Antidotes to Groupthink: Critical Thinking
Detachment, and the overarching quality of **appropriate** inner-directedness [more on this at the end of the post], provide a good foundation for becoming groupthink-resistant. But there is one skill that is absolutely crucial to successful groupthink resistance. It is also key to keeping inner-directedness **appropriate**.
This skill is critical thinking. I will say, speaking purely from my own experience, that I have not seen it systematically taught anywhere below the university level. [I'd welcome comments from anyone who has studied logic and rhetoric extensively in elementary, middle, or high school; I'd be thrilled to find out that these things ARE taught, in depth, to the very young.] But whether or not it is taught to us at an early age, it can be learned at any age if the will to learn is present; and once one has experienced the dark side of groupthink, the will to learn can be very strong indeed!
Let me take care of a straw man, now, before going further. I've been amazed at the number of people I've met in realspace who, when I use the term 'critical thinking', immediately flinch or make a sour face, followed by a negative emotional comment about 'critical' or 'hypercritical' people. The word "critical" has several meanings. To wit:
Here, to start with, is a good introductory list of common logical fallacies. You'll find 'straw man' there, but you will also find the entire Groupthink Collection: the appeal to authority [''but a Thought Leader said so! It MUST be true!"], the appeal to belief ["We believe it, so it's true"], and appeals to emotion, flattery, popularity, and a perennial groupthink favorite, the appeal to spite. If you work your way slowly through this list, you may be amazed how often you've encountered the fallacies presented here... and how often they may have been used to persuade you to 'go along' with a group or its Groupthink Guru.
But please: don't take my word for this. Read the list, think about times in your own life - at school, at work, at home, at worship, with friends - in which these very tactics have been applied to you. If you take them slowly, think them over thoroughly, and don't rush, you should be able to come up with a real life instance for just about all of them; and you can probably also remember how and why you realized that many, if not most, of them were indeed fallacies.
You've seen these tricks; we all have, many times. But if you can't articulate them, you can't adequately defend your mind against them. The good news is: this isn't an exam; I won't be asking you to match definitions to names; nobody will. The point of this post, rather, is to give you the words to describe specific tricks that are often used to influence people's thinking and actions, and to show those tricks clearly for what they are.
You don't need to be able to say "Aha, that's a combination of peer pressure, appeal to spite, and an ad hominem attack!" But you will be hugely empowered, once you are able to say "Wait a minute! Y is attacking and discrediting X because Y doesn't like him. That doesn't make X's statements invalid. And the group's threatening to exclude me if I agree with X, just because they prefer Y! That doesn't make X's statements invalid either!" -- which comes down to pretty much the same thing.
For those wanting more than this little 'amuse-bouche', I suggest an in-depth exploration of the Nizkor Project site linked to above, and visits to the following links: enjoy!
Critical Thinking.org
Debating Globalization and Critical Thinking
The Independent Thinker
****************************
Now a few more words about **appropriate** inner-directedness. In earlier posts I've commented that abusers are EXTREMELY inner-directed, and this is true. Abusers are predators. Any predator, when interacting with its prey, is inner-directed relative to that prey. This is the essential meaning of 'it's always all about him/her, never about me, the kids, or anyone else'. This type of inner-directedness in human relations can also be termed 'selfishness'.
**Appropriate** inner-directedness is something very different; and while I don't wish to belabor the point, I do feel that this bears repeating.
Appropriate inner-directedness is self-preserving and self-aware, but it also never loses sight of the existence and legitimacy of other [nonpredatory] selves.
It is self-respecting, and when necessary self-reliant [sadly, this aspect is very often called upon in a predatory work, worship, educational or family setting].
But it is not self-aggrandizing, self-exalting, self-worshipping. It values and respects the self, but does not value and respect ONLY the self. This aspect, the ability of the healthily inner-directed to value not only one's self, but other selves as well, is very important. In fact, it's ... critical.
This skill is critical thinking. I will say, speaking purely from my own experience, that I have not seen it systematically taught anywhere below the university level. [I'd welcome comments from anyone who has studied logic and rhetoric extensively in elementary, middle, or high school; I'd be thrilled to find out that these things ARE taught, in depth, to the very young.] But whether or not it is taught to us at an early age, it can be learned at any age if the will to learn is present; and once one has experienced the dark side of groupthink, the will to learn can be very strong indeed!
