This document discusses using critical thinking to solve problems and avoid faulty reasoning. It addresses several types of mental shortcuts and cognitive biases that can lead to incorrect conclusions, including confirmation bias, oversimplification, and cause-and-effect errors. The document provides examples of how these biases can influence problem-solving and proposes analyzing problems more carefully to consider multiple causes and unintended consequences in order to develop more effective solutions.

1. Using Critical Thinking
to Solve Problems
By
Dean Berry, Ed. D.
www.commoncorecurriculum.info

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3. Can you keep your head while those
around you are losing theirs?
Rational thought and effective problem solving
is compromised when we seek short cuts.

4. Mental short cuts are called heuristics.
There are several types of mental
short cuts used to save time when
drawing conclusions about large
amounts of information, including
the over simplifying fallacy,
confirmation bias, and cause and
effect errors.

5. Determining what causes an
event can be confusing.

6. Cause and Effect Relationships
Think about this correlation between cell phones
and obesity. Is it logical to suggest that cell phone
use is one of the causes of obesity?
Because young people are using cell
phones more and more and the
obesity rate is increasing, the
increased use of cell phones must be
the cause of higher rates of obesity.
Is this a valid conclusion? Why?

7. When an event follows another event one
does not necessarily cause the other.

8. How is this a cause and effect fallacy?
School is killing us. Textbooks are
made from paper, and paper is made
from trees. We need trees for oxygen.
Therefore, school is killing us.

9. Some people pay psychics money to predict events, and they feel
certain that cause and effect relationships must exist even if the
prediction and the resulting events could be coincidental.

10. Finding the true cause of events is very
Important. However, faulty thinking can result in
serious errors and incorrect conclusions.

11. Sometimes people would rather take short cuts in
thinking and problem solving. Finding easy solutions to
complicated problems saves time and energy. However,
keeping solutions simple often results in mental errors.

12. Over simplifying a problem results in solutions that fail
to address all of the important causes and results in
solutions that do not solve the problem. Discuss the
points being made in these visuals.

13. Examining some people’s attitudes uncovers
simplistic thinking. Angelo said, “I think we have a
lot of poverty because most poor people
don’t work hard enough.”

14. Angelo indicated that most people are poor because
they don’t work hard enough. If you accept this theory
as correct, how would you approach solving poverty?
Does this theory adequately cover the causes of
poverty? What would you add or change about Angelo’s
theory about the cause of poverty?

15. Most problems have multiple causes
and require multiple solutions.

16. There is almost always multiple
causes of serious problems.

17. Is poverty a one solution problem? Discuss
the complexity of this issue. Does poverty
require multiple solutions? Meet in small
groups to discuss these issues.

18. Some politicians have suggested that all Muslims in the
United States should be banned from re-entering the
country if they leave to visit the Middle East. They
believe this action would help protect Americans from
terrorism.
Simple solutions such as this often
lead to unintended consequences.
Unintended Consequences: Huge amounts of money controlled by
American Muslims might disappear from our economy and hurt job creation. In
addition, ISIS could use the ban to demonstrate to terrorist recruits that
Americans are out to harm Muslims everywhere. This could result in an
increase of terrorist activities.

19. Over simplifying a problem usually leads to an
incomplete or inadequate solution.
Some people assert that we can solve the
problem of undocumented immigrants flowing
into the country by building a huge wall at our
southern border.
Why might this be an over simplification of the
issue?
How could this lead to an inadequate solution?

20. The war in Syria is a complex issue with many
religious and political interest groups.

21. The United States has a military treaty with Turkey. The U.S. supports the Kurds
and the opposition (rebels) in their fight with the Syrian government.. However,
turkey hates the Kurds and supports the opposition (rebels). The Kurds, Turkey,
rebels, and the U.S are all at war with ISIS and the Syrian government. Russia
hates ISIS but supports the Syrian government against the rebels. Iran is providing
direct support for the Syrian government. As you can see, Syria is a very
complicated region with many different groups vying for power and control.

