Week 11- The Application of Six Thinking Hats

Week 11

The Application of Six Thinking Hats

            This week i had learned a very interesting topic which is six thinking hats. This topic actually about  a strategy requires people to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different “thinking” hats. This strategy that was created by Edward de Bono. Basically, this strategy requires people to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different “thinking” hats. He uses thinking “hat: metaphor because of familiar expressions like “put on your thinking hat.” Putting on a hats means it switches the thinker’s attention to that specific mode to simplify the process. For switching hats just redirects thinking to another mode. There are 6 colors of thinking hats which are white, blue, black, yellow, green and red.

            Now, I'm proceed to elaborate the characteristic of people  about each of the colors of the hat and from here I will know what kind of people they are . 

Firstly, white hat means cold and neutral. With this hat, you will not make any judgments. You will just convey information and the one that provides facts, figures and objective information. Usually, people in white hat always avoiding them self  from involving in any argument.  For example, when I'm asking people who such wearing  white thinking hat that means she/he will only focus on the information and not the arguments. She/he will directly  look what information is available, what is needed and how to obtain it.

  Secondly, red color. For me red is a warm and 'hot' color. It has to do with the feelings, intuitions, hunches and emotions. The red hat represents ANGER emotion and strong.  It gives the thinker permission to put their feelings forward about the subject. For example, when I was asked people who such wearing red hat, they will confess their feelings about the subject. 

Thirdly, is about black color which is show gloomy and negative effect. It is a color of authority and prevents mistakes by urging caution.The black hat is for the people who examine every possible action. They will have a role why something will not work. For example, when I'm wearing black hat that means I will always be putting negative elements during the discussion. Actually, black hat is very valuable because it may make me more cautions in every idea that I have and avoiding me  to do any mistake in future, but at the same time it can also create a problem like it can easily kills creative idea with negative thoughts.  

Yellow is a color that looking for potential benefits based on constructive thoughts. The yellow hat provides constructive and generates proposals and suggestions.

Green is a symbol of vegetation/ grass. It will result in making new ideas. The green hat wearer will look for new ideas or possibilities. They will find a way to find new creative ideas for the problem. For example, when you are in a meeting, you will need someone to find new ideas. They will be the person who think of new ideas and make it better.

The last one is blue. Blue means that you are looking from a higher and a wider perspective to see whether you are addressing the right issue. Usually the person who wear blue hat is the person who are in charge such as a chairman or an organizer. They will be the person who are organizing and controlling the process.

For conclusion, this topic is really helpful for me and for my assignment. It will be more helpful if it is a group assignment. It help us how to solve the problem quickly and effectively. The entire group member plays different roles. Sometimes there will be an argument but we quickly with these thinking hats. With everyone wearing different hats, it making us more away about the wider picture of the problem. So, this topic is really helpful in daily life.

week 10 - Application of Thinking

Week 10

Application of Thinking

This week I discover about thinking. The dimensions of thinking are critical thinking and creative thinking. We need to give a serious attention to some situation where we will face dilemma.

Problem solving is the process of working through details of a problem to reach a potential solution. It may include mathematical or systematic operations and can be a gauge of an individual’s critical thinking skills. There are common differences between problem solving and decision making. Problem solving looking at the problem in details; determines the cause of the problem and involves different techniques of thinking in identifying potential solutions. While decision making is the objectives must first be established, alternative action must be developed and evaluated against all the objectives and involves various decision making techniques tools.

Next, we are cover about 14 PS techniques. First is abstraction which solves the problem in a model before applying it to the real system. Analogy is using a solution that solves an analogous. Then, brainstorming suggests large number of solutions and combining and developing them until an optimum is found. Divide and conquer is breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems. Hypothesis testing is assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove. Lateral thinking is approaching solutions indirectly and creatively. Means-ends analysis is choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal.

Moreover, method of focal objects is synthesizing non-matching characteristics of different objects into something new. Morphological analysis is assessing the output and interactions of an entire system. Proof is tried to prove that the problem cannot be solved and the point where the proof fails will be the starting point for solving it. In addition, reduction is transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions exist. Research is employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar problems. Root cause analysis is eliminating the cause of the problem. Lastly, trial-and-error is testing possible solutions until the right one is found.

Besides that, we discover about DAID Model which is a problem solving model. It is applying 4 steps which are defining the problem, analyse the problem, identify the possible solution and decide on the most appropriate alternative. Before we try to solve a problem, we need to know what a problem is. In analysing the problem, we must try to understand the problem from all angles and we can use WH questions. The advanced method is Kepner-Tregoe Analysis which developed to explore a systematic list of questions when analysing problem. In stage 3, make a list of all the possible actions could take in order to make the problem disappear. Last stage, we need to choose a solution that possessed mast advantage and least disadvantage.

