Thinking : an interdisciplinary approach to critical and creative thought

1 What Is Thinking? OUR CULTURAL LEGACY WHY THINK? THINKING ACTIVITY 1.1: Things More Important Than Thinking Thoughts Richer Than Gold Thinking as Possibility Thoughts Accumulate Life Without Thinking WHAT IS THINKING? The Mystery Toward a Definition: Thinking as Communicating BOX: The Centrality of Thinking COMMUNICATING: THE MIRROR OF THOUGHT Thinking as Writing: Clarity, Exactness, Awareness, Richness THINKING ACTIVITY 1.2: Thinking, Sensing, Writing Thinking as Dialogue: Validation and Insight MISTHINKING SUMMARY THINKING CHALLENGES 2 Personal Barriers ENCULTURATION Sources of Enculturation BOX: Some Common American Beliefs Religion and Enculturation BOX: Spinoza: A Man of Reason THINKING ACTIVITY 2.1: Our Own Enculturation SELF-CONCEPT THINKING ACTIVITY 2.2: The Idea of Self THINKING ACTIVITY 2.3: Letting Go EGO DEFENSES Denial Projection Rationalization SELF-SERVING BIASES BOX: Other Attribution Errors BOX: Self-Serving Biases? THINKING ACTIVITY 2.4: Owning Up to Our Dark Side THE ROLE OF EXPECTATIONS AND SCHEMATA EMOTIONAL INFLUENCES Anger Passion Depression THINKING ACTIVITY 2.5: Five Thinking Errors STRIVING FOR COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY STRESS BOX: Signs and Symptoms of Stress Stress Management THINKING ACTIVITY 2.6: Five Ways to Prevent Stress SUMMARY BARRIER CHALLENGES 3 Sensing SENSUAL BEGINNINGS THE POWER OF OUR SENSES THE DECEPTION OF OUR SENSES THINKING ACTIVITY 3.1: Ideas: Innate or Learned? THINKING ACTIVITY 3.2: Our Personal Sense Deceptions SHARPENING OUR SENSES THINKING ACTIVITY 3.3: Seeing Anew POWERFUL LISTENING The Paradox of Powerful Listening How to Listen THINKING ACTIVITY 3.4: Developing an Action Plan SUMMARY SENSING AND THINKING CHALLENGES 4 Brain and Memory THE MYSTERY THINKING AND OUR BRAIN THINKING ACTIVITY 4.1: An Exercise in Mental Discipline Food and Drugs Sleep THINKING ACTIVITY 4.2: Critical Reading Before We Sleep Our Thinking Potential BOX: Brain and Mind THINKING AND MEMORY The Changing Nature of Memory THINKING ACTIVITY 4.3: Memories of Childhood Forgetting BOX: Recall versus Recognition Why We Forget How to Improve Memory THINKING ACTIVITY 4.4: Using Mnemonics BOX: Memory Pills SUMMARY BRAIN AND MEMORY CHALLENGES 5 Language: Our Thinking Medium THINKING ACTIVITY 5.1: Language and Thinking LANGUAGE AND OUR MIND The Universalizing Power of Language The Structuring Power of Language LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY THINKING ACTIVITY 5.2: A Brief Mind Sketch THE METAPHORICAL POWER OF LANGUAGE What Is a Metaphor? Metaphorical Models Control Thinking BOX: Language, Lawyers, and Lawmakers THE LIMITATIONS OF LANGUAGE THE POWER OF ENGLISH Word Meanings THINKING ACTIVITY 5.3: The Language in Our Mind THINKING ACTIVITY 5.4: Identifying Our Flame Words Word Order Creates Meaning The Power Parts: Noun and Verb Thinking and the Context Clarity BOX: Clearly Embarrassing THE PITFALLS OF ENGLISH Generalizations and Abstractions BOX: High Specificity Wordiness Redundancies Illogicalities Cliches SUMMARY LANGUAGE CHALLENGES 6 Feeling FEELINGS AND THINKING CULTURAL CONTEXT Business Church Family THE FORCE BEHIND OUR THOUGHTS Beneath the Rational Surface The Importance of Tone THINKING ACTIVITY 6.1: Feelings Beneath Our Thoughts CONTROLLING EMOTIONS GENERATING SPEECH GENERATING WRITING The Inspiration Method The Recollection Method The Conscious Selection