Neuroscience and Critical Thinking

1. Critical Thinking Begins with Metacognition and Self-Awareness

Having awareness of how your thoughts work is the first step toward developing critical thinking skills.

Thinking about thinking. Metacognition, or thinking about your thought processes, is the foundation of critical thinking. It involves examining your beliefs, assumptions, and biases to understand how they influence your decisions. This self-awareness allows you to identify flaws in your reasoning and make more informed choices.

Questioning assumptions. Critical thinking requires questioning everything, even deeply held beliefs. This doesn't mean rejecting everything outright, but rather examining the evidence and logic behind your assumptions. Are they based on facts, emotions, or biases? Are there alternative perspectives to consider?

Independent thinking. By developing critical thinking skills, you become an independent thinker capable of making your own choices thoughtfully. This involves understanding logic, deconstructing arguments, identifying flaws, and examining the reasoning behind your beliefs.

2. Neurological Biases Influence Beliefs and Perceptions

Our brains are neurologically wired to base our beliefs on what we want to believe, because these are emotional responses.

Triune brain model. Our brains operate on three levels: the reptilian brain (instincts), the primate brain (emotions), and the human brain (reason). The older, more primitive parts of our brain often override rational thought processes, leading to biased decision-making.

Emotional responses. Emotional responses, while useful for survival in the past, can cloud rational thought in the modern world. Understanding how emotions influence our beliefs and perceptions is crucial for mitigating their effects.

Need for control. Humans have a deep psychological need for control, which can manifest in superstitions and other irrational beliefs. This need can also lead to confirmation bias, where we seek out information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence.

3. Memory is Constructed, Not Recorded

Our brain is responsible for constructing our memories, and therefore our memories are not necessarily a reflection of reality.

Memory flaws. Memories are not perfect recordings of events, but rather reconstructions influenced by our beliefs, biases, and emotions. This means that our memories are often unreliable and subject to errors.

Types of memory errors:

• Source amnesia: Forgetting where you learned something
• Truth amnesia: Remembering a statement more than whether it's true
• Memory contamination: Filling in gaps with altered or incorrect details

Open-ended questions. When gathering information from others, use open-ended questions to elicit more accurate accounts. Avoid leading questions that can contaminate their memories and introduce bias.

4. Reality is a Brain-Built Illusion

Like memory and perception, reality is also something built in the brain.

Brain's construction of reality. The brain actively constructs our reality by filtering and interpreting incoming sensory data. This process involves conflict between different parts of the brain, which can lead to suboptimal choices.

Subconscious decision-making. Our brains often make decisions subconsciously, before we are even aware of them. This highlights the importance of understanding our biases and how they influence our choices.

Altered states of consciousness. Altered states of consciousness, such as those induced by drugs or hypnosis, can reveal how different parts of the brain operate at different times. This can provide insights into the nature of consciousness and decision-making.

5. Arguments Require Sound Premises and Valid Logic

When we construct arguments, we start with specific premises, from which we derive a conclusion.

Premises and conclusions. Arguments are built on premises, which are statements taken as given. A valid argument is one where the conclusion follows logically from the premises. A sound argument is one where the premises are true and the logic is valid.

Logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are flaws in reasoning that can lead to incorrect conclusions. Common fallacies include:

• Arguments from authority: Believing something is true simply because someone in charge says so
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc: Assuming that because X happened after Y, Y caused X
• Ad hominem: Attacking the person making the argument instead of the argument itself

Reasoning vs. rationalizing. Reasoning involves gathering evidence and observations to reach a conclusion, while rationalizing involves starting with a conclusion and then finding arguments to justify it. Critical thinking requires reasoning, not rationalizing.

6. Marketing and Media Exploit Cognitive Biases

There is a whole industry built on exploiting people's brain chemistry, cognition, and biases to get them to buy things: marketing.

Internet democratization. The Internet has democratized information access, but it has also led to the spread of misinformation and biased content. Critical thinking skills are essential for navigating this environment.

Marketing strategies. Marketers exploit cognitive biases, such as the left-digit effect and the anchoring heuristic, to influence consumer behavior. They also create problems for consumers to worry about and then offer their products as solutions.

Multi-level marketing (MLMs). MLMs are pyramid schemes disguised as legitimate businesses. They rely on recruiting salespeople who then have to recruit more salespeople to make a profit. Most MLM participants lose money.

7. Conspiracy Theories Fulfill Psychological Needs

People love the idea that broad organizations are what is keeping them from achieving their goals, instead of their own flaws and mistakes.

Grand conspiracies. Grand conspiracy theories involve large organizations or governments working together over long periods. They often involve anti-Semitic tropes and rely on misinterpreting symbols.

Psychological appeal. Conspiracy theories fulfill psychological needs for control, certainty, and belonging. They also provide a sense of self-esteem and a conduit for emotions like anger and despair.

Cognitive errors. Conspiracy theorists often exhibit cognitive errors such as confirmation bias, fundamental attribution error, and false dichotomy. They also tend to move the goalposts and shift the burden of proof.

Last updated: March 3, 2025