Find an opinion article (Op-Ed, letter to the editor, editorial, etc.) that supports your personal position on your public argument topic. In order for the opinion article to qualify for this assignment, it must be an extended argument with at least five paragraphs and a thesis statement. (POVERTY)
Apply what you have learned in Unit 1 & Unit 2 (unites attached to help)
1
Opinion Editorial Analysis
For this discussion post, the main article that will be used for analysis is Animal
Magnetism — and Optimism, four new books that look to fauna to get us through tough
times by Cornelia Channing (2023). This post is based on the various positions that different
writers have about the whole initiative of ensuring that the society and nation at large engage
in environmental conservation efforts. This is necessitated by the need to ensure that all
animals within the environment are well taken care of in an effort to ensure their survival
despite the ever-changing climatic conditions as well as the climate.
I agree with the writer’s notion that we have to ensure that we take care of the
environment and ensure that all animals are provided with an opportunity to survive and
develop within their natural environments. All animals play an essential role in promoting a
balance in the ecological system. If we all develop effective mechanisms, then the whole
coexisting agenda will be effectively adopted. To reinforce these beliefs that the environment
must be cherished and all measures undertaken to promote the survival of the animals,
Margret Renkl published a book, The Comfort of Crows: A Background Year. This book
contains her meditations and observations of how the animal population continues to dwindle
over the pandemic year.
In her book, she states that every day, she looks through her yard to have a view of the
natural environment. She worries that that may be the last time she ever sees some animals.
This moment of reflection is an indication of her commitment to ensuring that the natural
world is effectively protected and, therefore, fostering environmental conservation efforts.
She writes with much affection about how she is getting older and also the dynamics of
American politics. She views the American political landscape to be shifting from embracing
environmental conservation efforts to promoting profitmaking organizations that pay less
2
attention to environmental issues. She narrates of how she has interacted with animals such as
frogs, voles, bobcats, foxes, spiders, bees, skinks, and chickadees. Statements such as ‘You
would not believe how soft a toad is to touch’ and how frogs make good music are all
indications of her commitment to ensuring that environmental conservation measures are
implemented to promote ecological balance.
Other reviewed books include Carl Safina’s ALFIE AND ME: What Owls Know,
What Humans Believe (Norton, 384 pp., $32.50) and Joe Roman’s EAT, POOP, DIE: How
Animals Make Our World (Little, Brown Spark., 278 pp., $29.94) are all based on
observations made during the pandemic times. All these books have a common point, which
is an increased emphasis on environmental conservation measures. It is, therefore, essential
that the global human population take effective measures that will ensure that all animal
interests are effectively addressed as we seek an ecological balance and implement proper
conservation habits.
3
Reference
Channing C., (2023). Animal Magnetism — and Optimism. Four new books look to fauna to
get us through tough times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/books/review/thecomfort-of-crows-margaret-renkl-alfie-and-me-carl-safina-of-time-and-turtles-symontgomery-eat-poop-die-joe-roman.html?register=google&auth=register-google
Opinion Editorial Analysis
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to map and analyze an argument from an opinion piece
of the position or perspective that you personally support on your public argument topic.
Task
Find an opinion article (Op-Ed, letter to the editor, editorial, etc.) that supports your
personal position on your public argument topic. In order for the opinion article to qualify
for this assignment, it must be an extended argument with at least five paragraphs and a
thesis statement.
Apply what you have learned in Unit 1 & Unit 2 to identify and analyze the pieces of the
argument in the opinion article.
Part 1
1. Copy and paste the text of the opinion
article into a Word or Google
document.
2. Provide a URL link to the original
opinion article.
3. Your analysis should include at least 12
comments.
4. Using the comment function, highlight
the text of the opinion article that you
are analyzing. The comment
should identify the piece of the
argument that phrase or sentence
represents, and analyze the
effectiveness of that argument piece.
Each comment should be at least two
sentences.
Here are argument pieces that you may comment about.
