Who needs

critical
thinking skills?
 People don’t always use critical
thinking skills
 It is not uncommon for
people to say…
 “I thought it was no big deal.”
 “I just wasn’t thinking”
 “How was I supposed to know?”
 “I can’t think of everything!”
 “My bad…”
 Poor decision-makers tend
to lack reasoning skills
 People who bounce checks
monthly, spend the rent at the
racetrack, get their car
impounded, etc. tend to have
poor reasoning skills (Wenner,
2007)
 There is a scientific link
between people who are “their
own worst enemies” and
critical thinking ability.
Critical thinking defined
 Norris (1985) who stated that “thinking
critically can be defined as rationally
deciding what to do or believe” (p. 40).
 A survey corporate executives revealed
that the top three characteristics they
were looking for in college graduates
were “teamwork skills,” “critical
thinking and analytic reasoning skills,”
and “oral/written communication”
skills (Vance, 2007, p. 30).
Good decisions require critical
thinking skills
 Consciously reflect on the choices
you are making
 Habitual versus reflective
thinking
 Resist intuition and your “gut
response”—at least initially
 Clearly define the issue or decision
(what is your goal or objective?)
 Identify criteria for making the
decision.
 Consider all the options
 Weigh pros and cons
 Use a reality check: ask “what
might go wrong?”
 Let emotion play a role, but not
the role in making the decision.
 noteworthy absences in critical
thinking
 examples from government,
public institutions
 FBI and September 11 attack
 CIA intelligence on Iraq’s alleged
WMDs
 examples involving
celebrities, politicians
 Michael Vick, Michael Richards,
Mel Gibson, Bill Clinton
 examples involving ordinary
people
 police pursuits
 suspects on Cops
 guests on Jerry Springer and
Judge Judy
 sub-prime home loans
faux hate crime
 (October 24, 2008) Ashley Todd, a
McCain supporter from Texas,
claimed she was assaulted by a
6’4” African-American male at an
ATM.
 She alleged the attacker beat her
and carved a “B” on her cheek
because she had a McCain-Palin
bumper sticker on her car.
 The “B” was backwards,
however, suggesting she had
carved it herself while looking in
a mirror.
 She later confessed the whole
story was a hoax and was charged
with filing a false police report
lapses in critical thinking by the
FBI and CIA
 Prior to Sept. 11, the FBI
failed to connect the dots
 The August 2001 memo,
titled "Bin Laden
Determined To Strike in
U.S.” stated that Bin
Laden “hoped to bring
the fight to America.”
 Kenneth Williams’
“Phoenix” memo of July
10 2001, warned that
Bin Laden might be
using flight schools in
the U.S. to train for
terrorist attacks.
 don’t try this at home
 “Jackass” wannabees try to copy
Johnny Knoxville’s stunts
 MTVs Jackass show, and the two
spin-off movies, feature Knoxville
and his pals performing dangerous
stunts that often result in injury.
 A number viewers, mainly teen
males, have tried to imitate the
stunts and were seriously injured.
 One boy in Connecticut suffered
serious burns after trying to copy a
stunt called the “human
barbecue.”
 Another boy in Kentucky was run
over by a car while attempting to
jump it.
When good clowns go bad
 Spunky the clown was
arrested for
attempting to smuggle
marijuana to an
inmate at the
Greensville
Correctional Institute
 Kooki the clown was
arrested for defrauding
a 90 yr old woman out
of $500,000
 Trim Trim the clown
was sentenced to 12
years in prison for
molesting a 12 and 14
year old girl
 MDs and critical thinking
 Doctor Is Suspended Over  Doctor Loses License
Errand Over Carved Initials
 Boston—A Boston  New York state has taken
orthopedic surgeon has away the license of an
been suspended from obstetrician who carved
practice after disclosures his initials in a woman’s
that he abandoned a abdomen immediately
patient midway through after she gave birth.
back surgery so he could  (Source: Times Wire
go to the bank to deposit Reports)
his paycheck.
 (Source: Los Angeles
Times, August 9, 2002)
prayer at the pump
 Rocky Twyman and his
followers held a pray-in to ask
God to lower gas prices.
 “God is the only one we can
turn to at this point,” said
Twyman. The prices keep
soaring and soaring.”
 When the prayer vigil began at
4 p.m. Friday, a gallon of
Texaco unleaded gas cost
$3.92.
 But even before the praying
stopped, the price dropped
three cents!
 "Prayer works fast," said Rocky
Twyman
Women wearing jeans can’t be
raped?
 1999: The Supreme Court of
Appeal in Rome overturned a
1998 rape conviction,
proclaiming the alleged victim
must have agreed to sex
because her jeans could not
have been removed without her
consent.
 The court said the alleged
victim, an 18-year-old student,
was wearing tight jeans, which
could not have been removed female ministers of the Italian
without her consent. parliament say they will protest
 The accused rapist, a 45-year- until the ruling is overturned
old driving instructor, has been
released.
Cultural insensitivity
Massachusetts style
Massachusetts department says
officers were wrong to say
defense weapon doesn’t work as
well on Mexican
American suspects.
Earlier this week, police
officers in the otherwise
enlightened community,
home of Harvard university,
shared their theories on
pepper spray with a local
reporter.
“Pepper spray doesn’t work
well on Mexican American
suspects,” the officers said.
Why? “Because Mexicans
grow up eating too much
spicy food, and because they
spend so much time picking
hot peppers in the fields.”
 Cultural insensitivity Inland
Empire style
 (October 2008) Diane
Fedele resigned from the
Chaffey Community
Republican Women’s
group, after mailing
flyers depicting Barack
Obama on food stamps.
 She explained the coupon
was intended as satire
after Obama claimed
during the campaign that
he “doesn’t look like all
those other presidents on
the dollar bills.”
Televangupidity?

