Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making

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Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making Critical thinking is a process of applying various skills to analyze information. Critical thinking uses rationality to distinguish between emotion and fact. This paper will discuss the definition of critical thinking, and the skills it takes to think critically. It will also provide an example of critical thinking applied to my current working environment. Finally this paper will discuss the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision-making processes. According to The Foundation for Critical Thinking (2007), "Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2007). In a student's opinion critical thinking is gathering all necessary information and using rational judgment to filter out personal opinions and true facts. Rationality allows for information to be based on evidence and finding the best explanation possible. When critically thinking, it is important to weigh out the pros and cons of the situation. Following this process will allow an individual to get past personal biased opinions and view the situation from all prospectives. This all ties in to judgment. Critical thinking is better implemented when judgment is used so that new ideas and explanations can be taken into consideration. Critical thinking is about asking questions and exploring new ideas. Critical thinking allows individuals to facilitate a number of non personal analyzes o... ... middle of paper ... ...2001). Ken Langdon (2001) states that, "The decision-makers will never leave the point of the decision without thinking about the steps necessary to implement the decision successfully (Langdon, 2001)." It is crucial that people who are critically thinking to make decisions do so by utilizing the critical thinking skills they have adopted. No decision made is good unless a decision is made with rationality. References Langdon, K. (2001). Smart things to know about decision making. Retrieved December 9, 2007, from eResourse. Rudd, R. (2007). Defining critical thinking. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 82(7) 46-49. Retrieved December 9, 2007, from EBSCOhost database. The critical thinking community. (2007). Foundation for critical thinking. Retrieved on December 7, 2007 from http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/define_critical_thinking.cfm

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