•
Identify: the thesis
statement and supporting claims made
in the opinion piece.
Analyze: Is the specific claim
are they clear and easily
understandable? Are there
any claims missing or any
adjustments that would
improve the claim?
Identify: the evidence that was used in
the argument.
o Analyze: Does the evidence
support the claim? Is the
evidence strong or weak? Is
there enough evidence?
Could they have used a
different type of evidence? Is
the evidence credible or
verifiable?
Identify: the reasoning.
o Analyze: Are there any
errors in reasoning or
fallacies? Did the subarguments provide support
for the thesis statement? Are
there any pieces of
reasoning missing?
Identify: any rebuttals within the
argument.
o Analyze: Did the writer
respond to a strong counterargument? If so, was it
effective? If not, how could
they have responded to a
counter-argument?
Identify sourcing or citations.
o Analyze: Did the writer
properly attribute their
information? Are you able to
follow the trail of
information? Did they have
any hyperlinks, citations or
attributions missing? Are the
sources credible?
Identify the author &/or publisher.
o Analyze: Are they credible &
authoritative? Can they be
trusted? Can you easily find
o
•
•
•
•
•
•
information about their
reputation?
Identify: anything missing?
o Analyze: Go beyond
analyzing what is present in
the argument to include
what was missing. For
example, maybe the title of
the article was missing
making it difficult to
understand what the
argument was about.
Part 2
Apply what you have learned in Unit 1 & Unit 2 to evaluate the opinion piece. Write a 1/2page to 1-page argument that evaluates the opinion piece you analyzed.
1. The evaluation should have at least
two paragraphs and a thesis
statement that indicates whether you
think the argument is strong/sound or
weak/not sound.
o For example: “This is a
strong argument because…”,
“This is a weak argument
because it has
inconsistencies in
reasoning…”
o Make sure you have several
introductory sentences
before stating your thesis
statement.
2. Use the comments that you highlighted
in part 1 to support your thesis
statement.
3. Written at a collegiate writing level.
Your essay should be free of grammar,
syntax, and spelling errors and I
recommend that you revise and/or
complete a peer review.
Criteria
See the rubric below for criteria details.
This assignment may be submitted late with a 5% reduction per day late up to a week past
the due date.
Submission Materials
Part 1 and Part 2 may be submitted together in one document in the following file
formats: .doc, .docx. Google documents will not be accepted. Pdf files do not save
comments so DO NOT convert the document to a pdf.
Resources
•
•
•
COM 104 Library Guide from UNLV
Lied Library
Researching, Library, & Citing
Resources
Tutorial for using track changes &
comments in Word
How to add Comments in a Google document
How to export a Google document into a Word document
Rachel’s Opinion Editorial Analysis
Actions
Rubric
Opinion Editorial Analysis
Opinion Editorial Analysis
Criteria
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
1 – Opinion
Editorial
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
1 – Amount
of
Comments
Ratings
5 pts
Excellent
The original
opinion piece is
submitted and
contains a
thesis
statement and
at least two
supporting
paragraphs.
10 pts
Excellent
12 comments
or
annotations
are included
on the
opinion
piece.
4 pts
Average
The original
opinion piece is
submitted and
contains a
thesis statement
and less than
two supporting
paragraphs.
8 pts
Average
Less than 12
comments or
annotations
are included
on the
opinion
piece.
Pts
3 pts
Poor
The
original
article is
submitted
but is not
an opinion
piece.
6 pts
Poor
Less than 6
comments or
annotations
are included
on the
opinion
piece.
0 pts
Missing
The
original
text is not
submitted.
0 pts
Missing
No
comments or
annotations
are included
on the
opinion
piece.
5 pts
10 pts
Opinion Editorial Analysis
Criteria
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
1 – Analysis
Comments
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
2 – Length of
Written
Evaluation
Ratings
10 pts
Excellent
Comments
or
annotations
are
MOSTLY
correct in
identifying
and
analyzing
argument
pieces.
