ABSTRACT
Critical thinking is one of the most vital and indispensable components of learning. Thought principles or “metathoughts” are cognitive tools that provide the user with specific strategies for inquiry and problem solving. Some metathoughts explain how people may incorrectly view social phenomena. For example, dichotomous variables are a matter of classification, whereas continuous variables are a matter of degree; yet people have a tendency to dichotomize variables that, more accurately, should be conceptualized as continuous. Barnum statements are one-size-fits-all descriptions that are true of practically all human beings but do not provide distinctive information. The problem with Barnum statements is that they are so generic and universal they have little value. Additional metathoughts include various types of biases, such as the assimilation bias, the representative bias, and the availability bias. Metathoughts that involve incorrect and faulty assumptions include the fundamental attribution error, the self-fulfilling prophecy, correlation versus causation, and the naturalistic fallacy. The chapter concludes with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of metathoughts.
