President's Tip of the Week

Critical Thinking Techniques, Part 3
(8/11/09)

Here is this week’s installment in our series on critical thinking techniques. If you’d like to read the complete article, visit the author’s site . As I mentioned last week, I encourage you to add in your own questions.

8. “Empathize. Try to see things from your opponent’s perspective. Imagine how they feel. Imagine how you sound to them. Sympathize with the logic, emotion, and experience of their perspective. “
While the speaker is not your opponent, they may be presenting one side of an argument as part of their speech. Did they acknowledge or address the opposition’s concerns? If this is not the type of speech presented, you can ask yourself such questions as: Did the speaker’s anecdotes add emotion and impact to their speech? Did they relay first hand experience to add credibility to the content? How did the message of the speech impact you? Was it powerful? Convincing?

9. “Know your own ignorance. Even if you know more about relevant issues than your opponent, you still might be wrong. Educate yourself as much as possible, but still: be humble.”
Particularly important for projects with Q & A sections is the speaker’s willingness to admit they might need to research further to provide a comprehensive response to a question. From an evaluator’s perspective, one appropriate application of this concept is to personalize your language. “In my opinion,” or “From my perspective,” or something similar before voicing a recommendation or critique.

10. “Be independent. Think critically about important issues for yourself. Don’t believe everything you read. Don’t conform to the priorities, values, and perspectives of others.”
There are a couple of ways to apply this when it comes to evaluations. First, did the speaker display independence or simply parrot what has been said before? Did the speaker provide analysis of information in the speech? And secondly, if you were completely confused by the speech yet everyone around seemed enraptured, it may not be that you were simply not paying close enough attention. Consider this: Was the speech geared toward the entire audience, or just the smartest person in it?

Continue trying to apply these techniques to your evaluations. Be prepared to add more techniques in the next couple of weeks.