8 pts
Average
Comments or
annotations are
SOMEWHAT
correct in
identifying and
analyzing
argument
pieces.
5 pts
Excellent
Written
evaluation
of argument
meets the
required
length.
4 pts
Average
Written
evaluation of
argument is
MINORLY
over or under
the length
requirement.
Pts
6 pts
Poor
Comments
or
annotations
are NOT
correct in
identifying
and
analyzing
argument
pieces.
0 pts
Missing
Comments
or
annotations
are missing.
2.5 pts
Poor
Written
evaluation of
argument is
MAJORLY
over or under
the length
requirement.
0 pts
Missing
A written
evaluation
of the
argument is
missing.
10 pts
5 pts
Opinion Editorial Analysis
Criteria
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
2Evaluation
of Argument
This
criterion is
linked to a
Learning
OutcomePart
2Collegiate
Writing
Total Points: 50
PreviousNext
Ratings
Pts
15 pts
Excellent
Written
evaluation of
the argument
has a thesis
statement and
uses some
comments or
annotations to
support the
thesis
statement.
10 pts
Average
Written
evaluation of
the argument
has a thesis
statement and
does not use
comments or
annotations to
support the
thesis
statement.
5 pts
Poor
Written
evaluation of
the argument
does not have
a thesis
statement and
does not use
comments or
annotations to
support the
thesis
statement.
0 pts
No Marks
A written
evaluation
of the
argument
is missing.
5 pts
Excellent
Collegiate
writing is
practiced
with little to
no writing
errors.
4 pts
Average
Collegiate
writing is
SOMEWHAT
practiced and
contains writing
errors.
2 pts
Poor
Collegiate
writing is
NOT
practiced
and contains
consistent
writing
errors.
0 pts
Missing
A written
evaluation
of the
argument is
missing.
15 pts
5 pts
Critical Thinking in Academic Research
CINDY GRUWELL AND ROBIN EWING
MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Critical Thinking in Academic Research by Cindy Gruwell and Robin Ewing is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Please note: Each chapter contains a specific attribution statement
Contents
Introduction
1
Part I. What is Critical Thinking?
What is Critical Thinking?
3
Thinking Fast and Slow
5
How Confident Are You in Your Reasoning Skills?
6
Thinking in an Informed Way
7
A Word About Values
8
What About Assumptions?
9
Chapter Attribution
11
Part II. Barriers to Critical Thinking
Barriers to Critical Thinking
13
Social Conditioning
14
Labeling
16
Stereotypes
17
Fallacies
18
Chapter Attribution
23
Part III. Analyzing Arguments
Is It an Argument?
25
Standard Argument Form
28
Kinds of Arguments
31
Explanations and Reported Arguments
34
Chapter Attribution
36
Part IV. Making an Argument
Making an Argument
38
Components of an Argument
41
Order of the Components
46
Where You Get the Components
50
Helping Others Follow
55
Chapter Attribution
58
Part V. Research Questions
The Purpose of Research Questions
60
Background Reading
62
Narrowing a Topic
65
Regular vs. Research Questions
77
Influence of a Research Question
80
Developing Your Research Question
85
Chapter Attribution
88
Part VI. Sources and Information Needs
Sources and Information Needs
90
Sources to Meet Needs
93
Thinking About the Roles of Sources
99
Synthesis of Your Own Ideas
102
BEAM: A Solution that Might Shine
105
Using BEAM
107
Practice with BEAM
111
BEAM Reference Chart
115
Planning Your Sources
118
Chapter Attribution
122
Part VII. Types of Sources
Categorizing Sources
124
Quantitative or Qualitative Information
127
Fact or Opinion
132
Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources
137
Popular, Professional, & Scholarly
144
Publication Formats and the Information Lifecycle
147
Scholarly Articles as Sources
151
News as a Source
154
Data as Sources
158
People as Sources
164
Chapter Attribution
168
Part VIII. Precision Searching
Why Precision Searching?
