{"id":162,"date":"2017-03-23T18:22:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T18:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/?p=162"},"modified":"2018-01-08T21:19:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:19:13","slug":"you-never-thought-what-the-real-value-of-critical-thinking-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/you-never-thought-what-the-real-value-of-critical-thinking-is\/","title":{"rendered":"You Never Thought What The Real Value of Critical Thinking Is"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\" et_pb_row et_pb_row_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_text_0\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-161 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Think.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a sign saying 'THINK'\" width=\"276\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Think.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Think-290x300.jpg 290w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Think-768x794.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 276px) 100vw, 276px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Dr. Gil Dekel.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase \u2018critical thinking\u2019? You may think of people who doubt everything? People that can\u2019t stop asking arrogant questions which makes them very uncomfortable to be around?\u00a0 Now, put your preconceptions on hold for a second and see why critical thinking is something entirely different. Read on to get some ideas on how you can benefit from developing this skill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just imagine the following situation: You are living on the countryside in a small village with only one grocery store which is five miles away from your home. You and your neighbour agree on going there in the afternoon. You are happy about it because you don\u2019t have a car, and you are about to run out of food. You are waiting for your friend to pick you up, but he doesn\u2019t show up. You keep calling him and knocking on the door, but nothing. This is a truly frustrating. First of all, you might worry about what\u2019s happened to him. Second, you are getting more and more hungry. But what\u2019s really the worst thing about this? Can you guess?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\u2019s that you depend on something or somebody. As long as you depend on something, in general, you cannot be free. And this is also true when it comes to the intellect, one of the most important element of being a human. So what if I\u2019d tell you that critical thinking can set you free, by freeing your mind?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It does! But how? Let\u2019s first summarise the benefits briefly \u2013 just in a few bullet points:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By improving your critical thinking\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You will get methods to solve a multitude of unfamiliar problems by thinking and assessing information<\/li>\n<li>You will be able to identify false statements \u2013 less chances to be mislead<\/li>\n<li>You will learn to suspend biases that are based on your culture and upbringing. (Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like these factors are obstacles on your way?)<\/li>\n<li>Your perspective will be broadened by gaining more knowledge and, at the same time, by being able to evaluate it<\/li>\n<li>You will be more sceptical \u2013 in a good way. You will be much more open-minded<\/li>\n<li>Your horizon will expand. You will see life in a more detailed, colourful way \u2013 not just black and white<\/li>\n<li>You will be able to handle uncertainty better. It is very hard for people to get to this point so you will be proud of yourself!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It all sounds really good, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 The question is: how can you improve your critical thinking?\u00a0 Well, just like anything valuable in life, it has a price\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, you have to be prepared to let go of your biases<\/li>\n<li>Second, you have to really want to improve your intellectual skills and persist in collecting information and methods<\/li>\n<li>And third, you have to face situations where it will be challenging choosing between sticking with your beliefs and accepting other truths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But look at the list of benefits above. Would gaining these skills make you feel you\u2019re the person you\u2019ve always wanted to be?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i.creativecommons.org\/l\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/80x15.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Licence\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #808080;\"> You Never Thought What The Real Value of Critical Thinking Is by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.poeticmind.co.uk\/research\/you-never-thought-what-the-real-value-of-critical-thinking-is\/\"style=\"color: #808080;\"  rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" >Dr. Gil Dekel<\/a> is licensed under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\"style=\"color: #808080;\"  rel=\"license\" >Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #808080;\"> Based on a work at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.poeticmind.co.uk\/research\/you-never-thought-what-the-real-value-of-critical-thinking-is\/\"style=\"color: #808080;\"  rel=\"dct:source\" >http:\/\/www.poeticmind.co.uk\/research\/you-never-thought-what-the-real-value-of-critical-thinking-is\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">23 March 2017. My thanks to colleagues who helped with this article. For further advice, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=josRsaUPAEU\"style=\"color: #808080;\"  target=\"_blank\" >watch this video<\/a> which inspired this post.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #808080;\"> Photo \u2018Think Sign\u2019 by Unsplash \/ Jose Moreno. Edited by Gil Dekel. Used here with permission.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Gil Dekel. What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase \u2018critical thinking\u2019? You may think of people who doubt everything? People that can\u2019t stop asking arrogant questions which makes them very uncomfortable to be around?\u00a0 Now, put your preconceptions on hold for a second and see why critical thinking is something entirely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[14,12,11],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-comment","tag-academic-thinking","tag-design-thinking","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}