critical-thinking - Concepts

Explore concepts tagged with "critical-thinking"

Total concepts: 67

Concepts

Escalation of Commitment - The tendency to continue investing in a decision or course of action despite evidence that it's failing, due to prior investment of time, money, or effort.
Naive Realism - The belief that we see reality objectively while others are biased.
Abductive Reasoning - Reasoning to the best explanation for observed facts, generating plausible hypotheses.
Magical Thinking - The belief that unrelated actions, thoughts, or words can influence outcomes through supernatural or mystical means.
Intellectual Courage - The willingness to pursue knowledge, question assumptions, and explore ideas even when doing so is socially uncomfortable or challenges one's own beliefs.
Bulverism - A logical fallacy that assumes an opponent is wrong and then explains why they came to hold that wrong belief.
Debate - A structured form of argumentative discussion in which participants examine and defend different viewpoints on a given topic.
Sturgeon's Law - The adage that 90% of everything is crap, applicable to content, ideas, and creative works.
Unknown Unknowns - The category of things we don't know we don't know, representing the most challenging type of uncertainty in decision-making.
Steelmanning - Engaging with the strongest version of an opposing argument rather than the weakest.
Logical Fallacies - Errors in reasoning that undermine the logic of an argument, often appearing persuasive but fundamentally flawed.
Creeping Normality - The way a major change is accepted as normal if it happens gradually through small, often unnoticeable increments.
Proportionality Bias - The tendency to assume that big events must have big causes, leading to the rejection of simple explanations for significant outcomes.
Selection Bias - Distortion in analysis caused by non-random sampling or systematic exclusion of data.
Wishful Thinking - Forming beliefs and making decisions based on what is pleasing to imagine rather than on evidence or rationality.
Correlation vs Causation - The critical distinction between two things occurring together and one actually causing the other.
Mulder Effect - The tendency to believe extraordinary claims without sufficient evidence, named after the X-Files character.
Reductio ad Absurdum - A logical argument that establishes a claim by showing the opposite leads to absurd conclusions.
Socratic Seminar - A formal discussion based on questioning, where participants explore ideas through dialogue.
Argumentation Mapping - Visual representation of arguments showing claims, evidence, and logical relationships.
NPC Mindset - Living life like a non-player character in a video game, following imposed scripts without agency or independent thought.
Evidence-Based Thinking - The disciplined practice of forming beliefs and making decisions based on the best available evidence rather than intuition, tradition, or authority.
Filter Bubble - The intellectual isolation created when algorithms show only information matching existing preferences and beliefs.
False Dichotomy - Logical fallacy that presents only two options when more alternatives exist.
Principle of Charity - The practice of interpreting someone's argument in the strongest and most reasonable way before critiquing it.
Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy - Everything in the news seems accurate except for stories where you have firsthand knowledge.
Greenwashing - The practice of making misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company to appear more sustainable than it actually is.
Socratic Method - A form of inquiry using systematic questioning to stimulate critical thinking and illuminate ideas.
Ideological Turing Test - The ability to argue an opposing position so convincingly that advocates of that position cannot distinguish you from one of their own.
Epistemic Vigilance - The cognitive capacity to evaluate the reliability, trustworthiness, and accuracy of information received from others before accepting it as knowledge.
Barnum Effect - Accepting vague, general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to oneself.
Source Criticism - The systematic evaluation of information sources for reliability, credibility, and bias to determine their trustworthiness.
One True Proposition Affliction - Cognitive trap of believing there is only one correct answer or truth about complex matters, ignoring nuance and context.
Boiling Frog - The metaphor that gradual negative change goes unnoticed until it is too late to react effectively.
Devil's Advocate - A designated role for challenging assumptions and arguments to improve group thinking.
Motivated Reasoning - The tendency to process information in ways that support conclusions we want to reach, rather than conclusions supported by evidence.
AI Washing - The practice of exaggerating or fabricating the role of artificial intelligence in products and services for marketing advantage.
Hype Cycle - A model developed by Gartner that describes the typical progression of emerging technologies through phases of inflated expectations, disillusionment, and eventual productive adoption.
Belief Bias - The tendency to judge the validity of an argument based on whether the conclusion is believable rather than on whether it logically follows from the premises.
Argumentation - The process of constructing and evaluating logical arguments to support or refute claims through structured reasoning and evidence.
Slippery Slope - A logical argument or fallacy claiming that one small step will inevitably lead to a chain of negative consequences.
Apophenia - The tendency to perceive meaningful connections, patterns, or causation between unrelated things.
Critical Reading - The practice of actively analyzing and evaluating text to assess its arguments, evidence, and assumptions rather than passively absorbing information.
Simpson's Paradox - A phenomenon where trends in aggregated data reverse when data is separated into subgroups.
Information Literacy - The ability to recognize when information is needed and to effectively find, evaluate, and use it.
Assumption Reversal - Creative technique that challenges existing assumptions by deliberately reversing them to generate new perspectives and breakthrough ideas.
Scully Effect - The tendency to dismiss or ignore important discoveries because they seem mundane or boring.
System 2 - Slow, deliberate, analytical thinking that requires conscious effort and attention.
Inductive Reasoning - Reasoning from specific observations to broader generalizations or probable conclusions.
Grey Thinking - The practice of resisting binary categorization and instead evaluating ideas, people, and situations on a spectrum of nuance.
Syntopical Reading - The highest level of reading that involves reading multiple books on the same subject to construct an analysis that may not be found in any single source.
Causal Inference - The process of determining whether and how one variable or event actually causes changes in another, going beyond mere correlation.
Analytical Reading - The third level of reading involving thorough, systematic reading for complete understanding through questioning and critical evaluation.
Deductive Reasoning - Reasoning from general principles to specific conclusions with logical certainty.
Dialectical Thinking - Thinking through dialogue and the synthesis of opposing ideas to reach deeper understanding.
Ultracrepidarianism - Giving opinions on matters beyond one's knowledge or expertise.
Nullius in Verba - A Latin motto meaning 'take nobody's word for it' - the principle of figuring things out for yourself rather than accepting claims on authority alone.
Echo Chamber - An environment where beliefs are amplified by repetition within a closed system of like-minded people.
Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy - A logical fallacy where differences in data are ignored while similarities are overemphasized, like shooting a barn and then drawing targets around the bullet holes.
Media Literacy - The ability to critically analyze, evaluate, and create media in various forms to navigate the modern information landscape.
Past Performance Fallacy - The principle that historical results and past successes do not guarantee or reliably predict future outcomes.
Techno-Solutionism - The belief that technology, particularly digital technology, can provide solutions to all social, political, and economic problems.
Freedom of Thought - The practice of maintaining intellectual independence by deliberately controlling what information you consume and how it influences your thinking.
Knowledge Makes Us Jaded - The phenomenon where accumulated knowledge reveals flaws, shortcomings, and gaps that we cannot unsee, making us critical of work that once seemed impressive.
Debiasing - Strategies and techniques designed to reduce or eliminate the impact of cognitive biases on judgment and decision-making.
Selective Perception - The tendency to filter information based on expectations, beliefs, and prior experiences, perceiving what we expect or want to perceive while filtering out contradictory information.
Inference - The process of drawing conclusions from available evidence, premises, or observations using logical reasoning.

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