170
Main Concepts
173
Related and Alternative Terms
176
Search Statements
178
Library Catalog
183
WorldCat
186
Google Scholar
189
Library Databases
192
Web Search Engines
197
Tips for Common Search Tools
199
Chapter Attribution
202
Part IX. Evaluating Sources
Thinking Critically About Sources
204
SIFT
208
Stop
209
Investigate the Source
212
Find and Confirm
215
Track down the Original Content
216
Evaluating Data as Sources
218
Chapter Attribution
220
Part X. Ethical Use and Citing Sources
Ethical Use and Citing Sources
222
Why Cite Sources?
227
When to Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize
230
Challenges in Citing Sources
233
Citation and Citation Styles
236
Steps for Citing
241
Citation Management
247
When to Cite
249
Chapter Attribution
253
Part XI. Copyright Basics
What Is Copyright?
255
What Copyright Covers
258
Copyright Rights & Exceptions
262
Respecting Copyright
267
Creative Commons
270
Public Domain and Term of Copyright
273
What Is Fair Use?
277
Chapter Attribution
280
Works Cited
281
Additional Book Formats
283
About the Authors
284
Introduction
One of the primary goals of attending college is to become a critical thinker. As students evolve
into lifelong learning they will have to navigate an incredible amount of information related to
their studies and personal lives. The ability to explore their world will be dependent on their
research and information literacy skills. In fact, when employers were asked about the information
skills desired in new employees, they “placed a high premium on graduates’ abilities for searching
online, finding information with tools other than search engines, and identifying the best solution
from all the information they had gathered” (Head, 2012).
Critical Thinking in Academic Research will introduce students to the techniques and principles
of critical thinking. However, a commitment to lifelong learning is required for critical thinking,
it takes more that a single course or reading a book. In order for students to develop their own
arguments, they need to find supporting evidence. This text provides guidance on developing
research questions and finding resources to answer the questions.
Introduction | 1
PART I
WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?
2 | What is Critical Thinking?
What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is one of those things that most people are in favor of – especially in colleges
and universities. But people in different fields and traditions have varying definitions, and it is not
obvious that all are in favor of the same thing. How should we decide on a definition?
The American Association of Colleges and Universities came up with a definition of critical
thinking that we will use as a starting place.
“Critical Thinking is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues,
ideas and artifacts before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion” (AAC&U, 2017).
Here are a few things to notice about this definition as we begin exploring this topic:
• Critical thinking is characterized as a habit of mind. One college class is not enough to
develop a habit, so one college class is not going to create “critical thinkers.” Instead, this
class will introduce you to some component skills of the habit. Your routine and daily
decisions will determine whether you develop (or deepen) the habit — or leave what you
learn as you go on about your life.
• We assume that the people reading this book will vary with respect to critical thinking
habits. Some people will come in already practiced and quite skilled. For them, our
discussion about critical thinking will offer ways to think about and double-check their
current habits. Others will enter the read believing they are already critical thinkers —
already skilled in the habits of thoughtfulness — but will be exposed to vocabulary and ideas
that challenge that pre-existing belief.
• The basic value judgment involved in critical thinking, as this field has grown out of the
European philosophical tradition, is this: when issues are important, reflective opinions are
more valuable than opinions of the moment. It follows from this that when an issue is
important, it is worthwhile to have the skills available to think deeply and well. Those are the
skills we will be focusing on in this book.
• The definition of critical thinking doesn’t state it, but there is a value judgment implicit in the
attention within colleges and universities to critical thinking. The assumption is that it is
good to be reasonable and bad to be unreasonable. As a critical thinker, one issue you will be
asked to confront over and over in this class: IS CRITICAL THINKING SO IMPORTANT AS TO
WARRANT ALL THIS ATTENTION AND ENTHUSIASM? As you get increasingly clear about
what critical thinking looks like (in academia), you will be able to think more clearly about the
What is Critical Thinking? | 3
value assumption. Is it worth all the work?
