When it comes to critical thinking, there are always so many questions that follow it. One of the first questions I looked into was whether we are born with critical thinking skills.
To explore this idea, I think we have to first take ourselves over to an example to illustrate. We have all probably seen those individuals that can complete a rubik’s cube in seconds (showing my age now) and have been labelled as ‘gifted.’
Or perhaps the person that can remember all the digits of Pi (Π)
Is it science? Is it luck? Or is it that they just ‘have it in them?’ I am not too sure! Both of these examples rely on a good memory too and I am not too familiar with the research in this area. I often link the ideas above in my own mind to critical thinking and the innate vs learned debate.
Whilst I don’t personally believe people are born with critical thinking skills per se. I do think that some people have a disposition to think more critically due to their social environment, upbringing, and learning. I have chosen to speak about these broader ideas as I have some thoughts about them. Although, it would be impossible for me to pinpoint what these look like, I have pondered a few ideas:
Social Environment
If you have been able to be part of school debates or on a debating team where you were encouraged by a teacher or parents perhaps to think about your arguments and ensure these have a good evidential basis, this would have strengthened your critical thinking skills from a young age. It would have also prepared you for the school system and the way assessments are conducted.
On the flip side, still relating to the social environment, perhaps there was a situation where you had a take a lead on things at home because parents were new to technological developments or English as a second language. I don’t think there is a ‘positive’ vs ‘negative’ experience debate here which is often something that comes up where there is an assumption that because you may have had to shift a lot of your attention to home duties you were forced to neglect your education. I don’t believe this to always be the case.
Upbringing
This is a tricky one however, speaking from a mere observational perspective, I can say that friends and family I have seen growing up with certain nurturing skills has played a part. I can’t say that it’s always been positive reinforcement but also some strict parenting seems to have positioned some people I know to think more critically. Equally, I think there are people out there who were given space to explore their curiosity beyond school and this has given them a broader view of the world and a head start compared with those who perhaps were reliant on school for their education.
Learning
We are always learning. There may have been opportunities where people (unknowingly) have developed their critical thinking skills whether at a young or slightly older age. I have a friend who can stay incredibly balanced even when they may sit very obviously on the opposite side of an argument. I have observed the way they can do this and through many conversations have learned that perhaps a contributing factor has been an ability to think about their thinking from a young age. I also think a love for learning is required. Not to say that you have to love every subject. I detested Maths. I much preferred social science and thrived in those areas because I could navigate through stories, and information connections and see contrasts between perspectives.
Can critical thinking be learned?
I believe that you can learn processes that can help you to think more critically about the educational space. There are endless different ways and I believe that if you can adopt a few of these, they will be helpful. However, in the world beyond education, I think we need to do a lot more work on critical thinking. We all have biases and a lot of the time these are unconscious. If we can learn more about how to confront these and do it in a way that helps to strengthen our view of the world in a more critical way that would be a great starting point.
Can critical thinking be unlearned?
I’m not sure you can unlearn something once you’ve learned it, but I do think we can get lazy with it. It’s a bit like if you stop going to the gym and go back after a month and you feel like you have to start from an earlier point to re-train your body again. It’s the same with critical thinking. If we aren’t using the skills, they will need polishing up.
To answer this blog post question about whether we are born with critical thinking skills. I think it’s all based on learned behaviours and the elements I have mentioned in this piece. Critical thinking whilst having the cloak of objectivity, has so much subjectivity involved so it’s a difficult question to answer with confidence. This blog is a presentation of my views and currently, this is what I think.
Please note, the ideas in this blog are based on my own reflective and observational analysis, I wanted to share these thoughts.
If you found this blog post intriguing and wish to delve further into critical thinking, feel free to explore my podcast, Talking CriticalEd.
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