Critical and Creative Thinking in Society

Critical and Creative Thinking in Society

Contents

Critical Thinking for Public Interest        

Free Will, Truth. Knowledge, and Opinion        

Critical Thinking Hindrances        

Perception vs. Reality in Advertising        

Conclusion        

Critical and Creative Thinking in Society

Understanding critical and creative thinking requires, first, a solid grasp of the process of thinking. According to Merriam-Webster.com (2015) “thinking is any mental activity that helps formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or fulfill a desire to understand. It is a searching for answers, (or) a reaching for meaning that includes numerous mental activities throughout the process.” Each new day brings new challenges requiring a solution or decision. Today, more employers are looking for people that have advanced expertise in problem solving, issue analysis, and decision making (Ruggiero, 2012). Many of the solutions, analyses, and decisions will be produced by managers with critical and creative thinking skills. Critical and creative thinking requires effort. One must try to think critically and creatively. Merriam-Webster (2015) defines critical thinking as, “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.”

Modern society is constantly presented with situations that require critical and creative thinking to resolve. Herein, the author will discuss a public situation in which critical and/or creative thought could have provided a better outcome and why it is important to apply critical thinking to similar issues. Additionally, the roles of free will, truth, knowledge, and opinion will be defined along with three examples of hindrances to critical thinking. Finally, the author distinguishes between perception and reality in advertising.

Critical Thinking for Public Interest

        One major issue facing the world today is climate change and how we are distressingly unprepared to deal with the consequences. Obviously, the issue of climate change was induced by humans long before anyone was aware it was happening. The data concerning the human carbon footprint has been made available only relatively recently. However, if critical thought had been applied when the combustion engine was invented, or when humans decided to vaporize waste and send it into the atmosphere, the world would be in a better position to manage the effects. The use of critical thinking when deciding to utilize fossil fuels to industrialize society may have revealed the whole picture including the consequences. The importance of critical thinking is illustrated when every facet of an issue is considered, including history, context, and possible outcomes, making a sensible and effective resolution more likely.

Free Will, Truth. Knowledge, and Opinion

        Humans are free to think and decide. People exercise free will when choices are made that are not controlled by force, destiny, or divine intervention (Ruggiero, 2012). Some psychologists contend that humans have no free will and make choices through compulsion or instinct (Ruggiero, 2012). According to Merriam-Webster.com (2014) truth is “what is so about something, the reality of the matter, as distinguished from what people wish were so, believe to be so, or assert to be so.” The role of truth is that it never changes. Truth is factual and not subject to debate. The truth is not created, but it is examined and learned (Ruggiero, 2012). Knowledge is the key to truth and understanding. Knowledge is information, understanding, or skill that humans gain from experience or practice, scrutiny or study, and instruction or testimony. Critical thinking requires the knowledge of stakeholders to classify, interpret, and evaluate problems, to determine solutions and aid in making hypotheses in similar situations (Ruggiero, 2012). Opinions are generated from a personal perspective and can be valuable to the critical thinking process. However, opinions are often reductive and should carry little, if any, weight toward the final solution.

Critical Thinking Hindrances

        Hindrances to critical thinking are varied but there are three major deterrents to the critical thinking process, including lack of direction, fear of failure, and fear of criticism. Lack of direction is deficient of precise goals and objectives. Writing goals and plans of actions on paper helps to overcome lack of direction. Fear of failure is the anxiety one feels when he or she is nervous about being wrong or making a mistake. The experience of failure is not what holds a person back, but the possibility of failure. The anticipation of failure is what prevents action and becomes the principal reason for failure and ineffectual critical thinking. Finally, the fear of criticism is the dread of sounding uneducated and appearing rash or unwise. Fear of criticism is perhaps the most difficult hindrance to critical thinking to overcome, but one effective way to address this barrier is to identify your inner coach and listen to the words of encouragement such as, “You can do it!” or “You are right!” (Tracy, 2015). The key is to act like you have confidence and confidence will be granted. In other words, fake it until you make it.