4 | What is Critical Thinking?
Thinking Fast and Slow
One way of thinking about thinking focuses attention to the fact that
humans have two different ways of arriving at beliefs or opinions. Similar
to the contrast between opinions of the moment and reflective or
deliberative opinions, one method is FAST and easy but less reliable and
the other is SLOW and takes lots of hard work but is more reliable. In the
discipline of critical thinking, reasoning is judged better if it is more
reliable.
The goal of slow thinking or critical thinking is to determine which claims
are true. So accuracy is the standard by which slow thinking is
considered better thinking. But from an evolutionary perspective, there
are times when “jumping to a conclusion” is better than taking the time
to reflect and deliberate, even if it is less reliable. If a dangerous predator is coming your way,
moving to safety FAST will keep you alive. It may be that you will jump and run for cover in
situations where there is no real danger. But better to be wrong and alive, according to the people
doing evolutionary psychology.
Slow thinking is often referred to as “deliberative,” and the verb form is to deliberate.
We all come up against all sorts of occasions in our lives requiring fast action, with no time to
deliberate. But the skills you will practice all take time. They are for when you can think ahead or
you have lived through a fast decision and want to think critically about the decision you made,
keeping open that you might well have done something else if you had the luxury of time to reflect.
A process like this has been developed and routinely used by the U.S. military. The idea is not
to point fingers at people who had to choose fast, and whose decisions in hindsight can be seen
clearly to not have been the best. Instead, the point of an after-action review is to take time, after
the fact of action, to think over the available options and the pros and cons of each choice with the
intention to deepen our learning in preparation for future contexts requiring fast choice. Much of
what we will be doing in the class is like an after-action review.
Thinking Fast and Slow | 5
How Confident Are You in Your Reasoning
Skills?
Many people tend to overestimate their critical thinking skills. Here is just one example of
documentation of this trend, from a business website, MindEdge, focused on helping students
develop skills many employers say they want in college graduates:
“The second annual State of Critical Thinking survey from MindEdge asked respondents to
complete a brief quiz requiring them to use digital literacy and critical thinking skills. “[…] In 2017,
44 percent of survey respondents received an ‘F’ on the critical thinking quiz. In 2018, 52 percent
of respondents failed the quiz” (Ascione, 2020).
Many students taking a critical thinking course report a curve in their sense of confidence
as thinkers. Like people in the MindEdge survey, they start out thinking they are pretty good
thinkers. Then somewhere in the first third of the class, that sense of confidence takes a hit.
The complexities of slow thinking can be hard to grasp at first. The homework and quizzes can
feel confusing or tough. But as the term progresses, the techniques become more routine and
less bewildering. Though slow thinking ALWAYS requires us to use a limited supply of our mental
energy. This short excerpt from Kahneman’s work is a nice introduction.
Before you move further along there are some tenets to keep in mind. These will be covered in the
next section.
6 | How Confident Are You in Your Reasoning Skills?
Thinking in an Informed Way
Informed reasoning is based on claims that can be substantiated. In other
words, your opinion should be based on fact and not on personal opinion.
In today’s world where we’ve become ever more involved in using
technology as a resource for information, it is crucial that we have the
ability to think in an informed way in order to be able to decipher the
barrage of information available to us.
The ability to form and articulate opinions is extremely important in all facets of life. As citizens,
people need to form opinions about political issues and leaders in order to vote responsibly. We
must form opinions about social issues, and we form opinions about the people we work and
interact with on a daily basis. However, simply having an opinion about a given topic is not enough.
In this age of information, if we want to effectively share our opinions with others, we must be
educated about the topics we are discussing.
Whether writing a letter to the editor about a local issue or trying to convince your boss that
you’ve developed a great business strategy or convincing your parents that you should have a
specific privilege, presenting an informed, educated opinion is much more effective than sharing
one based on emotion or personal experience alone.
