Critical thinking

5 things you should know

1. There are many benefits to building good critical thinking skills that include better physical and mental health, greater academic success, greater financial wealth and a greater sense of personal control.

2. Building good critical thinking skills requires the systematic analysis of your thinking with the goal of improving it.

3. A practical way to build good critical thinking skills is through the framework provided by Paul and Elder, which requires applying intellectual standards to the elements (structures) of thought. You can learn about the framework on the website criticalthinking.org and in their books: the second edition is available as an eBook in the Concordia Library (Hint: Select "View e-book" and then select "Institution not listed?" Enter your Concordia e-mail to view the e-book.).

4. Building good critical thinking skills requires cultivating valuable intellectual traits such as intellectual courage, intellectual humility and intellectual autonomy.

5. Self deceptive thinking, such as egocentric thinking or self-validating thinking, interferes with the development of good critical thinking skills.