INTRO TO PROBLEM SOLVING

PSYCHOLOGY
MR. SCHEEL

CRITICAL THINKING
Creative thinking involves calling into question the assumptions underlying our
customary, habitual ways of thinking and acting and then being ready to think and act
differently on the basis of the critical questioning.

Components of Critical Thinking

1. Identifying and challenging assumptions.

2. Recognizing the importance of context.
3. Imagining and exploring alternatives.
4. Developing reflective skepticism.

Creative Thinkers

• Consider rejecting standardized formats for problem solving.

• Have an interest in a wide range of related and divergent fields.

• Take multiple perspectives on a problem.

• Use trial-and-error methods in their experimentation.

• Have a future orientation.

• Have self-confidence and trust in their own judgment.

Critical Thinking Involves

• Recognizing underlying assumptions.

• Scrutinizing arguments.

• Judging ideas.

• Judging the rationality of these justifications by comparing them to a range of

varying interpretations and prospective.

• Providing positive as well as negative appraisal.

Critical Thinking Questions You Can Ask
About Anything
Stumped for intelligent questions to provoke your writing glands? Feast
your word processor on these, and generate some text, customizing them
to your subject matter and topic as you go along. Then print out your
responses, mix and match, and repeat. You'll be amazed at how fast you
can generate better-quality raw materials this way.

1. What is the purpose, goal, or point?

2. What is the problem or issue being solved or described?
3. On what data or evidence is the decision / definition /
problem based?
4. What inferences are being made from what kind of data,
and are these inferences legitimate?
5. What is the solution, outcome, or resolution of the problem
or issue?
6. What are the short-term and long-term implications of the
solution / consquences of the outcome?
7. What are the biases or assumptions behind the inferences,
selection or collection of data, or framing of the problem /
experiment?
8. What are the basic concepts or terms being used? How do
these definitions affect the framing / understanding of the
problem?
9. What point of view is being expressed? What political /
ideological / paradigmatic considerations inform or govern or limit
point of view?
10. How would someone from a related but different discipline
look at the problem / solution / issue, and could an interdisciplinary
approach improve the analysis / discussion / evaluation?

***

Once you reword these questions to fit the particular situation you are
examining, they will encourage you to:

• brainstorm more effectively

• see beneath the surface
• understand alternative viewpoints
• avoid being unduly influenced by what others say
• decide what you think and why
• defend and adapt your positions intelligently.
Create 5 critical thinking questions that is related to material in 2nd Hr Class.