Janesdiggo's List: 02. Critical Thinking

• Sometimes we jump from one diversion to another, without enjoying any of them. Sometimes we become irritated about matters beyond our control

  • My two biggest time wasters
• When did I do my worst thinking today? When did I do my best? What in fact did I think about today? Did I figure anything out? Did I allow any negative thinking to frustrate me unnecessarily? If I had to repeat today what would I do differently? Why? Did I do anything today to further my long-term goals? Did I act in accordance with my own expressed values? If I spent everyday this way for 10 years, would I at the end have accomplished something worthy of that time?
• take problems one by one. State the problem as clearly and precisely as you can.
  
• Distinguish Problems over which you have some control from problems over which you have no control.
• Set aside the problems over which you have no control, concentrating your efforts on those problems you can potentially solve.
• Figure out the information you need and actively seek that information.
  
• Carefully analyze and interpret the information you collect, drawing what reasonable inferences you can.
  
• What can you do in the short term? In the long term?
• Figure out your options for action.
• Evaluate your options
• Adopt a strategic approach to the problem and follow through on that strategy. This may involve direct action or a carefully thought-through wait-and-see strategy.
• When you act, monitor the implications of your action as they begin to emerge.
• Each week, develop a heightened awareness of one of the universal intellectual standards (clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, logicalness, significance).
• When you orally express or write out your views (for whatever reason), ask yourself whether you are clear about what you are trying to say
• In other words, you will frequently STATE, ELABORATE, ILLUSTRATE, AND EXEMPLIFY your points. You will regularly ask others to do the same.
• Keep An Intellectual Journal
• Use the following format (keeping each numbered stage separate):
• . Situation. Describe a situation that is, or was, emotionally significant to you (that is, that you deeply care about). Focus on one situation at a time.
   
    2. Your Response. Describe what you did in response to that situation. Be specific and exact.
   
    3. Analysis. Then analyze, in the light of what you have written, what precisely was going on in the situation. Dig beneath the surface.
   
    4. Assessment. Assess the implications of your analysis. What did you learn about yourself? What would you do differently if you could re-live the situation?
• Reshape Your Character.
• Choose one intellectual trait---intellectual perseverance, autonomy, empathy, courage, humility, etc.--- to strive for each month, focusing on how you can develop that trait in yourself.
• Deal with Your Egocentrism
• On a daily basis, you can begin to observe your egocentric thinking in action by contemplating questions like these
• Did I do or say anything “irrational” to get my way?
• Did I ever become irritable over small things?
• Did I try to impose my will upon others?
• Did I ever fail to speak my mind when I felt strongly about something, and then later feel resentment?
• What would a rational person feel in this or that situation? What would a rational person do? How does that compare with what I want to do?
• If you find that you continually conclude that a rational person would behave just as you behaved you are probably engaging in self-deception.
• Redefine the Way You See Things
• How a situation is defined determines not only how we feel about it, but also how we act in it, and what implications it has for us.
• However, virtually every situation can be defined in more than one way. This fact carries with it tremendous opportunities
• Many of the negative definitions that we give to situations in our lives could in principle be transformed into positive ones. We can be happy when otherwise we would have been sad.
• To make this strategy practical, we should create some specific guidelines for ourselves
• For example, we might make ourselves a list of five to ten recurrent negative contexts in which we feel frustrated, angry, unhappy, or worried. We could then identify the definition in each case that is at the root of the negative emotion
• We would then choose a plausible alternative definition for each and then plan for our new responses as well as new emotions
• Get in touch with your emotions:
• What, exactly, is the thinking leading to this emotion?
• What other ways could I think about this situation?
• Analyze group influences on your life
• For any given group, what are you "required" to believe?
• Most people live much too much within the view of themselves projected by others. Discover what pressure you are bowing to and think explicitly about whether or not to reject that pressure.
• Every group enforces some level of conformity
• The key point to keep in mind when devising strategies is that you are engaged in a personal experiment. You are testing ideas in your everyday life. You are integrating them, and building on them, in the light of your actual experience

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• A Definition:
   Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.

• A well cultivated critical thinker:

   
   
  • raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
   
  • gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively;
   
  • comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
   
  • thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
   
  • communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
• Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.
• Our conception of critical thinking is based on the substantive approach developed by Dr. Paul and his colleagues at the Foundation for Critical Thinking during the last quarter century.

