Critical Thinking
Salvatore Belardo & Sanjay Goel
August 2005
Critical Thinking
Socrates
From Socrates, we get great
emphasis on argument and
critical thinking. Socrates
chose to make argument the
main thinking tool. Within
argument, there was to be
critical thinking:
"To find yourself,
think for yourself."
-- Socrates
Why do you say that?
What do you mean by that?
Critical Thinking
Plato
From Plato we get the notion
that there is the "truth" somewhere
but that we have to search for it to
find it.
The way to search for the truth
is to use critical thinking to attack
“Knowledge is true
opinion.” -- Plato
what is untrue.
Critical Thinking
Aristotle
From Aristotle we
get a type of logic,
based on identity
and non-identity, as
well as on inclusion
and exclusion.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a
thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle
Critical Thinking
Belardo
“Critical Thinking is purposeful
goal directed thinking.
It is an art of thinking about
what one is thinking about in
order to make it more
accurate, clear and defensible”
Foundations of Critical Thinking
Lie in How the Mind Works?
How do you Think?
Brain
“The brain is the organ of
destiny. It holds within its
humming mechanism secrets
that will determine the future of
the human race.”
-- Wilder Penfield
(from The Second Career, 1963)
“The human brain, then, is the
most complicated organization of
matter that we know.”
– Isaac Asimov (from the foreword
to The Three-Pound Universe by J. Hooper
and D. Teresi, 1986)
Brain
Historical
• Aristotle believed that brain size
was related to intelligence.
• Broca believed that cranial volume
reflected intelligence, hence:
– Women were inferior to men
(smaller brain sizes)
– Non-Europeans were inferior to
Europeans
• Broca’s work was superceded by
the neuronal doctrine (Waldayer)
– Neurons are the processing units
of the brain.
“The human brain is generally regarded as a complex web of adaptations built into the nervous
system, even though no one knows how.” – Michael S. Gazzaniga (from The Mind’s Past, 1998)
Neurons
Brain & Intelligence
• Current models postulate
that intelligence and
complexity are the result of
the properties of neurons
and how they are connected.
• Not only the number of
neurons but physiological
properties of neurons are
also relevant: channels, cable
properties, and the type of
synapses.
There are billions of neurons in our
brains, but what are neurons? Just
cells. The brain has no knowledge
until connections are made between
neurons. All that we know, all that we
are, comes from the way our neurons
are connected.
– Tim Berners-Lee (from Weaving
The Web: the original design and ultimate
destiny of the world wide web by its
inventor, 1999)
The Brain
An electrochemical network
“The adult human brain weights about 3 pounds and
consists of about 100 billion nerve cells or neurons. These
neurons are responsible for the transmission of information
throughout the brain. The outer wrinkled mantle of the
brain called the cerebral cortex contains about 30 billion of
these neurons connected to each other by means of a million
billion neuronal connections called synapses. The neurons
communicate with each other via these connections.”
“The human brain is an amazing piece of engineering that allows us
to process billions of bits of information within a compact,
powerful, continuously changing computer that we carry on our
shoulders our entire lives”
-- Nancy C. Andreasen
Neurons
Electrical Connectors
“The brain evolves further
than any other organ.
Beginning as the simplest
sort of connecting center
for the nerves, it elaborates
into a surpassingly complex
structure, with many levels
of activity, and untold
trillions of possible
circuits”
– Wendell J.S. Krieg
(Functional Neuroanatomy,
1942)
Neurons
Synapses
“The human brain is estimated to have about a hundred billion nerve cells, two
million miles of axons, and a million billion synapses, making it the most complex
structure, natural or artificial on earth”
-- Tim Green, Stephen F. Heinemann and Jim F. Gusella
(from a paper in Neuron, vol. 420, page 427, 1998)
Intelligence
Plasticity
• Plasticity is the lifelong
ability of the brain to
reorganize neural pathways
based on new experiences.