On the other hand, brainstorming technique is important in problem solving. The functions of brainstorming are find innovative solutions, leverage individual’s creativity, motivate to higher plateau of thinking, create opportunity/platform to express uncultivated ideas and to extract ideas from diversity of group members. There are several guidelines to leading brainstorming session. First of all, brief the team on the problem’s background & post the problem definition statement. Then, review the 3 brainstorming rules; generate as many solutions as possible, wild ideas are encouraged, no criticism is allowed. Third, perform creative thinking warm-up exercise. Conduct the brainstorming, end the session; collect all ideas and lastly thank and dismiss the team.

The insights I gained this week is very useful to me because I learnt lot of thing about thinking skills. I rate 4 for the question I can remain focused on the exact requirements of an activity. For this question I have improve my rating from 3 to 4. I have increased my rating from 0 to 2 for I can offer criticism without feeling this makes me a bad person. Now I am open- minded in receiving criticism. I can see my improvement from 2 to 4 for the question; I find it easy to separate key points from other material. These are what I discover from this week’s lesson.

week 9 - Thinking Critically About The Media

Week 9

Thinking Critically About The Media

This week I really learn about an interesting topic which is media. As a critical thinker I should aware of the presence and power of media. First thing we look at suggestion in daily life. We use suggestion to create an impression in our personal lives which help us to look better in some way that we actually are. In professional world, the power of suggestion is worked out in different industry. Also, not forget to media. Suggestions in media are two different types, suggestion in electronic media and suggestion in print media.

Mass media include all print and electronic media intended to inform, entertain and much more. News media acts as middle agent as a bridge between us and the world of events occurring around us. News media takes advantage of viewer’s unwillingness to think rigorously and deliver the news in non-contextual but entertaining manner.

When we watch news programs or talk shows, we must aware on the selection of issues, the use of time, use of language, the nonverbal element of clothing and camera angle and distance. One method to attract and entertain viewers is called sensationalism which they choose interesting stories. This is what we say about the selection of issues. When we consider about time factor, there are two elements of time that can influence viewers which are placement of stories and quantity of time for coverage.

The use of language plays an important role because the use of reporter’s language can affect the audience perception of an issue. Nonverbal element of clothing means the way someone is dressed helps us to suggest his character and appropriateness for a given role. Camera angle and distance can influence audience to focus on the news or talk shows.

Next we move to suggestion in print media. As a critical thinker I can be a responsible reader when I consider the use of headline, balance of reporting on issue, fairness in editorial essays and letters, photo composition.

Headlines are important because many readers read the headline and going back to read the article when they are interest in that. Balance of reporting on issue is the selection and arrangement of news are important to cover and what page they appear. Fairness in editorial essays and letters means as a critical thinker, it is important to realize that reporting are not always objective and that the editorial pages are set aside to reflect opinions of readers. Lastly, photo composition can be described as a picture is worth a thousand words. So, as a critical thinker I should able to critically evaluate news message by using different criteria.

Furthermore, advertising plays an important role in a person’s life. There are several common advertising ploys. Humor used to create in the viewer a pleasant and memorable association with the product. Catchy slogans are different products have their own slogans. In addition, emotive language is used usually in brand loyalty which rooted in emotion rather than reason. Anxiety ads play on our anxieties, fears and insecurities. Feel good ads create positive emotional association. While weasel words used to dilute a claim so that it becomes practically meaningless.  The other three things are fine print disclaimer, celerity endorsement and sex appeal.

Subliminal persuasion often used in media which gives us more power as thinkers, consumers and voters. In advertisement, designers are usually use subtle phasing, combination colours and formats to attract us to certain products. I must be aware of the use of subliminal persuasion as a critical thinker.

Media literacy empowers people to be both critical thinkers and creative producers. When we evaluate the quality of internet resources, we must consider several things which are authority, accuracy, objectivity and currentness.

The lesson I gained from this week is very useful to me because I learn how to think critically about the media. My rating is improved from 3 to 4 for the question I can remain focused on the exact requirements of an activity. I give the same rating 3 for the question; I am good at identifying unfair techniques used to persuade readers. I rate 4 for the question I know how to evaluate source materials. Lastly, I rate 4 for the question; if I am not sure about something, I will research to find out more. I usually use Google to learn new things.  These are what I learn this week. Thank you for critical thinking to make me a better critical thinker.

week 8 - Evaluating Sources of Evidence

Week 8

Evaluating Sources of Evidence

This week I had learnt about how to evaluate the sources of evidence. I feel it is slightly about history where I learnt during high school time. There are two types of source, primary and secondary source. Primary source means materials originate from the time and place of the events being investigated. But secondary source means written or produced about the events like books, articles, interviews and much more.