• It entails five essential dimensions of critical thinking:

            

  The analysis of thought   The assessment of thought   The dispositions of thought   The skills and abilities of thought   The obstacles or barriers to critical thought
• Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought.
• If you want to think well, you must understand at least the rudiments of thought, the most basic structures out of which all thinking is made. You must learn how to take thinking apart.
  
• to lay bare a subject’s most fundamental logic, we should begin with these questions:
•      

  What is the main purpose or goal of studying this subject? What are people in this field trying to accomplish?     What kinds of questions do they ask? What kinds of problems do they try to solve?     What sorts of information or data do they gather?     What types of inferences or judgments do they typically make? (Judgments about…)     How do they go about gathering information in ways that are distinctive to this field?     What are the most basic ideas, concepts or theories in this field?     What do professionals in this field take for granted or assume?     How should studying this field affect my view of the world?     What viewpoint is fostered in this field?     What implications follow from studying this discipline? How are the products of this field used in everyday life?
• Much like professional athletes or musicians must practice to master their sport or art, so must thinkers practice to master their minds.

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• Essential Idea: To understand our experience and the world itself, we must be able to think within alternative world-views. We must question our ideas. We must not confuse our words or ideas with things.
• Essential Idea: There are at least four different sources for ideas: our personal experience, socialization, the academic subjects we study, and our native language (English, Spanish, etc.). To become truly educated, we must learn to monitor and evaluate our use of ideas from these domains. Only then can we learn how to control (and not be controlled) by ideas.
• Essential Idea: There are basic ideas that act as guide-posts to those thinking within a subject. Look for these basic ideas and stretch your mind to learn them. Weave everything else into them.
• Where we have knowledge, we have an organized technical vocabulary.
• Your knowledge can be no stronger than the knowledge you have of ideas in a subject. Test yourself by trying to explain key ideas in non-technical language.
• All ideas must be understood in relation to contrasting ideas. Try naming and explaining the ideas opposite to key ideas you learn.
• Essential Idea: One important way to think about what you are learning is by highlighting, diagramming, and explaining the ideas at the heart of each subject you study.
• We cannot command the quality of our own lives if we cannot recognize the role of ideas in our lives. We cannot be ethical persons if we cannot recognize how and when we manipulate others---or they manipulate us--- through misleading or false ideas.

