BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING

RECAP
CRITCAL THINKING STANDARDS
LEARNING OUTCOME

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• recognise the barriers in critical thinking
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING

• Critical thinking is the ability to think about an issue and make

decisions objectively.
• However, there are barriers to critical thinking.
• What are barriers?
• Limitations
• Obstacles
• Obstructions
• Blockades
• Hindrances
FIVE MAJOR BARRIERS TO CRITICAL
THINKING

1. Egocentrism
2. Sociocentrism
3. Unwarranted assumptions
4. Relativistic thinking
5. Wishful thinking
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
1. EGOCENTRISM (SELF-CENTRED THINKING)

• The tendency to see reality as centered on oneself

• Forms of egocentrism
• Self-interested thinking centering on Me, Myself and I
• Anything is fine as long as it benefits me
 BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
1. EGOCENTRISM (SELF-CENTRED THINKING)

• Forms of egocentrism
• Superiority bias is the tendency to overrate oneself – to see
oneself as better in some respect than one actually is.
• A person who claims to be more talented and more knowledgeable
than he or she really is (Mr/Miss know-it-all)
• Critical thinking requires one to be honest about his/her abilities
• Overconfidence is an obstacle to genuine personal and intellectual
growth
• E.g. 90% of drivers rate themselves as above average.
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
2. SOCIOCENTRISM (GROUP-CENTRED THINKING)

Ways in which sociocentrism distorts critical thinking

Group bias
• The tendency to see one’s culture or group as being
better than others
• It is common for people to grow up thinking that their
society’s beliefs, institutions and values are better than
those of other societies.
• E.g. Girls are better than boys.
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
2. SOCIOCENTRISM (GROUP-CENTRED THINKING)
Ways in which sociocentrism distorts critical thinking

Conformism
• Herd instinct - Tendency to follow the crowd
• To conform (Often unthinkingly) to authority
or to group standards
• To agree and follow convention, even if it opposes personal
opinions or viewpoints
• This is due to the desire to be socially accepted
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
3. UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES
• Assumption: Something one takes for granted or believes to be true
without any proof or conclusive evidence
• Many of our daily actions are based on assumptions - e.g.

You go to your Critical Thinking class at the scheduled time because

you assume that class is being held at its normal hour and its same
place. You don’t call your teacher each day to ask if class is being held;
you just assume that it is .

Such assumptions are warranted – You have a good reason to hold

them.
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
3. UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES
Unwarranted assumption: Taking something for granted without
“good reason”
Such assumptions prevent us from seeing things clearly

• Stereotype: Assuming that all people within a group (for example,

sex or race) are alike e.g. All Malays/Chinese/Indians are alike.

• We do not form our opinion of someone based on his or her

individual qualities, but we assume that a particular individual that
belongs to a group has certain qualities simply because he/she
belongs to that group
 BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
3. UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES
• Stereotypes are arrived at through hasty generalisation, in
which one draws a conclusion about a large class of things from
a small sample.
• Example: If we meet one person from country A who is
rude, we might jump into conclusion that everyone from
country A is rude.
• We might also generalise what we heard from a few friends
or a single news story.
• Being aware of an unwarranted assumption does not justify it; but it is
the first step in eliminating it
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
4. RELATIVISTIC THINKING

• Relativism is the view that there is no objective or factual truth,

but the truth is only opinions which differ from person to person or
society to society
• Forms of relativism
• Subjectivism: Truth is a matter of individual opinion
• Moral subjectivism: The view that what is morally right and good
for an individual, A, is what A thinks is morally right and good
MORAL SUBJECTIVISM

• Moral subjectivism: What is morally right and good for an

individual, A is what A believes is morally right and good.
• Example:
• Abortion –
• Abortion is always wrong.
• Abortion is not always wrong
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
4. RELATIVISTIC THINKING

• Cultural relativism: The view that what is true for person A

is what person A’s culture or society believes to be true
• Cultural moral relativism: The view that what is
morally right and good for an individual, A, is whatever A’s
society or culture believes is morally right and good
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
EXAMPLE OF CULTURAL MORAL RELATIVISM
• Underage drinking is an ethical issue that pertains to many of today’s American youth. The law
states that people under the age of 21 are not allowed to purchase or consume alcohol. Most
adults in the United States would agree with this law. However, in many different countries, this
law is different and most people would agree with their own law. For example, when I was in 5th
grade, I visited France by means of a foreign exchange program that was run by my school
district. I stayed with a French family for three weeks, and several times during dinner, I was served
wine. (Obviously, along with some type of food)
• The cultural relativist would claim that in America, it is immoral for anyone under the age of 21 to
drink alcohol. He or she would also say that in France, it is not immoral for people under 21 to be
served alcohol.
• I think that the cultural relativist is wrong because his or her morals are different for two different
places. Just because I went overseas does not change anything about me or my morals. Obviously,
since the cultural relativist theories on this matter are contradictory, either the American morals
or the French morals are wrong. This proves that the theory of cultural relativism is wrong.
PROBLEMS WITH RELATIVISTIC
THINKING
• Relativism makes it impossible to criticise others’ / our own cultural
practices, i.e., cannibalism / racism
• It rules out the idea of moral progress, i.e., meaning of equality
• It can lead to conflicting moral duties:
• When an individual holds beliefs in conflict with those of her society;
• When an individual belongs to two or more cultures.

Discussion: Are you bi-cultural in any sense (do you belong to two or
more groups that hold conflicting beliefs on a topic)?
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
5. WISHFUL THINKING
• Believing something not because you have good evidence for it, but because you wish it
were true.
• Common form: I want A to be true
Therefore, A is true
Examples:
I don't care what all those studies say, I believe that capital punishment deters criminals.

People do not like to see their personal heroes tarnished in any way. If a popular
sports hero, e.g., is accused of a crime, many fans will refuse to believe it because they
just don’t want to. This plays right into the wishful thinking fallacy.

• Obviously, merely wishing that something is true does not make it true
SUMMARY
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
What are the FIVE major critical Thinking barriers that we have covered in this
class? List them below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.