Thinking Theory

According to Marvin S. Cohen, 2000,

critical thinking is like an onion. It has a
1. Mental Models
multi-layered structure. Each of the three
2. Normative Decision Theory layers is associated with distinctive
criteria of performance, which progress
3. Cognitive Mechanism from internal to external in their focus:

1. At its innermost core critical thinking involves selective consideration of alternative

possible states of affairs. Metrics of performance at this level involve logical,
probabilistic, and explanatory coherence of mental models.
2. At the intermediate level, these models are embedded within a layer of critical
questioning which motivates the generation and evaluation of possibilities. Such
dialogues may take place within a single individual, or they may be conducted among
different individuals. Critical questioning is evaluated by reference to norms for
conducting the appropriate kinds of critical dialogue. Dialogue types are differentiated
by the depth of probing to which a proponent must respond and the scope of the
permitted responses.
3. At the outermost layer, critical thinking is a judgment about the reliability of a
cognitive faculty, hence, the degree of trust that should be placed in its outputs. The
critical dialogue is only one of various available cognitive or social processes that might
be utilized to generate beliefs and decisions. Different processes, such as pattern
recognition, may be more reliable under some conditions.

 Mind map your understanding towards the text above. By doing so, you will have
objectives in reading the next page.
 The theory of critical thinking draws on and synthesizes on three separate
topics:
o Cognitive theories of reasoning according to which alternative possible
situations are represented by mental models.
o Normative models of critical discussion in which a proponent must
defend a claim against an opponent or critic.
o Models of cognitive mechanisms and of the environment which enable
us to assess the reliability of the processes by means of which we form
beliefs and make choices.

1.1 What is Mental Model?

o Someone’s thought process about how something works in the real world.
o Representation of the surrounding world, the relationship between its various
parts and a person’s intuitive perception about how his own acts and its
consequences.

Example: The image of the world around us, which we carry in our head is just a
model. Nobody in his head imagines all the world, government or country (do
you?). He has only selected concept and relationship between them, and uses
those to represent the real world.

According to Charles Sanders Peirce, The American Philosopher; mental model is a process by
which a human “examines the state of things asserted in the premises, forms a perception of
that state of things, perceives in the parts of the diagram relations not explicitly mentioned in
the premises, satisfies itself by mental experiments upon the diagram that these relations
would always 33subsist, or at least would do so in a certain proportion of cases, and concludes
their necessary, or probable, truth.” In short, mental models are psychological representations
of real, hypothetical, or imaginary situations. These statements explained why you have a
different perspectives compared to others. It is only fair if each idea is treated with equal
attention without bias.
According to Johnson-Laird, 2006, the theory of mental models rests on simple principles, and it
extends in a natural way to inferring probabilities, to decision making, and to recursive
reasoning about other people’s reasoning. The principal assumptions of the theory are:

o Each model represents a possibility. Its structure corresponds to the structure of the
world, but it has symbols for negation, probability, believability, and so on. Models that
are kinematic or dynamic unfold in time to represent sequences of events.
o Models are iconic as possible, that is, their parts and relations correspond to those of
the situations that they represent. They underlie visual images, but they also represent
abstractions, and so they can represent the extensions of all sorts of relations. They can
also be supplemented by symbolic elements to represent, for example, negation.
o Models explain deduction, induction, and explanation. In a valid deduction, the
conclusion holds for all models of the premises. In an induction, knowledge eliminates
models of possibilities, and so the conclusion goes beyond the information given. In an
abduction, knowledge introduces new concepts in order to yield an explanation.

 The principle of truth: mental models represent only what is true (based on a
person developed perception), and accordingly they predict the occurrence of
systematic and compelling fallacies if inferences depend on what is false. Then
again, this is why your friends and you have different views on different matters.
So, welcome the differences and work interpedently.
 1.2 What is Normative Decision Theory?
Reflect on these questions and ask yourself on how is a decision made?
o Shall I bring the umbrella today? The decision depends on something which I do not
know, namely whether it will rain or not.
o I am looking for a house to buy. Shall I buy this one? This house looks fine, but
perhaps I will find a still better house for the same price if I go on searching. When
shall I stop the search procedure?
o Am I going to smoke the next cigarette? One single cigarette is no problem, but if I
make the same decision sufficiently many times it may kill me.
o The court has to decide whether the defendant is guilty or not. There are two
mistakes that the court can make, namely to convict an innocent person and to
acquit a guilty person. What principles should the court apply if it considers the first
of this mistakes to be more serious than the second?
o A committee has to make a decision, but its members have different opinions.
What rules should they use to ensure that they can reach a conclusion even if they
are in disagreement?