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• To analyze thinking, we focus on its parts. In other words, we focus on the purpose of thinking, the questions the thinking is pursuing, the information being used, the assumptions and inferences being made, the concepts and point of view guiding the thinking, and its implications.
• To evaluate or assess thinking, we apply intellectual standards to the parts of thinking, standards such as clarity, accuracy, relevance, logic, precision, justifiability, significance, depth, and breadth.
• How To Analyze The Logic of
    An Article, Essay, or Chapter
• One important skill for understanding an essay, article or chapter is through the analysis of the parts of the author’s reasoning. Once you have done this, you can then evaluate the author’s reasoning using intellectual standards. Here is a template to follow.
• 1) The main purpose of this article is ______________________. (Here you are trying to state as accurately as possible the author’s purpose for writing the article. What was the author trying to accomplish?)
• 2) The key question that the author is addressing is __________________________. (Your goal is to figure out the key question that was in the mind of the author when s/he wrote the article. In other words, What was the key question that the article addressed?)
• 3) The most important information in this article is ___________________________. (You want to identify the key information the author used, or presupposed, in the article to support his/her main arguments. Here you are looking for facts, experiences, data the author is using to support her/his conclusions).
• 4) The main inferences/conclusions in this article are ________________. (You want to identify the most important conclusions that the author comes to and presents in the article).
• 5) The key idea(s) we need to understand in this article is (are)_______________ . By these ideas the author means ________________________________.  (To identify these ideas, ask yourself: What are the most important ideas that you would have to understand in order to understand the author’s line of reasoning? Then elaborate briefly what the author means by these ideas).
• 6) The main assumption(s) underlying the author’s thinking is (are)________ (Ask yourself: What is the author taking for granted (that might be questioned). The assumptions are generalizations that the author does not think s/he has to defend in the context of writing the article, and they are usually unstated. This is where the author’’s thinking logically begins).
• 7) If a) we take this line of reasoning seriously,  the implications are ___________. (What consequences are likely to follow if people take the author’s line of reasoning seriously? Here you are to follow out the logical implications of the author’s position. You should include implications that the author states, if you believe them to be logical, but you should do your best thinking to determine what you think the implications are.)  If b) we fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are _____________. (What consequences are likely to follow if people ignore the author’s reasoning?)
• 8) The main point(s) of view presented in this article is are)_____________________. (The main question you are trying to answer here is: What is the author looking at, and how is s/he seeing it? For example, in this mini-guide we are looking at “education” and seeing it “as involving the development of intellectual skills.” We are also looking at “learning” as “the responsibility of students.”)
• If you truly understand these structures as they interrelate in an article, essay, or chapter, you should be able to empathically role-play the thinking of the author. Remember, these are the 8 basic structures that define all thinking. They are the essential element of thought.
• How To Evaluate An Author’s Reasoning
• Once you have accurately identified the parts, or elements, of an author’s reasoning you are then ready to assess those parts to determine the quality of the author’s reasoning. Use the following guides to do so:
• 1. Focusing on the author’’s Purpose: What is the purpose of the reasoner? Is the purpose well stated or clearly implied? Is it justifiable?
• 2. Focusing on the key Question which the written piece answers: Is the question at issue well stated (or clearly implied)? Is it clear and unbiased? Does the expression of the question do justice to the complexity of the matter at issue? Are the question and purpose directly relevant to each other?
• 3. Focusing on the most important Information presented by the author: Does the writer cite relevant evidence, experiences, and/or information essential to the issue? Is the information accurate and directly relevant to the question at issue? Does the writer address the complexities of the issue?
• 4. Focusing on the most fundamental Concepts that are at the heart of the author’’s reasoning: Does the writer clarify key ideas when necessary? Are the ideas used justifiably?
• 5. Focusing on the author’’s Assumptions: Does the writer show a sensitivity to what he or she is taking for granted or assuming? (Insofar as those assumptions might reasonably be questioned?) Or does the writer use questionable assumptions without addressing problems inherent in those assumptions?
• 6. Focusing on the most important Inferences or conclusions in the written piece: Do the inferences and conclusions made by the author clearly follow from the information relevant to the issue, or does the author jump to unjustifiable conclusions? Does the author consider alternative conclusions where the issue is complex? In other words, does the author use a sound line of reasoning to come to logical conclusions, or can you identify flaws in the reasoning somewhere?
• 7. Focusing on the author’’s Point of View: Does the author show a sensitivity to alternative relevant points of view or lines of reasoning? Does s/he consider and respond to objections framed from other relevant points of view?
• 8. Focusing on Implications: Does the writer display a sensitivity to the implications and consequences of the position s/he is taking?

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• How To Understand
    The Role of Questions in Thinking & Learning
• Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions
• To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate thought. Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues.
• Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life. This is why you are thinking and learning only when you have questions.
• So, instead of trying to store a lot of disconnected information in your mind, start asking questions about the content.
• Questions of purpose force you to define tasks. Questions of information force you to look at your sources of information as well as assess the quality of information. Questions of interpretation force you to examine how you are organizing or giving meaning to information. Questions of assumption force you to examine what you are taking for granted. Questions of implication force you to follow out where your thinking is going. Questions of point of view force you to examine your perspective and to consider other relevant viewpoints.
• Questions of relevance force you to discriminate what does and does not bear on a question. Questions of accuracy force you to evaluate and test for truth and correctness. Questions of precision force you to give details and be specific. Questions of consistency force you to examine your thinking for contradictions. Questions of logic force you to consider how you are putting the whole of your thought together, to make sure that it all adds up and makes sense within a reasonable system of some kind.
• Continually remind yourself that learning begins only when questions are asked.
• Essential Idea: If you want to learn, you must ask questions that lead to further questions that lead to further questions. To learn well is to question well.
• A skilled thinker is able to take questions apart, generate alternative meanings, distinguish leading from subordinate questions, and grasp the tasks that questions demand of us.
• Essential Idea: If you become a good questioner within a discipline, you will learn the essential content of the discipline.
• In some disciplines, the experts rarely disagree; in others, disagreement is common.
• Mathematics and the physical and biological sciences fall into the first category. Thinkers within these disciplines study phenomena that behave consistently under predictable conditions. They also pose questions that can be expressed clearly and precisely, with virtually complete expert agreement.
• all the social disciplines, the Arts, and the Humanities — fall into the second category. What they study is often unpredictably variable.
• Essential Idea: For any subject one studies, it is important to know the extent of expert disagreement and the “variability” of what one is studying.
• How To Ask Questions About Fields of Study
• • To what extent are there competing schools of thought within this field?
     