In the process of searching for evidence, there are a lot of tips to be followed. I can search for evidence using the reference. I also can ask some questions in searching for evidence. Authenticity is evidence which I cannot dispute because it is proved by the person claimed. Valid evidence is agreed requirements and evidence is invalid if it is not authentic. Next we move to currency and reliability. Currency means it is still relevant in the present. Reliability means if evidence is reliable which it can be trusted.

In addition, relevant evidence gives a good understanding of the issues. Next we had studied about sampling. Before this, I had heard this word in probability subject. Sampling is individual members of a population are different from each other (heterogeneous) where in representative samples all members of a population are identical (homogenous).

Furthermore, I had learnt about certainty and probability. An argument cannot be proved fully based on certainty and probability means deciding whether the evidence is credible and authentic and if so the conclusion is follow from the line of reasoning and its supporting evidence. Generalization takes place when we conclude that a claim is true about a group based on what we find out about some part of the group.  I can say generalization is good when the sample size is big enough, the sample is representative, studied well, margin of error and confidence level, variation in population, risk and analogies and generalization.

As I say generalization is good when margin of error and confidence level. This is when the margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s result.so, the larger the margin of error, the less the confidence level. Variation in the population is when the variances are larger; a generalisation result will become less reliable. Besides, when we talk about risk, the higher the risk, the more sample size and frequency are needed before someone can start generalising. Lastly, analogies and generalization is beginning with a sample, identify the property of the members of that sample and conclude that the property is also shared by one or more items outside the sample.

In this chapter, I also learn about triangulation. Triangulation is two different sets of evidence against each other to see whether they support or complement each other or they contradict each other. Shortly, we use it to identify whether something is true.

The insights I gained from this week is very useful to me because it helps me to improve my knowledge on how to evaluate sources of evidence as a qualified critical thinker.  I give 3 rate for the question I find it easy to separate the key points from other material. Here, I noticed that my rating is improved from 2 to 3. My rating increase to 4 for this question; I find it easy to evaluate the evidence to support a point of view. For the question, I usually pay attention to small details, I give rate 4. Lastly, my rating is increase from 0 to 3 for I find it easy to weigh up different points of view fairly. So, here I will put more effort to increase my rating for each critical reflection.

week 7 - Fallacy

Week 7

Fallacy

This week I had study about fallacy. As I cover in previous chapter, fallacy is a bad argument and should be rejected. There are three types of fallacy, Ad hominem, Ad populum and Petitio Principii.

Ad hominem fallacy means attacking a person in an attempt to get people to believe our premises. We can divide Ad hominem fallacy into three types. First is Ad hominem Abusive. It means attacks the other person’s character. Second is Ad Hominem Circumstantial which attacks the person’s credibility someone who can’t be believed. Lastly, Tu Quo Que means a person gives comment to other person without see the same fault in him.

 Moreover, Ad populum fallacy involves emotions which are appeal to pity, appeal to fear, appeal to shame, appeal to vanity, appeal to authority, appeal to ignorance and appeal to spite. The persuader hopes listener will incline to agree with the argument by implement the right emotion. Appeal to force is a scare tactic and it used as a force to accept a conclusion as correct. Appeal to pity evokes sympathy or pity which makes us to accept the conclusion. Next, appeal to shame happen when people try to make us agree to conclusion by lowering down self-esteem and creating sense of shame about being wrong.

Appeal to vanity is polish other’s mind in order to get something from them. Appeal to authority means inappropriate authority force us to agree with their conclusion. Besides that, appeal to ignorance is the arguer asserts a claim is true because no one proven it to be false and a claim is false as no one proven it to be true. Lastly, appeal to spite (two wrongs make a right). It’s like revenge towards an individual because in the past they did the same bad thing.    

Additionally, I had learnt about three special Ad populum fallacies. First, appeal to common belief which means think like the others. Second is appeal to common practice means do what others are do. Lastly, appeal to tradition means follow the traditions or customs.

Besides, petition principia is people try to persuade by means of avoiding actual discussions and when it happens, sometimes, the premises are missing or the actual issues are side tracked by irrelevant issues. There are three types of petition principii which are begging the question, circular argument and red herring. Begging the question is repeating the same meaning in a sentence. Circular argument means the premises bring the same meaning to conclusion and red herring is arguer tries to side track his audience by raising an irrelevant issue and then claims that original issue settled by irrelevant diversion.

The lessons I gained through this week is very useful because before this I rate 3 for the question I am good at identifying patterns. Now I can score fully for this question after I learnt this week’s lesson. Then I score 3 for question; I can spot inconsistencies in an argument easily. So, here I must practice more to spot inconsistencies in an argument. For the question, if I am not sure about something, I will research to find out more, I score fully. I improve my score from 0 to 2 for the question; I find it easy to weigh up different points of view fairly. Here I must put more effort to score fully for this question. These are what I learnt this week.

