is a tool to stop people from being lured into terrorism

• It can help in finding common ground and better explanations

• It can lead to violent conclusions

• It is a magical solution to all problems

What is Chatfield's opinion on the impact of technology on critical thinking?

• It has no impact on critical thinking

• It mediates and shapes our discourse, debate, and relationships

• It has made critical thinking obsolete

• It has no influence on our cognitive biases

What is Chatfield's view on the role of collective interactions in critical thinking?

• It can lead to better and more telling descriptions of the way people are

• It has no impact on individual reasoning

• It can only lead to fruitless arguments

• It is irrelevant in the context of critical thinking

What is the author's perspective on the relationship between critical thinking and rationalization?

• Rationalization is irrelevant in the context of critical thinking

• Critical thinking leads to rationalization

• Rationalization is the foundation of critical thinking

• Critical thinking can help in avoiding rationalization

What is critical thinking?

• Learning to think once about the evidence

• Learning to ignore the evidence

• Learning to think quickly about the evidence

• Learning to think twice about the evidence

Why is critical thinking considered a key skill for coping with an information age?

• It helps in memorizing information better

• It helps in differentiating between good and bad sources

• It helps in ignoring information overload

• It helps in following endless reading lists

What is the difference between an assertion and an argument?

• An assertion is an informed basis for accepting or rejecting a conclusion, while an argument is presenting a statement without justification

• An assertion is presenting a statement without justification, while an argument is an attempt at persuasion through reasoning

What is the danger of relying on unstated assumptions in an argument or set of beliefs?

• They are irrelevant

• They are always true

• They are easily examined and challenged

• They are unexamined and unchallenged