• In order to learn or
memorize a fact there must
be persistent functional
changes in the brain that
represent the new
knowledge
Source: http://comp.uark.edu/~todegar/PSYC2003/intelligence.html
• Neuroplasticity involves
physiological changes
throughout the body,
including, neurons, glia,
vascular cells
• At different times in an
individuals lifetime different
plasticity mechanisms are
more prevalent
• In addition to genetic factors
brain is shaped by the
characteristics of the
persons environment and
actions
Intelligence
Plasticity
• When a child is first born inputs
from the sensory organs flood the
child’s brain and instructs the
pathways to connect
• Over the first few years of life the
brain changes rapidly
• As neurons mature they send out
multiple branches increasing the
number of synaptic contacts and
laying specific connections from
neuron to neuron
• Synaptic pruning eliminates weaker
synaptic contacts while stronger
contacts are maintained and
strengthened
• Experience determines which
connections will be maintained and
which will be pruned
– The connections that have been
activated more frequently are kept
• It was believed earlier that when
people got older the brain lost its
plasticity
– New research has revealed that the
brain never stops learning &
adjusting
Source: http://comp.uark.edu/~todegar/PSYC2003/intelligence.html
Learning
Process
• Learning is a process by which we
acquire new knowledge or skills
through instruction & experience
• Learning occurs by creation of
neurons and associations between
existing neurons.
• If you stop learning your overall
mental capacity and performance
will decline. This is because of the
weakening and eventual loss of
brain networks
• Over varying periods of time
you’ll notice a gradual but steady
decrease in your mental agility if
you do not nourish and enhance
these networks
“Whenever you read a book or
have a conversation, the
experience causes physical
changes in your brain. It’s a
little frightening to think that
every time you walk away from
an encounter, your brain has
been altered, sometimes
permanently.”
- E. Roy John (Mechanisms of
Memory, 1967)
Attention
Critical Thinking
• Attention is a Limited
Mental Resource
– Neurons fatigue in 3-5 min. of
sustained activity
– Recover, but become inefficient
in a few cycles
• Brain tunes off when only
factual information is
provided to it
– Key to stay focused is to stimulate
different parts of the brain
– Critical thinking spreads neuronal
load across the brain
“Attention is the spotlight that
our brains use to identify
stimuli within the context of
time and space to select what is
relevant and to ignore what is
irrelevant”
Attention
“The Cocktail Party Effect”
• In a classroom or any public
situation (i.e. a cocktail party),
it is important to filter out the
important and non-important
information.
• Filtering or Selecting
• Differences between sight
and hearing
– Sight selection can be
focused with eye movement
– Hearing selection is more
cognitive
– Mental process of eliminating
distractions or unwanted
messages
• In a classroom or any public situation (i.e. a cocktail party),
it is important to filter out the non-important information.
Memory
Information Processing
Long-Term
Memory
• We are our memories
• It is the process by which we
retain knowledge over time
– Episodic Memory
– Semantic Memory
• Memory is established in
multiple stages
– Short Term
– Long Term
Attention
Stimulus
Information
Sensory
Memory
Short-Term
Working
Memory
Revised information processing model adapted from Neisser (1976).
Source: Mark H. Ashcraft, (2002) Cognition
Response
• Memory is not perfect
“Memory is the most important function of the brain; without it life would be a
blank. Our knowledge is all based on memory. Every thought, every action, our
very conception of personal identity, is based on memory… Without memory, all
experience would be useless.”
-- Edridge-Green, 1900
Memory
The Magical Number 7
• Problem
– Large amounts of sensory
information can be
experienced
– Large amounts of information
can be stored long term
– Transfer of information
between sensor to long term
memory imposes “severe
limitations on the amount of
information that we are able to
receive, process and
remember”
• The limit of
information that can be
processed easily into
short term memory is 7
plus or minus 2.
“The Magical Number Seven,
Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits
on Our Capacity for Processing
Information”
-- George Miller. (1956)
Memory
Improving
• You can learn new information
more easily if you associate it with
something you already know
• Research indicates memory is
facilitated if you use both sides of
your brain.
– Left side - logic, words, lists,
numbers, sequences, analysis
– Right side - rhythm, imagination,
daydreaming, color, size, spatial
awareness
• Most memory problems are due to
lack of attention.
– Making a conscious decision to
recall something is the first
important step.