   
  • To what extent do experts in this field disagree about the answers they give to important questions?
     
   
  • What other fields deal with this same subject (from a different standpoint, perhaps)? To what extent are there conflicting views about this subject in light of these different standpoints?
     
   
  • To what extent, if at all, is this field properly called a science?
     
   
  • To what extent can questions asked in the field be answered definitively? To what degree are questions in this field matters of (arguable) judgment?
     
   
  • To what extent is there public pressure on professionals in the field to compromise their professional practice in light of public prejudice or vested interest?
     
   
  • What does the history of the discipline tell you about the status of knowledge in the field? How old is the field? How common is controversy over fundamental terms, theories, and orientation?
• Essential Idea: Many disciplines are not definitive in their pursuit of knowledge. As you learn a subject, it is important to understand both its strengths and limitations.
• Essential Idea: Not all textbooks are equal as to quality. As you read a textbook, it is important to understand its strengths and limitations.

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• Reading For a Purpose
• Skilled readers do not read blindly, but purposely.
• Accurately translating words into intended meanings is an analytic, evaluative, and creative set of acts.
• Some of the various purposes for reading include:
• Sheer pleasure: requires no particular skill level
  
• To figure out a simple idea: which may require skimming the text
  
• To gain specific technical information: skimming skills required
  
• To enter, understand, and appreciate a new world-view: requires close reading skills in working through a challenging series of tasks that stretch our minds
• To learn a new subject: requires close reading skills in internalizing and taking ownership of an organized system of meanings
• How you read should be determined in part by what you read
• we should also recognize that there are core reading tools and skills for reading any substantive text,
• Considering the Author’s Purpose
• In addition to being clear about our own purpose in reading, we must also be clear about the author’s purpose in writing. Both are relevant.
• To read productively, your purpose in reading must take into account the author’s purpose in writing.
• Developing a “Map” of Knowledge
• All knowledge exists in “systems” of meanings, with interrelated primary ideas, secondary ideas, and peripheral ideas.
• The primary ideas, at the core, explain the secondary and peripheral ideas.
• Whenever we read to acquire knowledge, we should take ownership, first, of the primary ideas, for they are a key to understanding all of the other ideas.
• Core or primary ideas are the key to every system of knowledge. They are the key to truly learning any subject. They are the key to retaining what we learn for lifelong use.
• we must learn how to read books for their core ideas and for their system-defining function.
• Understanding systems of thought means taking command of the structures that are the basis of all thought.
• Reading with discipline, then, means reading to understand systems of thought.
• In other words, when we understand the parts of thinking, we then read for purposes and goals; for questions, problems, and issues; for information and data; for concepts, theories, and ideas; for interpretations and conclusions; for assumptions; for implications and consequences; and for points of view. The ability to read in these disciplined ways gives power and command to your reading
• You do not simply read; you construct systems of thought as you read.
• To be an effective reader within disciplines, you must learn to identify, for any given subject, whether it is best understood as a system of supporting systems (such as math and science) or a system of conflicting systems (such as philosophy, psychology, and economics).
• If you are within a system-harmonious field, your task is to master the systems and come to see how they support each other.
• If you are within a system-conflicting field, your task is to master the systems by exploring how they conflict with each other.

