Critical Thinking Traits

I wanted to spend some more time considering critical thinking. As instructional designers the pressure to incorporate critical thinking is a trend that will not be going away anytime soon. Although the term 'critical thinking' is quite a recent invention, the underlying value it represents is at least 2500 years old. Throughout Western Philosophy, this type of thinking has been regarded as a merging of specific skills and attitudes – critical abilities and critical dispositions

Critical abilities (skills) are skills in analyzing arguments, relationships between ideas and reasoning from the perspective of a theoretical framework – now you can start to see how this ties back to our research.

Critical dispositions (attitudes) are inherent qualities of mind and character. They are a combination of rational and emotional habits of thought that lead to critical thinking.

Additionally, the Foundation for Critical Thinking identifies seven habits which are conductive to good reasoning – yes, there is such a thing a Foundation dedicated to Critical Thinking! The full descriptions can be found at https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/valuable-intellectual-traits/528

•     Intellectual Humility: Intellectual humility is the practice of not claiming to know more than you do. It is a lack of pretentiousness, combined with an understanding logical foundations.
•     Intellectual Courage: Intellectual Courage is the process of exploring difficult ideas or viewpoints as well as those which we take for granted.
•     Intellectual Empathy: Intellectual Empathy is the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes in order to understand their ideas and viewpoints. It is also the willingness remember times when we have been wrong.
•     Intellectual Integrity: Intellectual Integrity is the standards by which we hold ourselves and the process of being “true to one’s own thinking”.
•     Intellectual Perseverance: Intellectual Perseverance is the continued use of rational thinking in the face of challenges and irrational thinking.
•     Faith In Reason: Faith in Reason refers to the deep beliefs that reason and the promotion of reason can positively influence people and society.
•      Fair/Open-mindedness: Open-mindedness is the willingness to consider all ideas and viewpoints equally regardless of personal biases or previous conceptions.

You will find these seven traits/habits in different versions across the Internet. While the terms might look a little different the overarching concept is the same.Which of these habits do you have?