 Sep 13, 2001: Jerry

Falwell blamed the
ACLU, feminists, and
gays for Sept. 11th,
stating, “the pagans,
and the abortionists,
and the feminists, and
the gays and the
lesbians who are
actively trying to make
that an alternative
lifestyle….I point the
finger in their face and
say 'you helped this
happen.'
Lucky lotto retirement strategy
 (Coombs, Jan 13, 2006),
ABC news reported that
Most "one-quarter of Americans
Americans believe their best chance
to build wealth for
think their retirement is by playing
the lottery, not by
odds of patiently saving and
becoming investing”
 Among low income
wealthy are households the belief
better with the jumped to 40%
 Many families spend $20-50
lottery than per week on gambling and
with savings lottery tickets.
 But the odds of winning the
and lottery are approximately 1
investments in 20 million.
 if a family saved $25 per
week for 40 years at a 10
percent return, they would
have a nest egg of nearly
$500,000.
Decision-making task
You were in a horrendous accident.
Only your brain survived. It is sitting
in a jar waiting to be transplanted.
The doctors have three bodies
available to you and you must choose
one of the options .
1. You can be placed in a stunningly
attractive body. Heads will turn as
you walk by.
2. You can be placed into a somewhat
unattractive body, but it is the
body of a multi-millionaire. The
millionaire's estate will recognize
you as the true millionaire, giving
you ownership of all assets.
3. You can be put into the body of a
rather unattractive person. In the
process, however, for this body
only, it is possible for the doctors
to increase your intelligence level
to 180 (genius).
Thinking critically about what you
really want
 In a survey conducted
by the PEW Research
Center in 2007, asking
18-25 year olds what
their most important
life goal was:
 81% percent said getting
rich is their generation's
most important or
second-most-important
life goal
 51% said being famous
was their number one
goal in life.
 "Society raised us where
money is glamorous, and
everybody wants to be
glamorous," says Jason
Head, an aspiring actor
who turned 26 just before
Thanksgiving.