Thought is one of the most essential human characteristics. It's intrinsic to almost everything we do. But do we ever think about thinking? How often do we subject our thought process to critical analysis? The answer is, in fact, not often; rather we display a belief perseverance effect – we personally invest in – then cling tightly to – our beliefs and interpretations – which leads to illogical decisions by minimizing, distorting or ignoring facts that go to the against our reality. To show this trend and its frequency, let me cite a few: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayAdolf Hitler (1889-1945) – GERMAN NAZI LEADERIt's good to be open-minded, but not so open-minded lose your mind. Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the first one. The figures mentioned above have tried to demonstrate that we do not think seriously or more accurately, critically. So, what is critical thinking? In other words, do we think about our thoughts? Critical thinking, in simpler terms, can be defined as thinking about thinking. It is a reflective and analytical style of thinking. This involves going deeper, being conscientious about how and why we think the way we do; and questioning; How do we process information? Why is this so? Why do we draw the conclusions that we do? Where is the evidence? How good is this evidence? Is this a good argument? Is this biased? Is this verifiable? What are the alternative explanations? Why are we quick to accept some information as true without further analysis and treat other information as skeptical? What are specific tools for thinking critically? With its foundations in rationality, logic and synthesis, critical thinking allows us to think about our thinking, or in other words, to Metha thinking in cross-cultural psychology; takes us beyond simple description, leading us into the realms of scientific inquiry and reasoning. As such, it promotes free thinking, which then promotes innovations and discoveries. Meta-thinking is a set of skills that, like any skill set, can and should be taught and cultivated. While critical thinking theory can be taught, critical thinking itself must be experienced first-hand. So what does this mean for educators trying to integrate critical thinking into their curricula? We can teach students the theoretical elements of critical thinking. To this end, there are a series of cognitive skills, called critical thinking tools, that can be taught and learned to develop analytical thinking. Meta-thoughts or thinking principles are cognitive tools that provide us with specific strategies for investigating, understanding, and solving problems in cross-cultural psychology. They are cognitive antidotes that help us counter our natural way of thinking (prone to being biased, rigid, simplistic, lazy, etc.). Our thinking guides our daily activities and thus constitutes the most important part of human actions. Yet the attention given to it – thinking about how to think – and the tools provided to guide critical thinking, are insignificant. It is therefore, in order to provide a framework for “critical thinking”, that critical thinking in intercultural psychology reminds us to look closely: biasevaluative of language: to describe is to prescribeDescribe what it is: various phenomena, events, situations and people:Evaluate (how bad or good it is) the same phenomena: “Is it good or bad? be objective, while evaluations are subjective. However, the distinction between objective description and subjective evaluation is less clear because the words describe and evaluate. Whenever we try to describe something or someone, the words we use almost invariably have value! loaded, in the sense that they reflect our own personal likes and dislikes. And the same word can have a different meaning when applied to different things. For example the word hot. For material substances, it literally refers to temperature: ““This liquid is very hot. » But for a person, it takes on a distinctly evaluative connotation: “This person is very sexy. » Another difference (even when talking about specific issues and aspects like describing a person) is that cultural differences and value systems are important; For example, old versus mature narcissist versus high self-esteem terrorist versus freedom fighter C. Another aspect is the reciprocal influence of attitudes and language. Our perceptions, beliefs, values ​​influence our language and vice versa: the way we refer to someone/something shapes the way we perceive and treat them. Examples: “All men cheat” or “All women are money.” oriented »D. Bidirectional relationships also influence the choice of words we use. Politically correct terms. Let's see how names have changed depending on different social and historical contexts. During previous periods; Ashebir/ Aschenaki/ Dilnesa /Dem MellashLater: Abiyot, Hige-mengst wetalign….Now: selam/mogesmore western culture/kana like Obama, Biyonce/Thus, our use of a particular term serves not only to describe, but also