Method FEELINGS TOWARD TOPIC AND AUDIENCE THINKING ACTIVITY 6.2: Evoking Emotions OBSERVING FEELINGS SUMMARY THINKING AND FEELING CHALLENGES 7 Creative Thinking WHAT IS CREATIVITY? METAPHORICAL THINKING THINKING ACTIVITY 7.1: Making Metaphors KINDS OF CREATIVE THINKING WHO CAN THINK CREATIVELY? THINKING ACTIVITY 7.2: Poetic Impressions CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF CREATIVITY BEGINNING TO CREATE Brainstorming Starbursting COAXING CREATIVITY Step 1: Desire Step 2: Knowledge and Skills Step 3: Edisonian Effort THINKING ACTIVITY 7.3: Prepcreation Step 4: Fermentation and Insight Step 5: Evaluation SUMMARY BOX: Leonardo da Vinci CREATING CHALLENGES 8 Organizing ORIGINS OF ORDER NATURAL/MENTAL ORDERS Topical Order Analogical Order Chronological Order Causal Order THINKING ACTIVITY 8.1: Other Natural Orders? THINKING ACTIVITY 8.2: The Order of the Elements MENTAL ORDERS THINKING ACTIVITY 8.3: Other Mental Orders Clarity and Memory STEPS IN ORGANIZING 1. Clustering 2. Analyzing THINKING ACTIVITY 8.4: Analyzing the Clusters 3. Prioritizing 4. Organizing Your Space 5. Organizing Electronic Data USING THE ORDERS THINKING ACTIVITY 8.5: Creating a Seminal Structural Analogy Curtain Call SUMMARY ORGANIZING CHALLENGES 9 Logical Thinking DEDUCTIVE THINKING: THE SYLLOGISM CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS Three Kinds of Propositions Four Figures THINKING ACTIVITY 9.1: Drawing the Conclusion THINKING ACTIVITY 9.2: Finding Terms and Figures Validity of Categorical Syllogisms THINKING ACTIVITY 9.3: Identifying Valid Categorical Syllogisms THINKING ACTIVITY 9.4: Using Venn Diagrams ENTHYMEMES AND SYLLOGISMS IN EVERYDAY LIFE Sorites THINKING ACTIVITY 9.5: Finding Multiple Syllogisms and False Premises REASONING ERRORS IN CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS Undistributed Middle Illicit Process THINKING ACTIVITY 9.6: Finding Undistributed Terms The Four-Terms Fallacy Equivocation Existential Fallacy BOX: The Importance of Agreed Meaning RULES FOR THE CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISM THINKING ACTIVITY 9.7: Identifying Invalid Syllogisms HYPOTHETICAL SYLLOGISMS Reasoning Errors in Hypothetical Syllogisms DISJUNCTIVE SYLLOGISMS Reasoning Error in the Disjunctive Syllogism VALID CONVERSIONS THINKING ACTIVITY 9.8: Writing Valid Conversions INFORMAL DEDUCTIVE FALLACIES The Fallacy of Division Circular Reasoning The Either/Or Fallacy THINKING ACTIVITY 9.9: Identifying the Either/Or Fallacy BOX: Reductio ad Absurdum INDUCTIVE THINKING THINKING ACTIVITY 9.10: Distinguishing Between Inductive and Deductive Arguments THINKING ACTIVITY 9.11: Considering Past Errors ANALOGICAL ARGUMENT BOX: Chuang Tzu's Analogies THINKING ACTIVITY 9.12: Using Analogies CAUSATION THINKING ACTIVITY 9.13: Thinking About Causation INFORMAL INDUCTIVE FALLACIES Hasty Generalization The Fallacy of Composition Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Extravagant Hypothesis BOX: Conspiracy Theories False Analogy Slippery Slope OTHER REASONING FALLACIES The Genetic Fallacy Appeal to Authority Appeal to Tradition The Is/Ought Fallacy BOX: More Thoughts About Oughts Bandwagon Appeal Appeal to Ignorance SUMMARY LOGIC CHALLENGES 10 Scientific Thinking THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Observation Hypothesis Experimentation Verification Science and Other Ways of Knowing BOX: Copernicus and Galileo THE EMPIRICAL NATURE OF SCIENCE Erroneous