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• Instead, they must learn that to read well is to engage in a self-constructed dialog with the author of a text.
• Really good reading requires close reading.
• It requires one to formulate questions and seek answers to those questions while reading.
• It requires connecting new ideas to already learned ideas, correcting mistaken ideas when necessary.
• The impressionistic mind follows associations, wandering from paragraph to paragraph, drawing no clear distinction between its own thinking and the author’s thinking.
• Being fragmented, it fragments what it reads. Being uncritical, it judges an author’s view to be correct only if that view concurs with its own beliefs. Being self-deceived, it fails to see itself as undisciplined. Being rigid, it does not learn from what it reads.
• The reflective mind seeks meaning, monitors what is being said from paragraph to paragraph, draws a clear distinction between the thinking of an author and its own thinking
• The reflective mind, being purposeful, adjusts reading to specific goals. Being integrated, it interrelates ideas in the text with ideas it already commands. Being critical, it assesses what it reads for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness. Being open to new ways of thinking, it values new ideas and learns from what it reads.
• The reflective mind improves its thinking by reflectively thinking about it
• Likewise, it improves its reading by reflectively thinking about how it is reading
• It moves back and forth between the cognitive (thinking) and the meta-cognitive (thinking about thinking).
• One of the most important abilities that a thinker can have is the ability to monitor and assess his or her own thinking while processing the thinking of others.
• For example, if I know that what I am reading is difficult for me to understand, I intentionally slow down and paraphrase each sentence. I put the meaning of each sentence that I read into my own words.
• If I realize that I am unsympathetic to an author’s viewpoint, I suspend judgment about the text’s meaning until I have verified that I truly understand what the author is saying.
• I try to accurately understand the author’s viewpoint while reading. I attempt to enter that viewpoint, to be open to it as much as possible. And even if I don’t agree fully with the author’s view, I appropriate important ideas whenever possible. I take command of the ideas that I think are worthwhile rather than dismissing all the ideas simply because I don’t completely agree with the author’s view.
• The reflective mind interacts with the author’s thinking.
• It does this through a process of inner dialogue with the sentences of the text, assessing each sentence for its intelligibility and questioning in a disciplined way:
• • Can I summarize the meaning of this text in my own words?
     
     
   
  • Can I give examples from my own experience of what the text is saying?
     
     
   
  • Can I generate metaphors and diagrams to illustrate what the text is saying?
     
     
   
  • What is clear to me and what do I need clarified?
     
     
   
  • Can I connect the core ideas in this text to other core ideas I understand?
• Every book we read is a potential teacher.
• In reading the work of others, you enter their minds. In coming to terms with the mind of another, you can come to better discover your own mind — both its strengths and its weaknesses.
• To read your own mind, you must learn how to do second-order thinking — how to think about your thinking while you are thinking from outside your thinking. But how do you get outside your thinking?
• you must recognize that there are eight basic structures in all thinking.
• Whenever we think, we think for a purpose within a point of view based on assumptions leading to implications and consequences. We use concepts, ideas and theories to interpret information (data, facts, and experiences) in order to answer questions, solve problems, and resolve issues.

  • 1. Purpose
    2. POV
    3. Assumptions
    4. Implications
    5. Consequences
    6. Concepts, ideas, theories
    7. Interpret information (data, facts, experience)
    8. Solve problems or resolve issues
• the text you are reading is the product of someone else’s reasoning.
• You therefore recognize that embedded in the text is the author’s purpose, the author’s question, assumptions, concepts and so forth.
• The better you understand someone else’s logic, the better you understand your own.
• When you can effectively move back and forth between what you are reading and what you are thinking, you bring what you think to bear upon what you read and what you read to bear upon what you think
• If you learn to “read” without understanding what good reading involves, you learn to read poorly

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• to see the scaffolding that connects all the ideas within the text
• need to develop structural reading abilities
• students need to see that there are generalizable skills one must develop to read sentences and paragraphs well
• In addition, students must develop reading skills specific to reading certain kinds of texts – like textbooks, newspaper articles and editorials.
• How to Read a Paragraph
  
• Structural reading is a form of close reading applied to the overall structure of an extended text
• we focus on what we can learn about the book from its title, preface, introduction, and table of contents.
• it enables us to evaluate a book to determine whether we want to spend the time to read it carefully.
• it provides an overview to use as scaffolding in reading the text.

• To read structurally, ask these questions:

     
   
  • What does the title tell me about this book?
     
     
   
  • What is the main idea in the book? (You should be able to figure this out from skimming the introduction, preface, and first chapter.)
     
     
   
  • What are the parts of the whole, and how does the book deal with those parts? (Again, this may be found in an overview in the introduction, preface, first chapter, and/or table of contents.)
     
     
   
  • In the light of my structural reading, what questions would I pursue during close reading?
• How to Read a Sentence
  
• Reading a sentence consists, first of all, in finding a way to state what the sentence says so we can think the thought the sentence expresses
• Structural reading is one way by which we locate key paragraphs and boil them down to key sentences, and thence to key ideas and key questions.
• Finding key sentences means finding the sentences that are the driving force within a book.

• For every sentence you read, you might ask:

     
   
  • How does this sentence connect with the other sentences in the text?
     