to prescribe what is desirable or undesirable to us.Differentiation between dichotomous and continuous variablesDefinition: Dichotomous variables are: two categories ¢ mutually exclusive or contradictoryMale or female, CAfOS doctoral student or not, Married or single, etc.Continuous variables: have points between two opposite polesDependent-autonomous;Normal-abnormalIntelligent-lazyThe problem often leads us to confuse these two types of variables. Specifically, describe things that are continuous as a dichotomous/false dichotomization, for example, ¢ Black versus white ¢ Old versus young ¢ mental health – mental illness, introvert – extrovert bias – impartial; competitive-cooperative autonomous-dependent Pregnant or not pregnant (can't be both… or in between) Not everything is black and white ¢ We tend to do this when describing people or behavior. Continuous variables tend to be more precise and meaningful descriptions or explanations. similarity-difference paradox: First, every phenomenon has something in common and a difference!! Since two events are similar and different, it is crucial to consider them both in your evaluation of the phenomena. And the dimensions or variables you select for evaluation purposes ultimately determine how “similar” or “unique” the phenomena turn out to be. Antidotes When comparing and contrasting two phenomena, ask yourself, “How are they similar?” and “How are they similar?” » different?" "What is the purpose of this analysis?" and choose the most appropriate and relevant dimensions and sorting variables. Carefully select the dimensions on which you will evaluatevarious phenomena. Recognize that the dimensions you select will ultimately determine the degree of “similarity” or “uniqueness” displayed between the two phenomena. Don't be swayed by people who argue that "these events are exactly the same" or "you can't compare these events because they have absolutely nothing in common." » The Burnum Effect: The "Universal" Description/Approach A Barnum statement is a description of the personality of a particular individual or group that is true of virtually all human beings; or it is a general statement that has “a little something for everyone”. Examples: Ethiopians have good tourism potential. (But other countries too!). Women hate being rejected (who doesn't?) Eritreans love their country. The Barnum effect refers to the acceptance of the validity of such overly inclusive and generic assessments about particular individuals. Antidotes/remedies Differentiate Barnum's statements from people and persons. group-specific descriptions and interpretations. Whenever possible and appropriate, reduce the Barnum effect by qualifying descriptions and interpretations of personality in terms of magnitude or degree. Example when the example above is debarnumized: Ethiopians have good tourism potential given their historical heritage. Assimilation bias: seeing the world through a color-diagram lens. A schema is a cognitive structure that organizes our knowledge, beliefs, and past experiences, thereby providing a framework for understanding new events and future experiences. It can be seen as a glass or lens with which we view the world. In the cross-cultural domain, these include sets of perceptions about people based on their age, gender, race, religion, vocation, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, social role, or any other characteristic. See the world through rose-colored glasses. If your glasses are rose-tinted, you'll see the world rosy (and probably full of optimism). If your glasses are cracked and dirty, your outlook on life will likely be skewed. As Jean Piaget (1954, 1970) identified two complementary processes that we use when there is a conflict between our schemas and the new/information or data: Accommodation: modifying our schema to fit the data and Assimilation: modifying the data to fit our schemaAssimilation bias - the tendency to engage in assimilation rather than accommodation to reject rather than accept information.Representativeness bias: adjustments and misadaptations of categorizationHeuristics: a Mental shortcut that reduces complexity and time-consuming tasks to more simple, manageable, practical and effective problem-solving strategies. Empirical strategy for problem solving. In general, heuristics can be great because they allow us to process information quickly. Who has time to completely process everything? However, shortcuts sometimes cause processing errors that could have been avoided if we had fully processed the information. Sometimes the use of heuristics can lead us to underestimate or overestimateExample: the way we represent ethnic groupsAvailability bias: the persuasive power of vivid events. Availability heuristic: refers to the process of relying on instances that are easily accessible or "available" from our memory. This helps us answer questions like, “How many are there?” » “How often does something happen?” » “What are the chances that something will happen?).