30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living Through Critical Thinking A Guide for Improving Every Aspect of Your Life, Revised and Expanded

by Elder, Linda; Paul, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780133092561
• ISBN10: 0133092569
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-21
• Publisher: FT Press

Summary

Better critical thinking can transform your life and help you improve every decision you make! Now, in just 30 days, master specific, easy-to-learn critical thinking techniques that help you cut through lies, gain insight, and make smarter choices in every area of your life -- from work and money to intimate relationships. World-renowned critical thinking experts Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul show how to overcome poor thinking habits caused by self-delusion or out-of-control emotions... clarify what you really want... recognize what you don't know… ask better questions... resist brainwashing, manipulation, and hypocrisy... critically evaluate what you're told by advertisers, politicians, your boss, and even your family… avoid worrying, conformism, and blame. Every day, you'll focus on a specific thinking habit, mastering practical strategies for achieving results, tracking your progress, gaining confidence, and getting smarter! Expanded, improved, and easier to use, Discover the Power of Critical Thinking, Revised and Expandededition offers today's most complete, practical plan for using critical thinking to build a better life. This edition adds five new "days" of critical thinking workouts, delivering even more powerful "life improvement" ideas. Brand-new illustrations and diagrams help you see the direct relevance of critical thinking in your own life, and you'll find a practical new introduction to the authors'Paul-Elder Framework for Critical Thinking, which is now being used by critical thinkers worldwide!

Author Biography

Dr. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist, executive director of the Center for Critical Thinking, and president of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. She is highly published and has a special interest in the relationship between cognition and effect, or thought and emotion. She has developed an original theory of the stages of critical-thinking development. She is a major keynote presenter at the International Conference on Critical Thinking, is highly sought after as a speaker, and is a recognized leader in critical thinking.

Dr. Richard Paul is founder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking. He is an internationally recognized authority on critical thinking, with nine books and more than 200 articles on the subject. His views on critical thinking have been canvassed in The New York Times, Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, American Teacher, Reader’s Digest, Educational Leadership, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report.

The works of Linda Elder and Richard Paul have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Chinese, Turkish, Greek, Thai, and Korean. The growing demand for translations into increasing numbers of languages testifies to the emerging international recognition of the importance of critical thinking in human life. It is a testament to the contributions of Paul and Elder to the growing field of critical thinking studies.

The Foundation for Critical Thinking seeks to promote essential change in society through the cultivation of fairminded critical thinking, thinking predisposed toward intellectual empathy, intellectual humility, intellectual perseverance, intellectual integrity, and intellectual responsibility. In a world of accelerating change, intensifying complexity, and increasing interdependence, critical thinking is now a requirement for economic and social survival. Contact the Foundation for Critical Thinking at www.criticalthinking.org.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
Day One: Discover Your Ignorance     47
Day Two: Strive to Be a Person of Integrity: Beware of Your Own Hypocrisy     51
Day Three: Empathize with Others     55
Day Four: Deliberately Target Your Purposes     57
Day Five: Don’t Be a Conformist: Think for Yourself     61
Day Six: Clarify Your Thinking     67
Day Seven: Be Relevant: Stick to the Point     71
Day Eight: Be Reasonable     73
Day Nine: Ask Deep Questions     77
Day Ten: Distinguish Among Questions of Fact, Preference, and Judgment     81
Day Eleven: Think Through Implications     87
Day Twelve: Distinguish Inferences from Assumptions     91
Day Thirteen: Don’t Be Fooled by the Words People Use: Look Underneath Words to Unspoken Realities     97
Day Fourteen: When You Think You Have Arrived as a Critical Thinker, Think Again     103
Day Fifteen: Be Fair, Not Selfish     107
Day Sixteen: Get Control of Your Emotions     111
Day Seventeen: Take Control of Your Desires     115
Day Eighteen: Don’t Dominate Others: Don’t Be a Top Dog     119
Day Nineteen: Don’t Be Submissive: Don’t Be an Underdog     123
Day Twenty: Don’t Be Brainwashed by the News Media     127
Day Twenty-One:  Carefully Choose the Ideas You Take in from Television, Ads, Movies, and the Internet     131
Day Twenty-Two: Don’t Be Bamboozled by Politicians     135
Day Twenty-Three: Don’t Be a Blamer     139
Day Twenty-Four: Don’t Be Righteous: Show Mercy     143
Day Twenty-Five: Vow to Spend No Time Worrying     147
Day Twenty-Six: Be a Citizen of the World     151
Day Twenty-Seven: Do Something, Anything, to Help Make the World Better     155
Day Twenty-Eight: See Your Development Occurring in Stages     157
Day Twenty-Nine:  Educate Yourself     163
Day Thirty: Figure Out Where to Go from Here     167
Reading Backwards     171
Recommended Readings to Augment the Strategies     173
Appendix: Glossary of Terms     177
Index     219