     
   
  • How does this sentence relate to the organizing idea of this text
      as a whole?
• Good readers read sentences in relationship to other sentences, connecting each sentence with the purpose of the written piece
• Taking a sentence out of context can pose problems because sentences read in isolation from the sentences that precede or follow them often overstate a point.
• Good readers read a text charitably and generously. They look for qualifications of points that otherwise might seem false or overstated.
• How to Read a Paragraph
• Carefully reading a paragraph involves finding the idea or question that is the driving force within the paragraph.
• All paragraphs within a written piece should connect to every other paragraph so that we can see logical connections between ideas.

• As you move from paragraph to paragraph, ask:

     
   
  • What is the most important idea in this paragraph?
     
     
   
  • How do the ideas in this paragraph relate to the ideas in
      previous paragraphs?
     
     
   
  • How are the important ideas in the text connected?

• Connect those ideas, when possible, to situations and experiences that are meaningful in your life. To actively connect ideas to life situations, ask:

     
   
  • How can I relate this idea to something I already understand?
     
     
   
  • Is there an important idea here that I can use in my thinking?
     
     
   
  • Have I ever experienced a situation that sheds light on this idea?
• Look for paragraphs that focus on significant ideas or questions.
• How to Read a Newspaper for
    National and International News
• News media in the cultures of the world reflect the worldview of the culture they write for.
• Within any country, the news media highlight what is positive about the country; its enemies’ news media highlight what is negative about it.
• As a critical reader of the news, you must make adjustments for both of these biases.
• To learn how to read the news critically, you can begin with our guide entitled How to Detect Media Bias & Propaganda.

• It focuses on how to:

     
   
  • interpret events from the perspective of multiple views
     
     
   
  • find multiple sources of thought and information, not simply those of the mass media
     
     
   
  • identify the viewpoints embedded in news stories
     
     
   
  • mentally re-write (reconstruct) news stories through awareness of how stories are told from multiple perspectives
     
     
   
  • assess news stories for their clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and significance
     
     
   
  • identify contradictions and inconsistencies in the news (often in the same story)
     
     
   
  • identify the agenda and interests served by a story
     
     
   
  • identify the facts covered and the facts ignored in a news story
     
     
   
  • identify the points of view systematically presented in a favorable light and those presented in an unfavorable light
• To take command of the way the mass media influence your thinking about the world, you must learn how to see through their biases and appreciate dissenting as well as mainstream points of view. Only then can you come to well-reasoned conclusions using a balanced approach.
• How to Read an Editorial
• To become adept at reading editorials, you must first understand that the goal of the editorial writer is to make a brief case for one side of a controversial issue
• critical readers recognize that they have been wrong in the past and may be wrong now
• The goal of a newspaper is not to educate readers concerning international and dissenting points of view but rather to make money
• And a newspaper makes money only when it caters to the beliefs and preconceptions of its readers.
• Critical readers read all editorials with equal sympathy. They read to discover and digest a wide range of points of view, especially points of view that tend to be ignored in the mainstream of the culture.

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• • Focusing on relevance: How is what you are saying relevant to   this issue? How is this information relevent to the question at   issue?
   
  •   Focusing on accuracy: How do we know this information is accurate?   How can we check to see if it is accurate?
   
  •   Focusing on depth: Is this a complex issue? What makes it a complex   issue? How can we make sure we thoroughly address these complexities?
   
  •   Focusing on significance: What are the big issues we face? Are   we staying focused on these important issues or are we getting   diverted onto less significant ones?
   
  •   Focusing on fairness: Are we considering all relevant viewpoints   in dealing with this issue? Are we looking at this issue in the   most fair and reasonable way, or are we priviledging one or more   position?
• In situations of conflict or where   we are negotiating issues with another party, it is almost second   nature to regard our own thinking as inherently rational.
• Insofar as we can understand others’ viewpoints or feelings,   we do so only through our own point of view. We do so through the   lenses of our own minds – through our own assumptions and   conceptions.
• All human beings are frequently egocentric, and many   are pathologically so.
• where   egocentric thought is based on the assumption that my ideas are   always best, sociocentric thought is based on the assumption that   our ideas are always best.
• there is no   thought without emotion. And there is no emotion without thought.
• If you feel angry it is because you think something has happened   that is unjustified. You don’t feel angry for no reason. The   reason may be irrational, but still, it is this reason (or thinking)   that “causes” the emotion
• Everyone thinks, but few, very few people understand what   it takes to develop the mind truly and deeply. Very few understand   the mind well enough to think at a high level of quality across   all the important facets of their lives.

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