Let me take care of a straw man, now, before going further. I've been amazed at the number of people I've met in realspace who, when I use the term 'critical thinking', immediately flinch or make a sour face, followed by a negative emotional comment about 'critical' or 'hypercritical' people. The word "critical" has several meanings. To wit:
1. Inclined to judge severely and find fault.I personally regard some of these definitions as overlapping, but that is not ... critical ... to this discussion. What is important here is that 'critical' thinking does not mean a meanspirited, judgemental seeking to put down things and people. It means a careful -- care-ful -- reasoned, objective assessment of a situation, a person, etc. grounded in an understanding of basic reasoning.
2. Characterized by careful, exact evaluation and judgment: a critical reading.
3. Of, relating to, or characteristic of critics or criticism: critical acclaim; a critical analysis of Melville's writings.
4. Forming or having the nature of a turning point; crucial or decisive: a critical point in the campaign.
5. Of or relating to a medical crisis: an illness at the critical stage.
6. Being or relating to a grave physical condition especially of a patient ["in critical condition in the ICU"].
7. Indispensable; essential: a critical element of the plan; a second income that is critical to the family's well-being.
8. Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency: a critical shortage of food.
9. Fraught with danger or risk; perilous.
10. [Mathematics] Of or relating to a point at which a curve has a horizontal tangent line, as at a maximum or minimum.
11. [Chemistry & Physics] Of or relating to the value of a measurement, such as temperature, at which an abrupt change in a quality, property, or state occurs: A critical temperature of water is 100°C, its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure.
12. [Physics] Capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction [critical mass].
Here, to start with, is a good introductory list of common logical fallacies. You'll find 'straw man' there, but you will also find the entire Groupthink Collection: the appeal to authority [''but a Thought Leader said so! It MUST be true!"], the appeal to belief ["We believe it, so it's true"], and appeals to emotion, flattery, popularity, and a perennial groupthink favorite, the appeal to spite. If you work your way slowly through this list, you may be amazed how often you've encountered the fallacies presented here... and how often they may have been used to persuade you to 'go along' with a group or its Groupthink Guru.
But please: don't take my word for this. Read the list, think about times in your own life - at school, at work, at home, at worship, with friends - in which these very tactics have been applied to you. If you take them slowly, think them over thoroughly, and don't rush, you should be able to come up with a real life instance for just about all of them; and you can probably also remember how and why you realized that many, if not most, of them were indeed fallacies.
You've seen these tricks; we all have, many times. But if you can't articulate them, you can't adequately defend your mind against them. The good news is: this isn't an exam; I won't be asking you to match definitions to names; nobody will. The point of this post, rather, is to give you the words to describe specific tricks that are often used to influence people's thinking and actions, and to show those tricks clearly for what they are.
You don't need to be able to say "Aha, that's a combination of peer pressure, appeal to spite, and an ad hominem attack!" But you will be hugely empowered, once you are able to say "Wait a minute! Y is attacking and discrediting X because Y doesn't like him. That doesn't make X's statements invalid. And the group's threatening to exclude me if I agree with X, just because they prefer Y! That doesn't make X's statements invalid either!" -- which comes down to pretty much the same thing.
For those wanting more than this little 'amuse-bouche', I suggest an in-depth exploration of the Nizkor Project site linked to above, and visits to the following links: enjoy!
Critical Thinking.org
Debating Globalization and Critical Thinking
The Independent Thinker
****************************
Now a few more words about **appropriate** inner-directedness. In earlier posts I've commented that abusers are EXTREMELY inner-directed, and this is true. Abusers are predators. Any predator, when interacting with its prey, is inner-directed relative to that prey. This is the essential meaning of 'it's always all about him/her, never about me, the kids, or anyone else'. This type of inner-directedness in human relations can also be termed 'selfishness'.
**Appropriate** inner-directedness is something very different; and while I don't wish to belabor the point, I do feel that this bears repeating.
Appropriate inner-directedness is self-preserving and self-aware, but it also never loses sight of the existence and legitimacy of other [nonpredatory] selves.
It is self-respecting, and when necessary self-reliant [sadly, this aspect is very often called upon in a predatory work, worship, educational or family setting].
But it is not self-aggrandizing, self-exalting, self-worshipping. It values and respects the self, but does not value and respect ONLY the self. This aspect, the ability of the healthily inner-directed to value not only one's self, but other selves as well, is very important. In fact, it's ... critical.
posted by Stormchild at 31.7.08
7 comments