In addition to being informed, you must consider both your values and assumptions. All color your
thinking and require you to reflect and practice slow thinking as you develop your own opinions.
Thinking in an Informed Way | 7
A Word About Values
Three types of values
Values are standards or ideals with which we evaluate actions, people,
things, or situations. Beauty, honesty, justice, peace, generosity are all
examples of values that many people endorse. In thinking about values it
is useful to distinguish them into three types:
• Personal values: values endorsed by an individual. For example, some
people regard family as their most important value and structure their lives so that they can
spend more time with their family. Other people might value success instead, and give less
time to their families in order to achieve their goals.
• Moral values: values that help determine what is morally right or wrong, e.g. freedom,
fairness, equality, well-being, etc… Those which are used to evaluate social institutions are
sometimes also known as political values.
• Aesthetic values: values associated with the evaluation of artwork or beauty.
The Role of Facts and Values
The following are descriptive statements. they purport to describe facts :
• This is a sharp knife.
• Mozart and Beethoven are composers.
• Ann believes that freedom of speech is important.
These, however, are statements about values :
• This knife is a very useful kitchen tool
• Mozart is a greater composer than Beethoven
• Freedom of speech should be protected
Philosophers usually distinguish between two kinds of values: intrinsic and extrinsic. Something is
supposed to have extrinsic value when it is not valued for its own sake, but because it contributes
to some further purpose, or because it helps bring about something else of value. So a particular
kitchen knife might be said to be very valuable in this extrinsic sense – it is valued not for its own
sake but because it can be used to satisfy certain culinary purposes that we treasure.
8 | A Word About Values
What About Assumptions?
Like any human activity, the practice of critical thinking requires several assumptions to make
sense. For people who don’t share the assumptions, the whole process can be experienced as
confusing or nonsensical. Here is a partial list of assumptions that
sometimes cause trouble for people new to critical thinking.
1. Critical thinking (CT) is evaluative. An evaluation is a statement
that compares what is the case to a standard about how things
should be. CT requires people to make lots of judgments about
good and bad, right and wrong, what we should or shouldn’t do.
The standard of evaluation used in critical thinking for
reasoning is reliability. Good reasoning is reliable, and bad
reasoning is unreliable.
2. In CT, reasoning implies evaluation, both individual (“You should
recycle your aluminum!”) and collective (“We should abolish the
death penalty!”). Each statement can be supported by reasons,
and the reasons can be evaluated as better or worse.
3. In CT, truth is treated as absolute — not partial, changing, or relative to different points of
view.
4. The ultimate “should” in critical thinking is this: you should not contradict yourself. There
are other “should” statements, but they are all based on this idea that self-contradiction is
bad. Contradictory statements, by definition, cannot all be true, and based on #3 above that
means they can’t be partly true, or true to some people but not others. A statement that is
self-contradictory is absolutely, eternally, necessarily and inevitably not true.
If you don’t agree with one or more of the above assumptions, expect some trouble even
understanding what is going on when trying to use critical thinking. The assumptions listed above
are offered not to convince you to accept any of these assumptions or to “prove” them in the
formal (CT) sense, but just to offer a bit more about what is assumed in this field.
There is also one more assumption to consider, that is people shouldn’t judge other people’s
opinions.
Critical thinking requires energetically judging other people’s opinions (along with our own!) – not
in isolation, but in relation to each other. That is, CT requires asking if the reason given to support
or back up an opinion is a good one. If no good reason can be found to support an opinion, that
opinion is treated as unsupported or unproved. Generally, opinions are better if proved, and not
What About Assumptions? | 9
as good if unproved. By extension, there is a preference for reflective opinions arrived at through
slow thinking over opinions of the moment which are formed in fast thinking.
Many people put the majority of their critical thinking energy into judging the thinking of those
they disagree with. Our hope is that you will have come to understand that thinking carefully
about your own beliefs is worth more of your time, and that you will have come to appreciate the
vital importance of people who do not share your same ideas to your process of slow thinking.
