Critical Thinking Reflection

Critical Thinking Reflection

Michael Brown II

HUM/115

August 24, 2015

Beth Myers

Critical Thinking Reflection

        Looking back on these five weeks, I have discovered something about myself. I learned that I was someone who thought critically. At the beginning, I was a beginning critical thinker. I think that I have become an intermediate critical thinker and I still have much more to learn. One of the greatest lessons learned was about barriers. There have been moments where I allowed my internal barriers to decide my thoughts for me rather than thinking for myself. I think are emotions are a barrier that we all have run into. Allowing emotions to trump reason leads to bad outcomes but when we allow our reason to trump our emotions it can lead to a good outcome (Ridel, 2015).

One of the best lessons that I learned in these five weeks was the first step of the five-step model of problem solving. Taking the time to really find out what the problem is was an eye-opener for me. I realized that many times I couldn’t figure out the solution because I didn’t realize what the real problem was. I think that this is the case for many people as well. Sometimes we don’t know what the real problem is because we don’t take the time to sit and think about it. I think that we sometimes try to find the solution to problems without knowing what they are which can only frustrate us.

A great lesson learned was “Don’t believe what people say-believe what they do” (Ridel, 2015). The credibility of the messenger plays a big part into critical thinking. Is the information someone is giving me the truth or are they leaving out details simply to make me believe what they want me to believe. I think that this lesson will be one that sticks to my mind the most going forward. People can tell us anything to persuade our thoughts if we allow them to. This lesson will always make me want to know more and ask more question. “If something sounds too good to be true-it probably is” (Ridel, 2015).  This was a great course and I will continue to be a critical thinker.