• Visualization
– Form a picture in your mind's eye of the
things you want to remember.
– Bizarre images are easier to remember.
– Use action, humor, exaggeration etc. to
create bizarre images.
– e.g. visualize large, man-eating plants
growing out of your washing machine to
remember watering plants
• Story or Link Method
– Link together items or ideas to be
remembered in an unusual story.
– Example: You need to get gas, go to the
cleaners, and buy milk.
– Link the items together in a story: gas
spills on your clothes and you try to
wash it off with milk.
Memory
Improving
• First Letter Cues
– Acronyms - make a word out of the first
letter of each item to be recalled. E.g.:
HOMES spells the great lakes: Huron,
Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
– Acrostics - first letter of each item
stands for a word in a phrase. E.g.:
When parking your car remember: turn
off lights, take keys, lock it, and note
where you parked (lights, keys, lock,
park). The acrostic could be Little Kids
Like Pickles.
• Chunking
– For items: milk, eggs, cheese (dairy
products)
apples, oranges, bananas (fruits)
lettuce, croutons, salad dressing (salad)
– For numbers: 3417 Main can be recalled
as 34 17 Main (2 numbers instead of 4).
• Recalling Dates
– Associate the date to be recalled with a
date you already remember. E.g.: the day
before Halloween, a week after your
birthday, 2 days after the Fourth of July,
a month before Christmas, etc.
– Dates can become prices ($18.99) or a
time (12:15).
• Rhyme or rhythm
– Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
– In treating shock: If the face is red, raise
the head; if the face is pale, raise the tail.
– Time of doctor appointment (2:00): I'm
blue at two.
Memory
Improving
• Learning New Material
– Preview the material--table of contents,
headings, and what you hope to learn
– Break up material to be learned into
smaller parts.
– Recite: Re-tell the material to yourself as
if explaining it to someone else.
– Review: Go over the new material until
it is learned.
– Spaced review: Spread out studying and
review over a period of days rather than
trying to learn the material all at once.
• General Suggestions
– Keep your mind active with reading,
crossword puzzles, hobbies, games, etc.
– Exercise regularly to supply adequate
oxygen to the brain.
• Eliminate stress.
– Get treatment if you are depressed.
– Don't abuse drugs or alcohol.
– Stay in touch with friends and loved
ones for social and intellectual
stimulation.
Learning
and Sleep
• Research has shown that:
– Learning a new skill and then
sleeping will lead to better
performance3
– What is learned when awake
is replayed and rehearsed
when asleep2
– Quality of sleep matters2
– At least 6 hours of sleep
improves performance2
“Sleep affords the opportunity, within
certain limits, for the brain to act of
itself, and dreams are the result”
-- Edward Clarke (from Vision: A
Study of False Sight, 1878)
• It is better to study and get
a good night’s sleep before
an exam than to cram the
whole night!
1 http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleeponit.html
2 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/02/health/main514038.shtml
Left Brain & Right Brain
Brain
Principles
• Contralaterality
– The brain is divided into two mirrorimage halves (hemispheres) when
viewed from above.
– The receptive and control centers
for one side of the body are located in
the opposite hemisphere of the brain.
• Hemispheric Specification
– Each hemisphere specializes in
different manners of processing
information and maintains different
abilities.
– The percentage of each hemisphere
used varies by individual.
If your right brain works much faster
than your left brain, you have lots of
wonderful ideas but can't get them
organized or articulate them well.
On the other hand, if your left brain
works faster than your right brain,
you are very good at memorizing and
organizing details but have trouble
generating new ideas or articulating
concepts.