  

week 6 - Analogy & Analogical Argument

Week 6

Analogy & Analogical Argument

This week I learnt about analogy and analogical argument. First we cover about the definition of analogy. Analogy means a comparison between two things. For example, I compare the heart works as a pump. But in critical thinking the comparison must be valid. Here I can know that the comparison is invalid if the comparison items are not similar, misleading or it is described inaccurately.

Next we move to analogical argument. It means the similarities between two things are analogy but the presence of some additional feature in one thing leads to a conclusion that another thing shares the same additional feature. Before I accept the analogical argument I must examine whether the premises are true and the relevance of similarities.

Moreover, I also learnt about causal link. It is wrongly reasoned to assume that two things are found together, or occur at the same time, so there must be a causal link. There are three types of mistakes in evaluating cause and effect which are overlooking in common cause, reversing cause and effect and looking too hard for a cause. Overlooking a common cause means the two things are caused by other reason and not by one another.  Reversing cause and effect means I not need clearly identify which thing really comes first and we simply can assume which thing comes first but in reality it is maybe the other way round. Lastly, looking too hard for a cause means a mistaken thing can lead to all superstitious beliefs.

Besides that, correlation means two things are frequently found together. But here I had pressured that correlation is not a cause. Next, we learnt about fallacies. Fallacies are false and bad argument. Post Hoc fallacy means B happens because of A, so A is a cause of B. Slippery slope is A cause B, B cause C and if I don’t want to happen C better don’t do A. Shortly it happens in sequence. These are the examples of causal fallacies.

Hasty generalisation means predict overall because of some events. Sweeping generalisation is one thing does not guarantee another thing. False dilemma means arguer poses a fake or choice. False analogy is the arguer compares two things which are actually not comparable.

The lessons I gained from this week is very useful to me because I score fully for the question; I know how to evaluate source materials. I score full for question; if I am not sure about something, I will research to find out more. So, I basically like to Google out if I don’t know anything. For the question, I am good at identifying patterns, I score 3. Here I plan to practice more to score fully for this question. Lastly, my score is improving from 1 to 3 for I can present my own arguments clearly. So I will put more effort to present my arguments clearly.

             

week 5 - Validity and "Good Argument"

Week 5

Validity and “Good Argument”

This week I learn about validity and good argument. When evaluate an argument, I need to ask whether the premises are true or not and the premises provide good reasons to accept the conclusion or not. I accept an argument when I agree with the conclusion. When I reject an argument, I disagree with the conclusion. The premises are not provide a good reason for accept the conclusion when the premises are true but the conclusion is false, the conclusion is true but the premises are false and the premises are true but it is irrelevant to conclusion. Those conditions are grouped as not a good argument. A good argument is when the premises are true and lead to a true conclusion.

Arguments can divide into two groups, deductive and inductive argument. Deductive argument contains both valid (good or bad) and invalid (bad or unsound) statement. Inductive argument contains invalid statements which are strong and weak. Valid deductive argument’s conclusion follows necessarily from the conclusion. It is impossible for the conclusion to be false, if the premises are true. Valid deductive, good argument has all true premises and deductively sounds (good). Here I learn that good argument must be valid and have all true premises. While, valid deductive, bad argument has one or more false premises or both, it is deductively unsound (bad).

Moreover, invalid deductive argument is the conclusion does not follow necessarily from the premises called invalid. It is possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion is false, the argument is invalid. For a better understanding of deductive and inductive argument, I am going through a lot of examples more than three times in the lecture note.

Bad arguments can happen when the statements in the argument are vague, the premises not support the conclusion, one or more premises are untrue, the conclusion is not true and the premises are irrelevant to conclusion. There are some things to remember about validity. Valid does not mean true. It means the argument is well reasoned, the patterns of reasoning are logic and the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises. In a basic deductive validity, the argument’s premises are true then the conclusion is true, it is valid. If the premises are true and conclusion is false, it is an invalid statement.

Now, let’s see inductive argument. A strong inductive argument is one in which the conclusion follows probably from the premises; we can say it “very strong”. If the conclusion to be false and the premises are true, then it is a “very weak” inductive argument. Invalid arguments can range from “very strong” to being “very weak”. Here I stressed that inductive argument that is range from very strong to very weak is different from being “valid” or “invalid”. Inductive argument consists of inductive generalisation, statistical argument, predictive argument and analogical argument.

The lessons I gained from this week is very useful to me because I score fully for the question; I know how to evaluate source materials. Lastly, I score full for question; if I am not sure about something, I will research to find out more. So, I basically like to Google out if I don’t know anything.