This document discusses various factors that influence decision making, including involuntary decision making, authority figures, peers, groupthink, and interpersonal needs. It also discusses critical thinking strategies like defining problems, analyzing assumptions, considering multiple interpretations, and tolerating uncertainty. The key takeaways are that decision making is influenced by habits, others' opinions, and emotional needs, and critical thinking examines decisions carefully by considering various perspectives and evidence.

1.  By Michelle Anderson
 Critical Thinking
 Marteney

2.  Involuntary decision making is a learned
pattern of acting or thinking and it’s made
out of habit or repetition.
 We respond to a given situation.
 To avoid getting in trouble, as critical
thinkers, we need to be think carefully
before crossing the street.
 Hidden persuaders such as the use of visual
stimuli, accelerated speech, use of
embedded images, and hidden messages
help influence our decision making.

4.  Allows us to examine all the information
available.
 We are actively participating in the
decision making process.
 It is influenced by credible
sources, authority figures, one’s
peers, groupthink and the interpersonal
needs for affection, inclusion and
control.

5.  People that we trust and look to for help,
guidance, or direction in making a
decision.
 Advertisers poll the American public
yearly to determine which celebrities are
popular called Q-rating.
 We are more likely to trust people that
are more credible.

7.  Occurs when we voluntarily seeks the
support/approval of others as the basis
for our decision making.
 Can be highly influential from using
drugs, smoking/drinking and shoplifting.
 We are influenced by peer groups even
if they are strangers.

8.  Irving Janis defines it as the mode of thinking that
persons engage in when concurrent co-seeking
becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that
it tends to override any realistic appraisal of any
alternative courses of action.
 Occurs when we desire cohesiveness and
harmony within a group.
 Spouses suffer from groupthink when they choose
not to argue with their spouses even when they
disagree with their decision.

9.  Is the first interpersonal need to have in
our lives.
 We need to be loved and give love to
others.
 Our need for intimacy is satisfied through
close physical and emotional one-to-
one relationships as we mature.

10.  Is the need to exert some real
power/influence over decision-making in
a relationship.
 This need is met after we are given
responsibility for the outcome of a
decision in a relationship.

11.  We view probability calculations
differently.
 Careful calculations, experiences,
predictions, observations and analysis
weigh heavily as factors shaping the
probability that the claim present is valid.

12.  Ask Questions; be willing to wonder.
 Define the Problem.
 What evidence supports or refutes this
argument and its opposition?
 Analyze Assumptions and Biases.
 Control Emotional reasoning.
 Don’t Oversimplify.
 Consider other Interpretations.
 Tolerate Uncertainty.

13.  First, we focus on the outcomes or the
results of our decision making process.
 We, as critical thinkers, must examine the
process used to make our decisions.
 We must be aware of the ethical
implications of the decisions we make.
 Therefore, we need disciplined thinking
to make good decisions.