22. Four major religious groups and more than eight political entities have
different views on how to find a solution to the conflict in Syria. In
addition, Isis is creating a caliphate from which to expand it’s terrorist
activities. Politicians love to propose simple solutions to solve complex
problems. Some suggest, “Bomb the enemy into submission”.

23. If you decide to carpet bomb all of the bad guys, where
do you start? What might be the consequences?

24. What might be the unintended consequences
of carpet bombing towns in Syria?
Meet in pairs or small groups and
discuss this question. Practice the skills
of summarizing and clarifying the
discussion points. Select one group
member to report your ideas back to the
class.

25. Quick Write
Write a paragraph with a minimum
of five sentences to discuss the
issue of carpet bombing in Syria.
Explain the problem created by
unintended consequences.

26. Does this statement contain two contradicting ideas?
Does this idea lead to an overly simplistic solution to
gun violence? Explain your point.

27. Is this an over simplification of the issue? Explain.

28. Let’s analyze this analogy.
• What are the two events that are being compared?
• What does this analogy suggest is similar about
these two events?
• Are there enough differences in these two events to
make this analogy a weak or irrelevant argument?
• Do drivers have to have licenses?
• Do cars have to be insured?
• Do gun owners need licenses or insurance?

29. You can avoid over simplifying problems
by using the following steps.

30. Careful thought and analysis leads to fewer
mental errors and better problem solving.
How do these two approaches differ? Why is one
system better than the other?

31. Class Discussion
Solutions to problems may have
unintended consequences.
• Easy solutions to problems usually don’t work out because
most problems have multiple causes and require multiple
solutions.
• For example, expelling eleven million undocumented
immigrants from the United States may seem like an easy
solution to the problem of undocumented immigrants
entering the country. However, taking such action may
generate many unintended consequences and create
problems that ripple through the entire country.
• Identify some of the unintended consequences that may
result from a plan to expel all undocumented workers from
the United States.

32. Unintended Consequences
Using advanced technology to build robots that can
perform human jobs saves money and makes
factories more efficient and reduces the cost of
products for consumers. However, the consequences
of using more robots means fewer jobs for people.

33. Quick Write
Write a paragraph with a minimum of five
sentences discussing both sides of the robots
versus jobs issue.
Think About It
1. If consumer prices are reduced as a result of
robotics, is it best to use robotics even though
it reduces the number of jobs for Americans?
2. Is it possible that other types of jobs could be
created by using robotics?

34. Unintended Consequences
We should use our forests as resources to build
more houses, factories, and roads that will enable
us to modernize our economy and create more
jobs and a higher standard of living for our people.
What might be some unintended consequences of
cutting down many of the world’s major forests
(including rainforests) ?

35. What unintended consequences
did you uncover?
There are many possible consequences to cutting down
the world’s forests. Rainforests support most of the
world’s plant species. In addition, many of the world’s
medicines are discovered in forests. Of course, trees
absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the
atmosphere. Also, many animal species who reside in
forest habitats would be at risk.
Can you summarize the probable negative consequences
that would occur if the major forests are cut down?

36. Meet in Groups and Discuss
Consider the Unintended Consequences
• A new law in Texas permits college students to
carry concealed guns on campus in in the
classroom.
• Discuss the possible implications this may have on
universities.
• Consider the potential positive and negative
consequences of this law.
• Identify the unintended consequences that may
occur as this law is implemented in colleges and
universities across Texas.

37. Some events sound great and help a lot of
people. However, they may still have
consequences that affect people differently.
Everybody loves lower gas prices. Or, do
they? When gas prices drop to very low
prices the consequences can be both
positive and negative.
What might be some negative
consequences of low gas prices?

38. Meet in Groups and Discuss
• Moreno Valley, California, has approved the
construction of the largest group of warehouses in the
world to be built in the eastern section next to the 60
freeway and near housing tracts. Hundreds of
warehouse jobs are expected to be created. Let’s
examine the issue and determine if there are
unintended consequences that may cause problems for
the community. These warehouses will have hundreds
of big rigs coming in and loading and unloading 24
hours a day.
• Discuss and list any unintended consequences that
may be created as a result of this warehouse project.