10 | What About Assumptions?
Adapted from Critical Thinking – Chapter 1 by Martha Bailey, Shirlee Geiger, Hannah Love &
Martin Wittenberg licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Modifications: revised for clarity and flow
Chapter Attribution | 11
PART II
BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING
12 | Barriers to Critical Thinking
Barriers to Critical Thinking
Preconceived ideas are ideas that decisively influence our thinking, but
which we have not critically reflected upon. Not all preconceived ideas are
fallacious (based on false assumptions). However, we must constantly
consider our preconceived ideas critically to test their validity. In critical
reflection we ask about the grounds for holding a belief. Do these grounds
withstand rational scrutiny? Is there sufficient evidence to support the
belief? Is the belief appropriate in its context? What weight should we give
to counterarguments and counterexamples? And so on.
There are two main obstacles to clear thinking: preconceived ideas and fallacies. Preconceived
ideas could be broadened to include social conditioning, labeling, and stereotypes. The section
below will give you the opportunity to learn to recognize these obstacles to clear thinking.
Try your luck with this riddle
“A man and his son are driving together on a stormy night. They have an accident in which the
father is killed and his son badly injured. The boy is taken to the local hospital and requires urgent
surgery. He is prepared for the operation and wheeled into the operating room. The surgeon
arrives, looks at the boy and says, “I cannot operate on my own son”.
How is this possible?
1. The man is the boy’s ________________
2. The boy is the surgeon’s ________________
3. The surgeon is the boy’s ________________
Ask a few friends, colleagues or family. See how they fare with the same riddle.
Answer: To many people the story presents a riddle. But the answer is obvious. The surgeon is the
boy’s mother. The story is a riddle only if we have a preconceived idea which associates being a
surgeon with being male. There is no good reason to hold this idea.
Now we will explore how preconceived ideas such as social conditioning, labeling and stereotyping
affect our capacity for critical reasoning. The topic of preconceived ideas is an interesting field
and it is worth exploring the various forms they take ranging from racial and gender stereotypes
to the inability to see ourselves clearly.
Barriers to Critical Thinking | 13
Social Conditioning
We are sure you will agree that we all inherit or assimilate certain biased attitudes and values from
our parents, schools, friends, and so on. Many of these attitudes and values come to us before we
are able to test them for their validity. Later on in life, some of these attitudes and values seem to
be obviously true
and we do not think about whether we need to question them. Simply by
the accident of birth, we find ourselves in a particular place at a particular
time in history. The customs, social institutions and material setting of
that place and time decisively influence the way we see the world. This
background frames our view so much that it is only with difficulty that we
can turn around and critically assess the framework itself.
Here is an interesting activity illustrating that we are conditioned to see only what we want to
see. Access your own preconceived ideas by doing the activity. Read aloud the colors, and not the
words, you see in the list below.
Think about it: Did you read the correct colors or were you influenced by the visual colors of the
words? This activity clearly illustrates our social conditioning.
Preconceived ideas are embedded in, and borrow their “obviousness” from, our social conditioning
framework. The ideal of critical thinking is to step outside this framework and make judgments
in the manner of an ideal observer. While the standard of absolute objectivity may be regarded
as a regulative ideal, it would be naïve to think that this can be achieved, especially when it
comes to issues such as morality, justice and aesthetics. But skepticism about the possibility of
absolute objectivity need not deflect us from attempting to achieve some distance from our social
backgrounds and the preconceived ideas we grew up with. Social conditioning is an obstacle to
critical reasoning, but it is not an insurmountable obstacle.
14 | Social Conditioning
As we learn the names for different things and how to go about operating as human beings in
society, we are told what is good and what is bad, what is to be desired and what is to be avoided,
and what it means to be in the world in general. Most of this is perfectly innocent and practical,
but our parents’ or guardians’ various judgments of themselves and of the world will creep in
whether we are aware of it or not. In simplified terms, some people have a positive outlook on life
while others have a negative outlo