Brain
Left vs. Right
Left
Right
Verbal, focusing on words,
symbols, numbers
Visual, focusing on images,
patterns
Analytical, led by logic
Intuitive, led by feelings
Process ideas sequentially
Process ideas simultaneously
Words used to remember things,
remember names rather than
faces
'Mind photos' used to remember
things, writing or illustrating
things helps you remember
Make logical deductions from
information
Make lateral connections from
information
Step by step approach, focusing
on details, information organized
See the whole first, then the
details
Highly organized
Organization ends to be lacking
Like making lists and planning
Free association
Likely to follow rules without
questioning them
Like to know why you're doing
something or why rules exist
Source: http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm
Brain
Left & Right
Left
Right
Good at keeping track of time
No sense of time
Spelling and mathematical
formula easily memorized
May have trouble with spelling
and finding words to express
Enjoy observing
Enjoy touching and feeling
actual objects (sensory input)
Plan ahead
Trouble prioritizing, so often
late, impulsive
Likely read an instruction
manual before trying
Unlikely to read instruction
manual before trying
Listen to what is being said
Listen to how something is said
Rarely use gestures when
talking
Talk with your hands
Likely to believe you're not
creative, need to take risks to
develop your potential
Likely to think you're creative,
but need to apply yourself to
develop your potential
Source: http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm
Brain
Exercise
“You know you’ve got to
exercise your brain just like
your muscles”
-- Will Rogers
“The more you use your brain,
the more brain you will have to
use”
-- George A. Dorsey
Learning
Can it be Enhanced?
• Key to increasing your
mental abilities is to increase
your cognitive skills.
– Cognition refers to your
ability to attend, identify and
act.
– It also refers to thoughts,
moods, inclination, decisions,
and actions
– It includes alertness,
concentration, speed,
learning, memory, problem
solving, creativity and mental
endurance.
• One demonstrated way to
increase cognitive skills is to
use a collection of tools and
techniques that can be
classified under the rubric
critical thinking
• These tools were developed
by philosophers and
thinkers over the last three
thousand years
• Business leaders do not
relate well to these tools
Critical Thinking
• We propose to introduce a Rosetta Stone for
Critical Thinking which will be more
orthogonal to the managerial mindset
Classical
Critical
Thinking
• Syllogisms
• Truth Table
• Chain Arguments
• Inductive Reasoning
• Deductive Reasoning
Bloom’s
Taxonomy
• Cognitive
• Affective
• Psychomotor
Applied
Critical
Thinking
• Experimentation
• Reasoning
• Communication
Critical Thinking
What is it?
• Critical thinking is a mental
process of analyzing or
evaluating information,
particularly statements or
propositions that are offered
as true. It is a process of
reflecting upon the meaning
of statements, examining the
offered evidence and
reasoning, and forming
judgments about the facts.
• Such information may be
gathered from observation,
experience, reasoning, or
communication. Critical
thinking has its basis in
intellectual values that go
beyond subject matter
divisions and include: clarity,
accuracy, precision, evidence,
thoroughness and fairness.
Steps
• Itemize opinions from all relevant sides of an issue and collect arguments
supporting each.
• Break the arguments into their constituent statements and draw out
various additional implications from these statements.
• Examine these statements and implications for internal contradictions.
• Locate opposing claims between the various arguments and assign relative
weights to opposing claims.
• Increase the weighting when the claims have strong support especially
distinct chains of reasoning or different sources, decrease the weighting when
the claims have contradictions.
• Adjust weighting depending on relevance of information to central issue.
• Require sufficient support to justify any incredible claims; otherwise,
ignore these claims when forming a judgment.
• Assess the weight of the various claims.
Mind Maps
Claims
• Mind mapping an
alleged panacea
• Perfect memory
• Geniuses (associated)
• Trademarked
Counter claims
• Limited
• Anticlimax
• Hype
Source: Wikipedia
Management Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
Not managing
Not communicating effectively
Failing to set clear goals and expectations
Ignoring problems until it’s too late
Forgetting to build a trusting work atmosphere
Improving Communication
• Improving Communication
– A:Anticipating What the Receiver Knows or
Doesn’t Know
– S:Sharing Similar Experiences
– K:Knowing The Right Questions to Ask
Improving Communication
The second condition (shared experiences)is
met when both the sender and the receiver
have had similar experiences. In such
situations, a degree of conformity exists
between the tacit knowledge of both the
sender and the receiver. This helps ensure the
efficient and effective transfer of knowledge
(Belardo et al., 2004)
Improving Communication
Knowledge Transfer Model
Improving Communication
Assessing Explicit Knowledge
Knowledge Level
Quality of Knowledge
Accuracy and
Completeness
Vocabulary and
Comprehension
Application and
Analysis
Synthesis &
Evaluation
Timeliness and
Consistency
Improving Communication
Tacit Knowledge Assessment
Improving Communication
Tacit Knowledge Assessment
Success
Staff are customer focused
Our recruitment process
Our recruitment criteria
Experience
Empathetic
Qualifications
Improving Communication
The first and third conditions, we contend, can only be satisfied when either
or both parties employ critical thinking.
