Critical thinking skills are important for making good decisions but are often lacking. People commonly make poor choices and excuses like "I wasn't thinking" or "how was I supposed to know?". Critical thinking involves consciously reflecting on choices, clearly defining issues, considering options and consequences, and using logic over emotion. Both individuals and organizations like the FBI and CIA have shown lapses in critical thinking that led to negative outcomes. Developing critical thinking is important for success in life and career.

1. Who needsWho needs
criticalcritical
thinking skills?thinking skills?

2. People don’t always use critical
thinking skills
 It is not uncommon for people
to say…
 “I thought it was no big deal.”
 “I just wasn’t thinking”
 “How was I supposed to know?”
 “I can’t think of everything!”
 “My bad…”
 Poor decision-makers tend to
lack reasoning skills
 People who bounce checks
monthly, spend the rent at the
racetrack, get their car
impounded, etc. tend to have
poor reasoning skills (Wenner,
2007)
 There is a scientific link between
people who are “their own worst
enemies” and critical thinking
ability.

3. Critical thinking defined
 Norris (1985) who stated that “thinking
critically can be defined as rationally
deciding what to do or believe” (p. 40).
 A survey corporate executives revealed
that the top three characteristics they
were looking for in college graduates
were “teamwork skills,” “critical
thinking and analytic reasoning skills,”
and “oral/written communication”
skills (Vance, 2007, p. 30).

4. Good decisions require critical
thinking skills
 Consciously reflect on the choices
you are making
 Habitual versus reflective
thinking
 Resist intuition and your “gut
response”—at least initially
 Clearly define the issue or decision
(what is your goal or objective?)
 Identify criteria for making the
decision.
 Consider all the options
 Weigh pros and cons
 Use a reality check: ask “what
might go wrong?”
 Let emotion play a role, but not
the role in making the decision.

5. noteworthy absences in critical
thinking
 examples from government,
public institutions
 FBI and September 11 attack
 CIA intelligence on Iraq’s alleged
WMDs
 examples involving
celebrities, politicians
 Michael Vick, Michael Richards,
Mel Gibson, Bill Clinton
 examples involving ordinary
people
 police pursuits
 suspects on Cops
 guests on Jerry Springer and
Judge Judy
 sub-prime home loans

6. faux hate crime
 (October 24, 2008) Ashley Todd,
a McCain supporter from Texas,
claimed she was assaulted by a
6’4” African-American male at
an ATM.
 She alleged the attacker beat
her and carved a “B” on her
cheek because she had a McCain-
Palin bumper sticker on her car.
 The “B” was backwards,
however, suggesting she had
carved it herself while looking in
a mirror.
 She later confessed the whole
story was a hoax and was
charged with filing a false police
report

7. lapses in critical thinking by the FBI
and CIA
 Prior to Sept. 11, the FBI
failed to connect the dots
 The August 2001 memo,
titled "Bin Laden
Determined To Strike in
U.S.” stated that Bin
Laden “hoped to bring
the fight to America.”
 Kenneth Williams’
“Phoenix” memo of July
10 2001, warned that
Bin Laden might be
using flight schools in
the U.S. to train for
terrorist attacks.

8. don’t try this at home
 “Jackass” wannabees try to copy
Johnny Knoxville’s stunts
 MTVs Jackass show, and the two
spin-off movies, feature Knoxville
and his pals performing dangerous
stunts that often result in injury.
 A number viewers, mainly teen
males, have tried to imitate the
stunts and were seriously injured.
 One boy in Connecticut suffered
serious burns after trying to copy a
stunt called the “human
barbecue.”
 Another boy in Kentucky was run
over by a car while attempting to
jump it.

