9 strategies to boost your critical thinking

If you maximize your critical thinking, you will have at your disposal an exceptional mass construction “weapon”. After all, something as simple as applying a healthy skepticism, combined with adequate personal ethics and a more open mind, can allow us to survive much better in all those contexts where we are often forced to think in a unitary way.

Perhaps we have once heard that we are in what they call the post-truth era. Exaggeration, or not, Having critical thinking is little more than a vital necessity. If we admit that we are going through a “crisis of truthfulness”, where our emotions are often appealed to as a way to influence our actions, it is essential that we react to it and do so in the best way.

In a study published at the University of Cambridge in January of this same year, an important idea was highlighted. From the psychology department of this well-known academic institution it was pointed out that beyond IQ, beyond aspiring to have high intelligence, What could really improve our lives is having good critical thinking.

The authors themselves pointed out that A person well trained in this skill is capable of making better decisions. Besides, It stops being so manipulable in the interests of advertising or political spheres, being able to solve problems in a more creative, autonomous and effective way. We are, without a doubt, facing a wonderful psychological resource that is worth working with. Improving your critical thinking is possible and these strategies can help you achieve it.

How to enhance your critical thinking?

Although there may be some initial inertia, no one comes into this world with an innate ability to apply critical thinking to what is happening in their context. This skill is trained, learned, internalized and transformed based on our needs, personality and experiences. It is continuous feedback where we are required not to be passive, not to be conformist and to apply good motivation daily.

Let’s now see how we can achieve it.

1. Broaden your perspectives, don’t stay with just one option

If we were told right now that the world was ending tomorrow, possibly 60% of the population would immediately look for a bunker to hide in. 20% of the rest would do everything possible to find an alternative, a strategy with which to avoid the arrival of this supposed apocalypse. The third option, the one that would represent the other 20%, would be that of the skeptics. Those who would wonder, Is the world really going to end? Who says it?

Healthy, intelligent and skillful skepticism is undoubtedly the first filter. A filter for news, opinions, statements or comments that we hear every day.

2. Ask questions

One of the most important steps to enhance critical thinking is making objective decisions. To do this, we must take a step back and question the assumptions we are making or the biases that have been activated. We have to be aware of them and put them aside when necessary. Some questions that can guide us are:

Am I making any assumptions about this information? Are there other variables that I haven’t considered? Have I evaluated the information from all perspectives? Are there any points of view that I haven’t considered?

3. Determine the relevance of the data

Just as it is essential to collect data, it is also necessary to determine how relevant the various sources of information are. After all, just because there is data doesn’t mean it is relevant. So, once we have gathered all the information, we must examine it carefully and determine which data is important and which is not. For this, the following questions cannot guide:

How reliable is this information? How important is this data? Is this information up to date?

4. Evaluate the existing evidence

When we try to solve a problem it is very useful to look at some solutions that have been carried out for similar problems. However, it is crucial to critically evaluate this information, or else we can easily reach the wrong conclusion. If we want to enhance critical thinking, we have to constantly and rigorously evaluate the evidence and information that comes to us. The following questions can help us evaluate the evidence:

Who gathered this evidence? How did they gather it? Why? Where did they get the data from? How did they collect that evidence?

5. Understand your mental processes

Identifying and evaluating how we receive and process information is key to enhancing critical thinking. Understanding how we listen, interpret and react to information is vital to becoming mentally more efficient and critical. Being a critical thinker means being able, among other things, to recognize prejudices and how they influence the solutions and decisions we make. Taking time to reflect on our mental processes before making a decision can help us act more objectively.

6. Be proactive, not reactive

Many of us, instead of living, react to life. We react to problems, difficulties and challenges without knowing that There is another way to exist: being proactive. However, what does it mean to be proactive?

It means not standing by and watching the changes that occur around us happen without our intervention: Make things happen, look for challenges to learn from them by applying new resources, set goals and work for them every day…Your critical thinking is also that psychological strength that will make it easier for you to act in a more skillful and reflective way. That is, instead of reacting lightly or in an oversized way to a difficulty or complex situation, this approach will help you look with a more constructive, focused, adapted and even ingenious attitude. Every challenge will involve learning.

7. More ethical thinking

In our society, dichotomous or extreme thinking is very common.. Something is either good or bad. People either agree with our ideals and values ​​or they don’t. You are a friend or you are an enemy, you are blue or you are red… What do we really gain by applying this type of moral filters? The truth is that very little.

If we were able to use more critical thinking, where we reflect and relativize all these dichotomies, we would discover and enjoy our ability to contemplate different points of view. Opening ourselves with curiosity to the entire range of opinions, characteristics, traits and details that line our scenarios would enrich us infinitely.

8. More sense of humor, please

A good sense of humor goes hand in hand with intelligence. Who knows how to laugh at himself, who is capable of finding the bright spot in the fog, playing with reality to relativize it, transforming it with grace and originality, making others laugh with his wit, has a valuable gift.

Thus, your critical thinking is also a tool with which to show your ability to have a clearer perspective of reality, avoiding being trapped in frustrations, in anger without a solution or in those misunderstandings that lead us nowhere.

9. Become aware of your cognitive distortions

Letting our life focus become trapped in cognitive distortions, such as negativism, Overgeneralization, the use of labels, the polarized approach or that selective attention where we see only what we want, completely limits our critical thinking.

We must become aware of these common irrational resources of our mind. We must relativize, broaden visions and horizons and simply remember that, Just as we are often critical of those around us, it is also necessary to be critical of ourselves.

To conclude, as we can guess, developing this psychological strength takes time. However, if you really want to maximize your critical thinking, don’t forget a simple tip: be free, free of thoughts and will. Break chains and observe the world with humility, becoming aware of everything you can learn, of the great possibilities that surround you…

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