Critical thinking involves logical thinking and reasoning including skills such
as classification, sequencing, associative thinking, analogies, deductive
and inductive reasoning, etc
Critical thinking is goal directed thinking. It is the art of thinking about what one is
thinking about in order to make it more clear, more accurate, and ultimately
more defensible
Critical thinking employs arcane techniques such as truth tables, syllogisms, chain
arguments, etc. Critical thinking can be made accessible through the use of
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Improving Communication
Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Cognitive Domain: deals with the development of ascending levels
of intellectual abilities and skills.
• Affective Domain: describes levels of the internalization process of
the learners’ interests, attitudes, values, appreciations and
behavior.
• Motor Skills Domain: Deals with physical activity requiring
coordination.
Improving Communication
Bloom’s Taxonomy:The Cognitive Domain
•
Knowledge
– It is rote learning ranging from the recall of specific facts to knowledge of conventions
and theories…a rich vocabulary
•
Comprehension
– Encompasses meaningful integrated learning. At this level, the learner has made the
material part of his/her own frame of reference…ones own words
•
Application
– Application means that the person can employ the idea, theory, practice, etc.
•
Analysis
– Analytical skills enable the individual to discern unstated assumptions
•
Synthesis
– At this level the individual is able to adapt his/her knowledge to other uses
•
Evaluation
– Making judgments about the value or worth of something
Improving Communication
Bloom’s Taxonomy:The Cognitive Domain
In Finance: Net Present Value
•
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge: I have heard the term before. Isn’t that a method for ranking
investment proposals.
Comprehension: The Net Present Value is equal to the present value of
future returns, discounted at the marginal cost of capital, minus the
present value of the cost of the investment.
Application : I used it recently to help make a decision concerning two
investment proposals.
Analysis: The equation consists of several factors: the net cash flows, the
marginal cost of capital, the initial cost of the project, and the project’s
expected life.
Synthesis: I believe that this method can also be used as part of a method
to determine the value of a firm’s intangible assets.
Evaluation: I know when to use NPV and when to use the IRR method
Improving Communication
Explicit Knowledge Assessment
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Know
Define
Record
List
Name
Recall
Restate
Discuss
Describe
Explain
Tell
Report
Identify
Locate
Review
recognize
Translate
Interpret
Apply
Employ
Use
Dramatize
Demonstrate
Practice
Illustrate
Operate
Sketch
Analyze
Compare
Diagram
Experiment
Differentiate
Test
Inspect
Debate
Question
Relate
Examine
Distinguish
Between
Calculate
Compose
Plan
Design
Propose
Arrange
Assemble
Prepare
Collect
Create
Set Up
Organize
Judge
Appraise
Rate
Value
Revise
Estimate
Assess
Select
Critique
Improving Communication
Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to The Case of TQM
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge Level:
List or record terms related to TQM
List three functions of your job that relate to other departments in the organization
Define the various acronyms associated with TQM (e.g., SPC, CQI)
Comprehension Level:
Discuss the advantages of TQM with coworkers
Identify three departments that are customers of your department
Review the major objective achieved in each training session
In a role-play, tell what you have learned in this session to your immediate supervisor
Application Level:
Demonstrate how four of the analysis tools could be used to locate quality problems in one
activity of your work
Dramatize how you would facilitate a meeting to introduce concepts of TQM to your
department
Improving Communication
Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to The Case of TQM
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Analysis Level:
Diagram a process flow chart of the activities for a task in your work
Differentiate those processes in your task environment that can be improved with TQM from
those where TQM cannot be applied
Examine the present departmental activities and determine which one currently use TQM
Synthesis Level:
Prepare an article for the company newsletter describing TQM training
Design a proposal for policy changes reflecting TQM to be presented to top executives
Collect and compile data from department activities that support implementation of TQM
Evaluation:
Critique a present training program and revise it to suit the needs of your organization
Estimate a budget that would be necessary to implement TQM changes for your department.
