Abstract:
Over the past six weeks in Psych700, I realized that critical thinking is an important practice that should be done regularly, but is rarely practiced in reality. Critical thinking requires that people take in information, as defined by Wikipedia, and interpret it, analyze, debate, and evaluate the pieces of that information to find a context for judgments, assumptions, actions and outcomes. Critical thinking requires a person to divest from egoism, motivations or prejudices to analyze information impartially and fully ("Critical thinking," 2010). Do people critically think? Are we engaged in education and excited about original thought, or are most of us apathetic towards the process of thinking?
Learning to think in new ways is essential to our success as students and professionals.
Treatment:
Of course some people naturally assume the position of truth advocates: debating facts, justifications, and information in a scholarly way, but most people can only respond to information through their own purviews, limited as they may be. It usually comes down to the issue of exposure. Education can give exposure to information that is essential for people to expand their thoughts and abilities to think broader with more contextual and worldly viewpoints. What about people who have limited exposure and are fed only what is selected for them through their societies, schooling, and media? Can those people critically think if the thoughts they think about are limited?
This question in itself requires critical thinking. Most of us have a jerk reaction stating, “I am very smart; I think broadly, worldly, and correctly.” Is that really the case? Can we truly think without impartiality, ideologies, and filtering information and responses through our personal experiences and beliefs?
I think we can, but it takes effort to find accurate and transparent information, which is far and few between, and a persistent hunt for truth that require a keen mindset. Running information through strict litmus tests of criteria to identify primary sources, discussed in this class, is required. Those tests would involve using Michael Shermer’s Baloney Detection Kit (2010) and Elizabeth Kirk’s test for: authorship, publishing bodies, accuracy and transparency, and understanding how search-engine placement works (Kirk, 1996).
Shermer and Kirk’s tests are helpful in addition to identifying: timeliness, peer-reviewed sources, and credibility of source and author. We must implement these litmus tests when looking at information from mass-media and other sources. Media have carefully wrapped packages of information as attractive propaganda, often times, with limited fact checking due to the high-pressure time environment in which news hits the market within minutes of happening. Also, media have vested business interests in what airs. Media outlets tend to construct versions of reality; therefore, we as consumers must become more vigilant and erudite over what we believe. I will do so in this Ph.D. program and in my profession. The way I use media has changed as I am more skeptical and cautious about the information I absorb.
Furthermore, the Internet has provided a vehicle of sharing and gaining vast amounts of information quickly, especially through web 2.0, which enhances people’s exposure to information. However, what people think and do with that information is questionable and whether the majority of that information should be believed in another question. We must learn to interpret good information from inaccurate, biased, and sensationalistic material that is packaged as truths on the web.
“Although there's little debate that computer technology complements—and often enhances—the human mind in the quest to store information and process an ever-growing tangle of bits and bytes, there's increasing concern that the same technology is changing the way we approach complex problems and conundrums, and making it more difficult to really think” (Greengard, 2010).
To branch off of what Greengard mentioned above, critical thinking is a key in education that I will continue to work into my curriculum as an educator. I must create more opportunities for my students to implement higher levels of thinking instead of regurgitation, which utilizes the lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning, which is simply memorizing (Overbaugh, n.d.). As a student at Fielding, I will increase my ability to think well and write research papers with theory, methodology and argumentation that houses unbiased truths. I plan to derive new truths through research that advances our field of media psychology further. This class has given me more tools to do so.
As for how I use media, I learned that I should start using multi-media to deliver my messages and research in a digital, artistic, creative, and innovative way. The lectures by Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts and Dr. Jason Ohler dove into visual and aural paradigms and the importance of engaging emotions as a connection to memory (Isbouts & Ohler, 2010). I saw the difference of just writing a paper in Microsoft Word verses posting that information in a multi-media ePortfolio blog that has images, video, music, and color. Suddenly the information came alive. What a brilliant technique that my professors gave me. I will use that from here on out.
Additionally, after reading the articles we covered, notably Will Richardson’s discussion on utilizing web 2.0 as part of the pedagogy and teaching in our classrooms (Richardson, 2008), I recognized that I need to operate my classes in a way that encourages multi-media creation and web usage, instead of more static deliverables such as lectures and tests. By doing so, my students will gain the necessary education in telling stories and operating in a multi-media atmosphere, which is a bankable skill. This course has given me more ideas on how to enhance my professional practices in the classroom.
Conclusion:
In summary, critical thinking requires effort to divulge the truth and unpeel the layers to gain knowledge. My guess is that most people do not question what is real nor do they dig to find the truth, especially if their exposure to accurate information is limited or their questioning skills are stunted.
Big media often relies on the fact that people don’t think for themselves. This is seen in ad campaigns that spin state elections, such as Reid v. Angle in Nevada, and in advertising, such as training the public to think a Nike tee-shirt is worth $100. Media and the Internet have great influence over people, and can feed the general public what they want.
To critically think is imperative to our success as thinkers. Although many don’t aspire to that pinnacle of mental aptitude, I will work hard to utilize critical thinking in my profession and academics by employing the techniques and research skills derived from this course.
References:
Critical thinking. (2010). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
Greengard, S. (2010). Are we losing our ability to think critically? ACM. Retrieved from http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/7/32082-are-we-losing-our-ability-to-think-critically/fulltext
Isbouts, J.P. and Ohler, J. (2010, September 13). Visual and aural paradigms [Speeches]. NSO SB lectures media psychology
Kirk, E. E. (1996). Evaluating information found on the Internet. Johns Hopkins University, The Sheridan Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/
Overbaugh, R.C., Schultz, L. (n.d.) Bloom's Taxonomy. Old Dominion University. Retrieved from http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
PicApp. (2006). Statue of Thinker, Rodin. Retrieved from http://www.picapp.com/search.aspx?term=thinker&pageNum=0&cats=creative
PicApp. (2008). Computer animation. Retrieved from http://www.picapp.com/search.aspx?term=web&pageNum=2&cats=creative
PicApp. (2010). Combination photo of Senate candidate Sharron Angle v. Senator Harry Reid. Retrieved from http://www.picapp.com/search.aspx?term=harry%20reid&pageNum=0&cats=
Richardson, W. (2008). Read/Write Web with Will Richardson. YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFbDEBNS7AE
Shermer, M. (2010). The baloney detection kit. The committed sardine. Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=181
YouTube. (2007). A vision of today's students . Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
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