Based on your reading, is there a fix method of decision making?

Take your time to make your own conclusion before flipping to the next page.

What is normative?
Establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or norm, especially of behavior. In
philosophy, normative statements make claims about how things should or ought to be, how to
value them, which things are good or bad, and which actions are right or wrong. Normative
claims are usually contrasted with positive claims when describing types of theories, beliefs, or
propositions.

Normative statements and norms, as well as their meanings, are an integral part of human life.
They are fundamental for prioritizing goals and organizing and planning thought, belief,
emotion and action and are the basis of much ethical and political discourse. Normativity is
arguably the key feature distinguishing ethical and political discourse from other discourses.

 Take your time to link your understanding between what normative is based on the
paragraph above and the example below.

Example: Normative Decision Theory (NDT) is used in a research by American Medical

Information Association in facilitating and measuring patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is
the appraisal, by an individual, of the extent to which the care provided has met that
individual's expectations and preferences. Through the application of NDT models, it is possible
to use patient preferences as a guide to the treatment planning and care monitoring process
and to construct measures of patient satisfaction that are meaningful to the individual.

American Medical Informatics Association

What is Normative Decision Theory?

Normative Decision Theory is a theory about how decisions should be made. The "should" in
the foregoing sentence can be interpreted in many ways. There is, however, virtually complete
agreement among decision scientists that it refers to the prerequisites of rational decision-
making. In other words, a normative decision theory is a theory about how decisions should be
made in order to be rational.

Normative or prescriptive decision theory is concerned with identifying the best decision to
take (in practice, there are situations in which "best" is not necessarily the maximal, optimum
may also include values in addition to maximum, but within a specific or approximate range),
assuming an ideal decision maker who is fully informed, able to compute with perfect accuracy,
and fully rational. The practical application of this prescriptive approach (how people ought to
make decisions) is called decision analysis, and aimed at finding tools and methodologies to
help people make better decisions.

1.3 What is Cognitive Mechanism in thinking?

Let us ponder on this phrase and draw an opinion of what cognitive mechanism is.

‘To develop is to change. Without a good understanding of the mechanism that produce
change, no comprehensive understanding of development is possible. The difficulty of
identifying such mechanism is well known and has often been noticed.’

(Flavell 1984; Kuhn 1984; Miller1983)

Once an opinion has been drawn in your head, flip to the next page…

Cognitive mechanism
A cognitive –developmental mechanism is any mental process that improves children’s ability to
process information.

Cognitive mechanism are mental processes that include perceptual and linguistic processes, as
well as conceptual, reasoning and problem-solving ones. The improvements in children’s ability
to process information that are of interest include large and small, long-term and short-term,
qualitative and quantitative. Neural, associative and higher level change mechanism are all
included, because all interact to produce cognitive development.

This mechanism contributes to cognitive development:

o Neural Mechanism
 Synaptogenesis

Neural Mechanism

As stated by Crnic & Pennington, 1987, recent advances in neuroscience have provided much
stronger evidence than previously existed for contributions for specific aspects of brain
maturation to specific cognitive acquisitions.

1. Synaptogenesis

The number of synapses within numerous parts of the brain follows a distinctive developmental
course. Such connections are produced in especially great numbers during the late prenatal and
early postnatal periods.

Huttenlocher (1979) found that the average number of synaptic connections in the third layer
of the middle frontal gyrus grew from 10,000 to 100,000 between birth and 12 months of age.
The density of synapses increased until age 2, after which it gradually decreased to adult levels.
These adults level were reached by about age 7.

From age 6 months to age 7 years, synaptic density in the children’s brain exceeded adult
levels. Recent studies have linked cognitive and synaptic change.

Greenough (1985) reported that rats housed in large complexes of cages that the animals were
free to explore and that were filled with diverse objects formed 20-25% more synapses per
neuron in the upper visual cortex than animals raised in impoverished environments.
Your synaptic connections that are used will maintain. However, those that are not used are
pruned. Cognitive development has been proven to lead changes in children’s associative
networks, and therefore in their thinking; contributes to language development, changes in
organization of free recall, acquisition of arithmetic and reading skills and improvements in
problem solving.

By Farah Liyana Mohamad Shukri