Rate the leadership in your department as to its readiness to implement TQM
Ensuring Trust
The Importance of Trust in Ensuring Efficiency & Effectiveness
Efficiency
“Trust should be viewed as an important component of social capital because
low trust cultures incur a higher cost of doing business than do high trust
cultures. Low trust cultures are simply less efficient.”
Francis Fukuyama: Trust:The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity
Effectiveness
“If everyone cheated, trust would not exist. Every party to every transaction
would be suspicious of everyone else and in such a system, people would
spend valuable time energy and resources on protection and retaliation. In
such a system, there would be no incentive to take risks and innovate.”
Magda Ratajski:Vital Speeches
Ensuring Trust
All ethical systems are designed to ensure trust, and with trust, the
cooperation and collaboration necessary to ensure prosperity and survival.
•
•
•
The Ten Commandments
The Bill of Rights
The Hippocratic Oath, etc.
Ensuring Trust
An ethical system is a set of rules that helps guide behavior. Ethical systems
exist along a continuum ranging from those that focus on the ends
(teleological), and those that focus on the means (deontological). They differ
on the basis of:
• The extent to which they focus on the individual or on the broader society
• The extent to which complete and accurate information is shared
• The extent to which rules that guide behavior are universally practiced
• The extent to which duty determines behavior
These four elements can be described as: inclusiveness, truthtelling,
consistency and discipline. These are then the values that help ensure that
people share knowledge with their colleagues and build upon one another’s
ideas.
Ensuring Trust
“We must all hang together or assuredly, we will all hang separately”
Benjamin Franklin July 4, 1776
Why is inclusiveness important?
Cross Functional Teams
How do you know whether your organization practices inclusiveness?
How many of the following stakeholders are identified in your company credo?
Policy Holders, Managers, Suppliers, Customers, Employees, etc.
In how many broad areas are employees allowed to participate?
Setting goals, Making decisions, Solving problems, Making changes, etc.
How can you ensure inclusiveness?
Empower, Distribute responsibility
Ensuring Trust
Value #1:Inclusiveness
“ In matters of morality we are not judges about others, but nature
has given us the right to form judgements about others. She has
ordained that we should judge ourselves in accordance with
judgements that others form about us. The man who turns a deaf ear
to other people’s opinions of him is base and reprehensible.”
From The Lectures of Immanuel Kant
Ensuring Trust
Value #1:Inclusiveness
Practices
•
Distribute responsibility:
–
•
Seek first to understand:
–
•
Process ownership at Chaparal steel has paid of handsomely. Workers at Chaparal require
1.6 hours to produce one ton of steel whereas the industry average is 4.4 hours per ton.
Dell’s Direct Model means that they spend more time with the customer before they
actually make the product. This way hey know exactly what the customer wants.
Encourage collaboration:
–
Honda and Rover benefited from their collaboration. Rover learned how to improve quality
and productivity, and Honda learned how to develop and market a luxury car, the Acura
Legend.
Ensuring Trust
Value #2:Truthtelling
“Truth is the secret of eloquence and virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is
the highest summit of art and life.”
Henri Frederic Amiel, 1883
Why is truthtelling important?
Individual and Team Learning
How do you know whether your organization practices truthtelling?
A falsehood ceases to be a falsehood when it is understood on all sides
that the truth is not expected to be spoken.
How can you ensure truthtelling
Admit your mistakes quickly and publicly.
Ensuring Trust
Value #2:Truthtelling
“ If a man spreads false news though he does no wrong to anyone in
particular, he offends against mankind because if such practices were
universal, mans desire for knowledge would be frustrated. For apart
from speculation there are only two ways I can increase my fund of
knowledge, by experience, and by what other people tell me.”
