Lecture Tutorial Totorial Topic Learning Outcome of the

Week Week Activity Course

1
2 1 Lecture Why is Critical Thinking useful? 1. Analyze critically
3 2 8 Critical Thinking standards. and creatively using
4 3 Role-play Barriers to Communication in critical thinking
Business. skills in solving
How is Critical Thinking useful? practical problems.
8 Critical Thinking standards.

5 4 Lecture Business Communication

Direct Messages in Good News
8 Critical Thinking standards.

6 5 Business Communication
Indirect Messages in Bad News
8 Critical Thinking standards.

7 6 Simulation of Business Communication

job interview Job Search Process
8 Critical Thinking standards.
Break
Weeks 1 and 2
Tutorial
CIX1005

Introduction
to Critical
Thinking

2
 What is Critical Thinking?
Critical here does not mean
negative.
Critical thinking entails skilled/scientific
observation and judgment.
A good critical thinker has the cognitive
skills and intellectual disposition to
analyze and evaluate arguments.

Lecture Notes 2008 McGraw Hill

3
Higher Education
 8 Critical Thinking Standards
Clarity:
That which is true can be
expressed clearly.
A sign of intelligence.
Obscurity in expression is a
sign that one really doesnt
understand the idea one is
expressing.
Precision:
Close attention to detail.
Specific definitions and
specific questions.
38 degree Celsius is more
precise than very hot.
4
8 Critical Thinking
Standards
Accuracy:
Make sure Information or data are
true.
That reflects reality.
Relevance:
A relevant point restricts itself to
the piece of the world in question.
Irrelevance can distract people from
the point but never helps to truly
prove the point.
A lecturer who is good-looking does
not entail that he is knowledgeable.

5
 8 Critical Thinking
Standards
Consistency: non-contradiction.
Critical thinking avoids logical
inconsistency/irrationality:
Believing two things that cant be
simultaneously true.
I am that rich. Everybody else is
that rich.
Logical Correctness:
Sound reasoning to arrive at valid
conclusion.
Deriving thatand only thatwhich
can be justifiably derived from
statements/premises.
6
8 Critical Thinking
Standards
Completeness:
Critical thinking is never
done hastily;
Explore reasoning and
evidence.
Fairness:
Open-minded, impartial,
non-biased.
Dont dismiss something
just because its new or
its contrary to
something you already
believe.
7
 Why Critical
Thinking?
Most college grads dont find a job that utilizes
their major.
Most job skills will be taught on site anyway.
Employers are more concerned with hiring
someone who can reason efficiently so they can
figure out the best way to handle whatever task.
Not only useful to careers of hard sciences but
also those of social sciences.

Lecture Notes 2008 McGraw Hill

8
Higher Education
 The Benefits of Critical
Thinking
Critical thinking helps us
avoid regrettable decisions.
vote for the right
person/party.
attain personal enrichment
pursue post-graduate studies.
Lack of critical thinking
promotes:
oppression
slavery
Communism, socialism
the subjugation of women.
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Barriers to Critical Thinking
Egocentrism
The tendency to see reality as
centered on oneself.
Self-Interested Thinking:
supporting conclusions because they
are in your interest.
Self-Serving Bias:
the tendency to overrate oneself.

Lecture Notes 2008 McGraw Hill

10
Higher Education
 Barriers to Critical
Thinking
Sociocentrism
Group-centered thinking
Group bias:
tendency to see ones own group (e.g., nation)
as being inherently better than all others.
Conformism:
allowing views to be shaped without valid
reasons by peers (peer pressure) and/or
authority (government, parents, teachers,
boss, etc.)

Lecture Notes 2008 McGraw Hill

11
Higher Education
 Barriers to Critical
Thinking
Unwarranted Assumption and Stereotype
Assumption: a belief without absolute proof.
Not everything can be proven, e.g. MH370;
whether someone has lied.
Unwarranted Assumption: a belief without good
reason.
Stereotype: assuming that all people within a group
(e.g., sex, race) share all the same qualities.

Lecture Notes 2008 McGraw Hill

12
Higher Education