39. Meet in Groups and Discuss
• Wouldn’t it be great to discover the fountain of youth?
With new discoveries human longevity could be greatly
increased.
• Let’s assume that five years from now new medical
discoveries have reduced the death rate from cancer and
heart disease by fifty percent. Throughout the world,
people are expected to increase their longevity by 30-40
percent overall. The expected life span of people in
developed countries is expected to go as high as age 95.
• Identify the possible unintended consequences of these
wonderful, new medical discoveries. What might be the
consequences of people living much longer?

40. Sometimes people want to believe things because
they are followers and want to join the
bandwagon. Sometimes people make decisions
based on powerful emotions such as anger or fear.
When this is the case, people search for
information that supports what they want to
believe or already believe. Only looking for
information to support what you already believe is
called confirmation bias.

41. Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for information that confirms our
current beliefs and to ignore information that disagrees
with our beliefs is referred to as confirmation bias by
researchers who study human behavior.

43. Can you unpack the meaning in this
statement by Thomas Paine?

44. Could this ever be true? How might
confirmation bias effect this?

45. I prefer to be right more than
I prefer to be correct.

46. We are always more at ease when we are certain about
things. Having doubts increases our discomfort.

47. In some cases, police investigators become convinced
that their primary suspect is guilty and that all of their
time and resources should be focused on finding
evidence that will convict the suspect. Other possible
suspects are not investigated thoroughly. The
investigators exercise “bias” by seeking to confirm what
they already believe and to ignore the possibility of other
suspects.

48. Do you think that the reporting of
evidence to support a claim can be
manipulated by the presenter?

49. Why are we more comfortable seeking
information that we know will support what
we already believe?
We all love to be right about how we perceive the
world. Most people prefer to hang out with others
that tend to agree with them on important issues
and ideas. Research suggests that once we feel
fairly certain about something, we prefer to
dismiss new information that contradicts our
beliefs. The discomfort that we feel is called
“cognitive dissonance”.

50. Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling that
we have when we see a conflict between our behavior
and information that disagrees with it. Smokers
feel some of this dissonance when they are presented
solid evidence of the dangers of smoking.

51. Read the following definition of cognitive
dissonance. Can you summarize the
meaning of cognitive dissonance?

52. In order to cope with the discomfort of cognitive
dissonance, people rationalize their behavior by
inventing irrelevant examples to prove they are right.

53. We don’t feel so good when we do something wrong that goes against
our personal beliefs. If we believe that lying is a bad thing, but tell a lie
anyway, we are mentally uncomfortable and need to find a way to
rationalize our behavior.
What does rationalizing our behavior mean?
How might a person go about rationalizing when they tell a lie?

54. When the truth is uncomfortable,
we become receptive to misinformation.
Explain what this means. Can you give an
example?

55. Many people are ready to line up to receive information that supports their
beliefs even when the information is not considered credible. Likewise, they
avoid evidence that may contradict what they want to believe.

56. Open or Closed Cognitive Systems
People often describe someone as open
minded or closed minded.
Meet in small groups and discuss the difference
between someone who is open minded or closed
minded. Identify a few examples of open or closed
mindedness.

57. Closed minded people prefer not to hear information
that goes against their understanding of the way the
world works. They tend to make up there mind rather
quickly and limit the flow of new information.

58. Quick Write
Write a paragraph with a minimum of five sentences to
discuss the difference between open minded and closed
minded people. How does cognitive dissonance create
problems for closed minded people? How do those people
use rationalization in order to reduce the cognitive
dissonance they experience.

59. Taking quick and easy short cuts
may lead to faulty thinking.

60. Open Minded people tend to be more innovative
and have the ability to think outside of the box.

61. Terminology Quiz
Use your own paper and take this quiz.
• 1. Confirmation Bias A. Assuming that an event that follows
another event causes it
• 2. Simplification Fallacy B. Willing to consider all views
• 3. Cognitive Dissonance C. Favoring information that
• supports your current opinion
• 4. Cause and Effect Fallacy D. The unplanned results of an event
•
• 5. Unintended Consequences E. Focusing on one solution to a
• complicated problem
• 6. Open minded F. Mental conflict caused by information
that contradicts one’s current beliefs