From the Lectures of Immanuel Kant
Ensuring Trust
Value #2:Truthtelling
Practices
•
Admit your mistakes quickly and publicly:
–
•
Humility is the best guarantor of truth and learning:
–
•
Tom’s of Main produced a deodorant that actually made body odor worse. Tom’s recalled
their product and issued an apology. It cost $400,000 or 30% of their projected profits for
the year. No loss of market share, in fact it went up.
Self disclosure is important to open communication and learning. When students
approached strangers at an airport and tried to communicate with them, the more
personal the messages they communicated, the more revealing the comments.
Do not give the impression of stealth or impropriety:
–
Gerber baby Foods and the blue ceramic chip.
Ensuring Trust
Value #3:Consistency
“The secret of success is constancy of purpose”
Benjamin Disraeli, 1872
Why is consistency so important?
Behavior characterizes individuals as well as organizations.
How do you know whether your organization practices consistency?
Measure the number of complaints or law suits brought against the firm.
How can you ensure consistency?
Set incredibly high standards.
Ensuring Trust
Value #3:Consistency
“The first rule was never to accept anything as true unless I recognized it to
be evidently such: that is carefully avoid all precipitation and pre-judgement
and to include nothing in my calculations unless it presented itself so clearly
and distinctly in my mind that there was no reason to doubt it.
The second was to divide each of the difficulties which I encountered into as
many parts as possible, and as might be required for easier solution.
The third part was to think in an orderly fashion when concerned with the
search for truth, beginning with the things that were simplest and easiest to
understand and gradually by degrees reaching toward more complex
knowledge even treating as though ordered materials which were not so.
The last was both in the process of searching and in reviewing when in
difficulties, always to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general
that I would be certain that nothing was omitted.”
Rene DesCartes
Ensuring Trust
Value #3:Consistency
Practices
•
Choose a task worthy of your efforts:
–
•
Believe in yourself:
–
•
The one thing successful companies have in common is a worthy purpose. This is the
company’s reason for being. For SONY it is “To have people experience the joy of
advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public.
Drucker states that knowledge workers must believe in themselves. This way they take
serious, the need to keep learning, to constantly seek out new knowledge.
Set your standards high:
–
General Electric, Monsanto Intel, etc. employ stretch goals. One company set a goal of
reducing hazardous wastes by 5%. Once achieved everyone slacked off. Monsanto set a
goal of zero emissions. While scientifically impossible this stretch goal helped Monsanto
striving for the best.
Ensuring Trust
Value #4:Discipline
“Discipline is the soul of an army, it makes small numbers
formidable, procures success to the weak and esteem to all”
George Washington, 1759
Why is discipline important?
It ensures the other three values
How do you know whether your organization practices discipline?
Does your organization make public their performance toward their goals?
How can you ensure discipline?
Establish goals and make them explicit
Ensuring Trust
Value #4:Discipline
“ Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to
put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love of
justice is above rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of
understanding is above their vanity and presumption; as they are disposed
to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of
knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite
be placed somewhere and the less there is within, the more there must be
without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of
intemperate minds cannot be free, their passions forge their fetters.’
Edmond Burke
Ensuring Trust
Value #4:Discipline
Practices
•
Know your limits:
–
•
Establish goals and make them explicit:
–
•
Young companies must learn not to promise the market place too much. Brian Farrell,
CEO of THQ, a video game seller complained that if you grow at 15%, the first thing Wall
street asks, is if you can grow at 25%.
Accountability should be seen as a tool that inspires a company and its employees to to
learn and work harder rather than a form of organizational policing.
Make your goals and performance public:
–
In 1989, Dupont Chairman Edward Woolard publicly stated that they would reduce toxic
air emissions by 60%, carcinogens by 90% and hazardous wastes by 35%. They then
announced that they cut these emissions and wastes by 605, 75% and 46% respectively.
The moral—Measure what you do and report the results publicly.
Conclusions
• Critical Thinking involves incorporating
reasoning in day-to-day activities
• Training your brain is perhaps more
important than training your body
• This will make you more efficient in everyday
activities such as reading, writing and
presenting
Acknowledgements
• Damira Pon for collecting quizzes & quotes
for the presentation as well as for helping
prepare the presentation.
