{"id":14939,"date":"2017-11-02T17:18:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T00:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14939"},"modified":"2017-11-02T17:18:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T00:18:20","slug":"shaping-our-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/shaping-our-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaping our Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an article in Psychology Today, Mark Sherman writes about the idea of the \u201cfundamental attribution error\u201d. He describes the way that, when \u201cwe see someone doing something, we tend to think it relates to their personality<\/em> rather than to the situation<\/em> the person might be in.\u201d<\/a>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The opposite can also be true, in that, when we evaluate ourselves and the way we think, reason, talk or approach a problem, we often give ourselves a pass or the benefit of the doubt about our own internal motivations. This shows up when somebody is late to a meeting and you think to yourself, \u201cthey\u2019re late because they just don\u2019t have time management skills, they don\u2019t value other people\u2019s time, and they\u2019re a little bit lazy.\u201d But then, when you yourself are late, you think, \u201cwell, I\u2019m only late because my kids wouldn\u2019t get out of bed on time, and there was that accident on the way here, and otherwise, I would have been on time!\u201d<\/p>\n

We give others a full portion of judgment for \u201cwho they are\u201d and we give ourselves a pass based on the circumstances that we faced. So, this notion of becoming more self-critical while also extending more grace to others in our conversations is one that strikes me as significant right now.<\/p>\n

Inside their pamphlet-sized book about critical thinking, Linda Elder and the late Richard Paul offer a bounty of insights for careful thinking, reading and research. One of the areas that they focus on is this idea of being aware of our own cultural biases, native instincts and even prejudices. They write that we often have an \u201cuncritical tendency to select self-serving positive descriptions of ourselves and negative descriptions of those who think differently from us.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In my context, working with leaders inside of a local church, this all sounds very familiar to me. We sit down to discuss ideas or issues that need to be resolved, and naturally, we move back into our own corners, or our own way of seeing things.<\/p>\n

As a way of developing critical thinking skills, and helping people to come out of their corners, this book offers a number of excellent ideas. One is to begin with \u201cclarity\u201d and \u201cpurpose\u201d. When we are clear about what we are doing and why, it can focus our discussion on ways of achieving our shared goals. This makes space for ideas that are different than our own, as well as the chance to examine whether our perspectives are actually helpful in this case.<\/p>\n

The human tendency, as exemplified in the \u201cfundamental attribution error\u201d, is to attribute motives and reasons to other people that have to do with their \u201cpersonality\u201d or \u201cwho they are\u201d, rather than engaging with the situation they are in or the ideas that they bring. In the section on \u201cSociocentric Thinking\u201d, the authors describe this as, \u201cthe uncritical tendency to place one\u2019s culture, nation, religion above all others\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

In a surprising way, there are a whole set of critical thinking skills that actually relate to conversations about race, privilege and \u201cotherness\u201d within church contexts. While sometimes those conversations are seen as speculative or subjective (as in, \u201cwell that\u2019s just how you feel\u201d), it can also be said, that if we are using critical thinking, bringing clarity and self-knowledge to the conversations, then it helps us weed out bias in our thinking.<\/p>\n

One example of this would be the way that many Anglo people think about culture. It seems as if everybody else has a \u201ccultural identity\u201d, but for Anglo people, we often see ourselves without one. Or, that we are \u201cjust normal\u201d, as in \u201cthe norm\u201d. This is what sociocentric thinking looks like. Where, what I am \u201cused to\u201d is how things should be, and if someone with a different background brings an idea, it is because of something about them.<\/p>\n

But it turns out that this is not just a case of a difference of opinion. And it\u2019s not just \u201cyou are different because you have a cultural perspective\u201d. It is also a place where the critical thinking guidelines about seeing our own cultural perspective, and granting grace to another person (rather than judgment) can help move conversation along.<\/p>\n

One way that this material is probably not as helpful, is in a group or a situation where we don\u2019t actually want to have too much purely logical discussion. That could be in a time for dreaming or visioning, where ideas need space to breath before they are subjected to our \u201cthe glaring light of logic\u201d. Or, in working with youth or young people, where there needs to be an open space for them to share or talk without being forced to \u201cclean up their thinking\u201d. Or, in an artistic time, working on a project that calls for creativity.<\/p>\n

All of those can be times when we want to be \u201cless critical\u201d, but to still be thinking, sharing and extending grace to those around us. \u00a0The benefit of Paul and Elder’s work is that they set even those dreaming, artistic or other conversations within a place where critical thinking still applies. \u00a0In the “envisioning critical societies section”, they write that, “close-mindedness is systematically discouraged; open-mindedness systematically encouraged.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

It is my hope to return to this little booklet from time to time. To share some of the nuggets that are here with the leaders in my church, and in times when we need especially clear thinking about a topic, to share this book with those involved. It is small but mighty, and I expect the Critical Thinking guide to continue to be part of the conversation in months ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Sherman, Mark. \u201cWhy We Don’t Give Each Other a Break.\u201d\u00a0Psychology Today<\/em>, June 20, 2014. Accessed November 2, 2017.\u00a0https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/blog\/real-men-dont-write-blogs\/201406\/why-we-dont-give-each-other-break<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Paul, Richard.\u00a0Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools<\/em>. Thinker’s Guide Library. Tomales, Calif.: Foundation for Critical Thinking, \u00a92014, 22.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Paul, Richard.\u00a0Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools<\/em>. Thinker’s Guide Library. Tomales, Calif.: Foundation for Critical Thinking, \u00a92014, 22.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Paul, Richard.\u00a0Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools<\/em>. Thinker’s Guide Library. Tomales, Calif.: Foundation for Critical Thinking, \u00a92014, 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an article in Psychology Today, Mark Sherman writes about the idea of the \u201cfundamental attribution error\u201d. He describes the way that, when \u201cwe see someone doing something, we tend to think it relates to their personality rather than to the situation the person might be in.\u201d[1] The opposite can also be true, in that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[444,290,292],"class_list":["post-14939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-critical-thinking","tag-elder","tag-paul","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14949,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14939\/revisions\/14949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}