Infographic 1.1: Critical Thinking

The introduction to the infographic reads, “What is critical thinking and why is it important? Being a critical thinker means carefully evaluating pieces of evidence, synthesizing them, and Critical thinkers maintain a healthy dose of skepticism, but they are also able to adjust their thinking if presented with contradictory evidence. Consider the issue of global warming: Do you think it’s real, and are human beings causing it?”

A graphic at the upper right shows emissions from vehicles, houses, and animals. A callout to the graphic reads, “97% of world’s leading climate scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities, such as burning gasoline and coal, are driving the warming trend (BENESTAD ET AL., 2016).” A second callout to the graphic reads, “Government officials consider human-caused climate change an “urgent and growing threat to our national security” and warn of higher temperatures, rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters—events that could threaten agricultural productivity, set the stage for new disease outbreaks, and trigger conflicts (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 2015, JULY 23, p. 3).” A quote at the middle of the infographic reads, “Yet many people are not too worried about global warming, perhaps because they don't grasp the severity of the problem: (AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 2015d).” A graphic at the center left shows a black stick figure with a caption that reads, “Global warming and other climate change event s are not caused by humans.” A blue/green stick figure to the right shows two captions, which read, “Where is this information coming from?” and “What kind of evidence supports it?” An arrow points down from the blue/green figure to an illustration of a head with a brain, labeled “Critical Thinking in action.” A bullet list leads to the brain illustration from the left. The content follows:

A critical thinker . . .

• . . . is skeptical
• . . . thinks deeply
• . . . evaluates claims using existing knowledge
• . . . asks questions
• . . . considers alternative explanations
• . . . reflects on own emotional reactions
• . . . tolerates uncertainty
• . . . is open-minded

A line leads from the brain illustration to a list of five callouts at the right, next to an image of the earth with a thermometer containing blue and red liquid. The callouts and points follow:

1. Who wrote the article?
   • What is the professional background of the author(s)?
2. Where was it published?
   • Is it peer-reviewed, open-source, or popular press?
3. What are the study’s findings?
   • Do the findings support the hypothesis?
   • Are there limitations cited?
   • What other variables might have influenced the outcome?
4. What were the methods used to conduct the study?
   • How big was the sample?
   • How did researchers collect data?
5. Has the study been replicated?
   • Have other studies reported the same results?
   • Have other studies tried different samples?

A callout at the bottom of the infographic reads, “Although you will develop your critical thinking skills in psychology class, they can be used in other contexts, from resolving everyday dilemmas, such as, “Why did I get such a mediocre grade after studying so hard?” to understanding global crises such as climate change.”