Intelligence
Theories
• Intelligence is the ability to learn
from experience and adapt to the
surrounding environment. Some wellknown intelligence theories are:
• Spearman’s Monarchic Theory of
Intelligence
– General factor (g) present in all
intelligences
– g is the ability to see relationships
between things and manipulate
these relationships (this is
required for problem solving)
– Different problems require
different abilities to solve them
– Based on correlations
Source: http://comp.uark.edu/~todegar/PSYC2003/intelligence.html
• Cattell’s Fluid/Crystallized
Intelligence
– Thought g was made up of two
intelligences
– Fluid Intelligence (the ability to
reason and use intelligence; it
declines at age 20)
– Crystalized Intelligence (acquired
skills and knowledge from past
problem solving and application
in specific domains; it increases
with age)
• Gardiner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
– Eight different types of
intelligences
– People have varying levels of
skills/intelligences
Intelligence
Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory
Intelligence
Strengths
Likes to:
Learns by:
VerbalLinguistic
reading, writing, telling stories,
memorizing dates, thinking in
words
read, write, talk, memorize,
work at puzzles
reading, hearing and seeing words,
speaking, writing, discussing and
debating
Math-Logic
math, reasoning, logic, problemsolving, patterns
solve problems, question,
work with numbers,
experiment
working with patterns and relationships,
classifying, categorizing, working with
the abstract
Spatial
reading, maps, charts, drawing,
mazes, puzzles, imaging things,
visualization
design, draw, build, create,
daydream, look at pictures
working with pictures and colors,
visualizing, drawing
BodilyKinesthetic
athletics, dancing, acting, crafts,
using tools
move around, touch and
talk, body language
touching, moving, processing knowledge
through bodily sensations
Musical
singing, picking up sounds,
remembering melodies, rhythms
sing, hum, play an
instrument, listen to music
rhythm, melody, singing, listening to
music and melodies
Interpersonal
understanding people, leading,
organizing, communicating,
resolving conflicts, selling
have friends, talk to people,
join groups
sharing, comparing, relating,
interviewing, cooperating
Intrapersonal
understanding self, recognizing
strengths and weaknesses, setting
goals
work alone, reflect, pursue
interests
working alone, doing self-paced projects,
having space, reflecting
Naturalist
understanding nature, making
distinctions, identifying flora and
fauna
be involved with nature,
make distinctions
working in nature, exploring things,
learning about plants and natural events
Source: http://www.gigglepotz.com/mi8.htm
Thinking Styles
•
Every thinking style has its strengths and its weaknesses. The first step in
using your strengths is understanding and accepting them. Stop thinking that
you are different or think differently. You are what you are and you think in
your own style.
Thinking Style
Attributes
Synthesist
Enjoys conflict. Can come up with solutions to “unsolvable
problems”. Look at problems from different perspectives. Come
up with creative solutions
Idealist
“Coaching” style of leadership and a “nurturer”. Work in
supportive collaborative way instead of a highly structured,
hierarchical manner.
Pragmatist
Resourceful and creative. Problem solver and creator of solution.
Take more risks than synthesists which are more innovative and
with more potential gain.
Analyst
Great troubleshooters and detail oriented. Deal best with factual
information. Do things in a step-by-step manner and by thinking
through problems.
Realist
Provide practical solutions to problems quickly. Blunt. Good
understanding of situations and how to react.
Source: http://sern.ucalgary.ca/courses/seng/693/W98/alang/minor.html
Knowledge
“Knowledge is a gigantic
and ever-growing sphere
in space and time, made
up of millions of
interconnecting,
crisscrossing pathways”
-- James Burke
The Brain
A Computer?
“The human brain is an
amazing piece of
engineering that allows us to
process billions of bits of
information within a
compact, powerful,
continuously changing
computer that we carry on
our shoulders our entire
lives”
-- Nancy C. Andreasen
“The adult human brain weights
about 3 pounds and consists of
about 100 billion nerve cells or
neurons. These neurons are
responsible for the transmission
of information throughout the
brain. The outer wrinkled mantle
of the brain called the cerebral
cortex contains about 30 billion of
these neurons connected to each
other by means of a million billion
neuronal connections called
synapses. The neurons
communicate with each other via
these connections.”