Operational Definitions Operational Debates The Limits of Science THINKING ACTIVITY 10.1: Creating Operational Definitions THINKING ACTIVITY 10.2: The Domain of Science SCIENCE AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NATURE Determinism as Foundation Human Beings and Determinism BOX: Determinism and Probability PROVING A THEORY CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS QUASI EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN NONEXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS Ex Post Facto Correlational Design THINKING ACTIVITY 10.3: Determining the Research Design The Survey BOX: Opinion versus Fact Case Studies The Rule of Chance BOX: Sizeable Effects BOX: Gambler's Fallacy EXPERIMENTER BIAS BOX: The Placebo Effect BOX: Cases of Fraud Pseudoscience SUMMARY SCIENTIFIC THINKING CHALLENGES 11 Persuasive Thinking WHAT IS PERSUASION? THE ETHICS OF PERSUASION THINKING ABOUT WHAT MOVES US Knowledge Objectivity and Honesty BOX: Confucius, Christ, and Kant Biases Likability Motivation and Purpose The Rational Appeal The Emotional Appeal: The Root Elements THINKING ABOUT WHAT MOVES OUR AUDIENCE Demographics THINKING ACTIVITY 11.1: A Demographic Analysis Values and Needs THINKING ACTIVITY 11.2: Identifying Values and Needs Adjusting Our Goals THINKING ACTIVITY 11.3: Motivation Mountain ORGANIZING FOR PERSUASION Step 1: Establishing Credibility Step 2: Acknowledging the Audience's Position Step 3: Constructing Our Rationale THINKING ACTIVITY 11.4: Recognizing the Other Side Step 4: Transplanting the Root Elements Step 5: Asking for the Response DEFENDING OURSELVES AGAINST DECEITFUL PERSUASION Manipulative Tactics THINKING ACTIVITY 11.5: Your Vulnerability to Fear Appeals Erroneous Attacks Abuse of Language SUMMARY PERSUASION CHALLENGES 12 Problem Solving DEFINING THE PROBLEM Thinking Activity 12.1: Forming More Precise Definitions Discovering Causes Problems Without a Cause REMOVING BARRIERS The Myth of Perfection The Myth of Genius GENERATING SOLUTIONS Gathering Information THINKING ACTIVITY 12.2: Identifying Problem Components BOX: Creating a Healthy Communication Climate Creative Thinking Let it Rest THINKING ACTIVITY 12.3: Functional Fixedness SELECTING SOLUTIONS Preliminary Evaluation BOX: Chaotic Systems Pros and Cons BOX: Rejections on Minor Grounds THINKING ACTIVITY 12.4: Weighing Pros and Cons Subgoal Analysis Trial and Error Working Backwards BOX: Thinking Backwards Problem-Solving Tips EVALUATING SOLUTIONS SUMMARY PROBLEM-SOLVING CHALLENGES 13 Evaluating THE NECESSITY TO TEST THINKING The Crucible of Critical Dialogue THINKING ACTIVITY 13.1: Using Dialogue Critical Monologue The Elegance of Simplicity The Flattery of Imitation and Development The Power of Predictability Perspective, Balance, and Completeness The Test of Time THINKING ACTIVITY 13.2: Does Time Always Test True? TESTING AGAINST OUR THINKING BASES Personal Barriers Perceptions and Memory Language Feelings Creativity Check Organization Logic Check THINKING ACTIVITY 13.3: Our Tone Toward Our Thinking SUMMARY VALIDATING CHALLENGES 14 Decision and Action WHY ACT? DECISION Difficulties in Deciding How to Decide BOX: Changing Criteria: Putting on the Gloves THINKING ACTIVITY 14.1: Feelings and Decisions THINKING ACTIVITY 14.2: Role-Playing When to Decide The Deciding Moment ACTION AFTER ACTION SUMMARY DECISION AND ACTION CHALLENGES 15 The Challenge to Go on Thinking Appendix: Propositional Logic References Index