9. When good clowns go bad
 Spunky the clown was
arrested for
attempting to smuggle
marijuana to an
inmate at the
Greensville
Correctional Institute
 Kooki the clown was
arrested for
defrauding a 90 yr old
woman out of
$500,000
 Trim Trim the clown
was sentenced to 12
years in prison for
molesting a 12 and 14
year old girl

10. MDs and critical thinking
 Doctor Is Suspended Over
Errand
 Boston—A Boston
orthopedic surgeon has
been suspended from
practice after disclosures
that he abandoned a
patient midway through
back surgery so he could
go to the bank to deposit
his paycheck.
 (Source: Los Angeles
Times, August 9, 2002)
 Doctor Loses License
Over Carved Initials
 New York state has taken
away the license of an
obstetrician who carved
his initials in a woman’s
abdomen immediately
after she gave birth.
 (Source: Times Wire
Reports)

11. prayer at the pump
 Rocky Twyman and his
followers held a pray-in to ask
God to lower gas prices.
 “God is the only one we can
turn to at this point,” said
Twyman. The prices keep
soaring and soaring.”
 When the prayer vigil began at
4 p.m. Friday, a gallon of
Texaco unleaded gas cost
$3.92.
 But even before the praying
stopped, the price dropped
three cents!
 "Prayer works fast," said Rocky
Twyman

12. Women wearing jeans can’t be
raped?
 1999: The Supreme Court of
Appeal in Rome overturned a
1998 rape conviction,
proclaiming the alleged victim
must have agreed to sex
because her jeans could not
have been removed without her
consent.
 The court said the alleged
victim, an 18-year-old student,
was wearing tight jeans, which
could not have been removed
without her consent.
 The accused rapist, a 45-year-
old driving instructor, has been
released.
female ministers of the
Italian parliament say they
will protest until the ruling is
overturned

13. Earlier this week, police
officers in the otherwise
enlightened community,
home of Harvard university,
shared their theories on
pepper spray with a local
reporter.
“Pepper spray doesn’t work
well on Mexican American
suspects,” the officers said.
Why? “Because Mexicans
grow up eating too much
spicy food, and because they
spend so much time picking
hot peppers in the fields.”
Massachusetts department says
officers were wrong to say
defense weapon doesn’t work as
well on Mexican
American suspects.
Cultural insensitivity
Massachusetts style

14. Cultural insensitivity Inland
Empire style
 (October 2008) Diane
Fedele resigned from the
Chaffey Community
Republican Women’s
group, after mailing
flyers depicting Barack
Obama on food stamps.
 She explained the
coupon was intended as
satire after Obama
claimed during the
campaign that he
“doesn’t look like all
those other presidents
on the dollar bills.”

15. Televangupidity?
 Sep 13, 2001: Jerry
Falwell blamed the
ACLU, feminists, and
gays for Sept. 11th
,
stating, “the pagans,
and the abortionists,
and the feminists, and
the gays and the
lesbians who are
actively trying to make
that an alternative
lifestyle….I point the
finger in their face and
say 'you helped this
happen.'

16. MostMost
AmericansAmericans
think theirthink their
odds ofodds of
becomingbecoming
wealthy arewealthy are
better with thebetter with the
lottery thanlottery than
with savingswith savings
andand
investmentsinvestments
Lucky lotto retirement strategy
 (Coombs, Jan 13, 2006),
ABC news reported that
"one-quarter of Americans
believe their best chance
to build wealth for
retirement is by playing
the lottery, not by
patiently saving and
investing”
 Among low income
households the belief
jumped to 40%
 Many families spend $20-
50 per week on gambling
and lottery tickets.
 But the odds of winning
the lottery are
approximately 1 in 20
million.
 if a family saved $25 per
week for 40 years at a 10
percent return, they
would have a nest egg of
nearly $500,000.

17. Decision-making task
You were in a horrendous accident.
Only your brain survived. It is sitting
in a jar waiting to be transplanted.
The doctors have three bodies
available to you and you must choose
one of the options .
1. You can be placed in a stunningly
attractive body. Heads will turn as
you walk by.
2. You can be placed into a somewhat
unattractive body, but it is the
body of a multi-millionaire. The
millionaire's estate will recognize
you as the true millionaire, giving
you ownership of all assets.
3. You can be put into the body of a
rather unattractive person. In the
process, however, for this body
only, it is possible for the doctors
to increase your intelligence level
to 180 (genius).

18. Thinking critically about what you
really want
 In a survey conducted
by the PEW Research
Center in 2007, asking
18-25 year olds what
their most important
life goal was:
 81% percent said getting
rich is their generation's
most important or
second-most-important
life goal
 51% said being famous
was their number one
goal in life.
 "Society raised us where
money is glamorous, and
everybody wants to be
glamorous," says Jason
Head, an aspiring actor
who turned 26 just before
Thanksgiving.