To begin with, Bassham’s Critical Thinking: A Student’s Introduction is an excellent book, which offers several valuable insights about critical thinking, heuristics, and cognitive biases. It demonstrates that it is essential to pay more attention to the concepts mentioned above in the modern world. The reason for it is the rapid development in all areas of life fueled by technologies. It is noted, “Critical thinking is disciplined thinking governed by clear intellectual standards – clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, consistency, logical correctness, completeness, and fairness. The book gives useful tools designed to develop the skill and present much relevant information on the issue.
Without any doubt, it may be extremely difficult to overcome obstacles and start to think critically. It is essential to recognize, analyze, and estimate arguments at first. However, it takes much time, effort, and practice to gain the skill, as most people are accustomed to consuming any information, even from unreliable sources. Analyzing news articles may be the first step, as there is much bias in modern media, which can be easily distinguished.
Furthermore, people with critical thinking skills make a positive impact on society, as they eliminate stereotypes and offer effective solutions. Heuristics are also often employed in the processes of decision-making and problem-solving. According to Cherry, it can be highly helpful in a multitude of situations, but it may lead to cognitive biases at the same time. Heuristics can be regarded as a mental shortcut, but critical thinking should be considered to be a complex process. The former may be acceptable in a wide range of different circumstances, though it can spread prejudice and unreasonable stereotypes within society.