Based on

Critical Thinking Concepts & Principles

The Foundation for Critical Thinking
The Miniature Guide
to
The Human Mind
How It Learns
How It Mislearns
by
Dr. Linda Elder
and
Dr. Richard Paul
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
Dear Reader:
To live well is to live as a reasonable and ethical person.
Yet humans are not by nature rational or ethical. Humans are predisposed
to operate in the world in narrow terms of how it can serve them. Their
brains are directly wired into their own pleasure and pain, not that of
others. They do not inherently consider the rights and needs of others.
Yet humans have the raw capacity to become reasonable and ethical persons, to
develop as fair-minded skilled thinkers. But to do so requires:
1. Understanding how the mind works.
2. Using this understanding to develop skills and insights.
This guide addresses the first of these requirements. It lays the conceptual
foundations necessary for understanding the mind, its functions, its natural
propensity toward irrationality, and its capacity for rationality.
It is designed for those interested in developing their potential to be fair-
minded reasonable persons, concerned with how their behavior affects the
lives of others, concerned to develop their full humanity, concerned with
making the world a more civilized and just place.
It is designed for those willing to transform their thinking to improve their
decisions, the quality of their lives, the quality of their interpersonal rela-
tionships, and their vision of the world.
It is intended to provide an initial map to help interested persons begin to
free themselves from the traps their minds have constructed. It points the
way toward mindfulness and self-understanding through critical thinking.
It is, in any case, a beginning place.
Sincerely,
Linda Elder Richard Paul
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
Second Edition 2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
Table of Contents
We Live in Our Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Understanding The Human Mind: The Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
The Mind's Three Distinctive Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-5
The Dynamic Relationship Between Thinking, Feeling, Wanting . . . . . . . . .6
Behavior: A Product of the Minds Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Thinking as the Key to Feelings and Desires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-9
Rational Capacities or Egocentric Tendencies Control the Mind . . . . . . . .10
The Problem of Egocentric Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Distinguish Egocentric from Rational Motives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1214
Feelings That Accompany Egocentrism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
The Logic of Egocentrism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
The Logic of Rationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Distinguishing Egocentric Domination from Egocentric Submission . . . . .18
The Logic of Egocentric Domination and Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . .1920
Pathological Dispositions of the Human Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Challenging the Pathological Dispositions of the Human Mind . . . . . .2223
Defense Mechanisms of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2426
Popular Misunderstandings of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Some Basic Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2931
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
2
As humans
we live
in our
Minds
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
3
Understanding The Human Mind: The Big Picture
The mind is its own place
and in itself
can make a hell of heaven
or a heaven of hell
John Milton
Everyone thinks. It is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking left
to itself is biased, distorted, ill-founded, or prejudiced. Much of our
thinking leads to problems in our lives. Much of our thinking leads to
cruelty and injustice. Of course, the mind doesnt just think, it also
feels and wants. What is the connection? Our thinking shapes and
determines how we feel and what we want. When we think well, we
are motivated to do things that make sense and motivated to act in ways
that help rather than harm ourselves and others.
At the same time, powerful emotions or desires influence our thinking,
help or hinder how well we think in a situation. At any given moment,
our minds (that complex of inner thoughts, feelings and desires) can be
under the sway of our native egocentrism or our potential reasonability.
When we are ruled by our egocentric tendencies, we see the world
from a narrow self-serving perspective. We are not truly concerned with
how our behavior affects others. We are fundamentally concerned with
getting what we want and/or with validating our beliefs and views.
The key to understanding human thought then, is, to understand its
essential duality: its capacity for egocentrism (being trapped in self-
delusion, myth, and illusion) and its capacity for reasonability (freeing
itself from self-delusion, myth, and illusion).
Though thinking, feeling and wanting are, in principle, equally impor-
tant, it is only through thinking that we take command of our minds. It
is through thinking that we figure out what is going wrong with our
thinking. It is through thinking that we figure out how to deal with
destructive emotions. It is through thinking that we change unproduc-
tive desires to productive ones. It is fair-minded reasonability that frees
us from intellectual slavery.
If we understand our mind and its functions, if we face the barriers to
our development that egocentrism represents, if we work upon our
mind in a daily regimen, we can take the steps that lead to our empow-
erment as thinkers.
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
4
!
Thinking is the part of the mind that figures things out. It
makes sense of lifes events. It creates the ideas through which
we define situations, relationships and problems. It continually
tells us: This is what is going on. This is what is happening.
Notice this and that.
!
Feelings are created by thinking evaluating whether the
events of our lives are positive or negative. Feelings continually
tell us: This is how I should feel about what is happening in my
life. Im doing really well. Or, alternatively, Things arent
going well for me.
!
Our desires allocate energy to action, in keeping with what we
define as desirable and possible. It continually tells us: This is
worth getting. Go for it! Or, conversely, This is not worth
getting. Don't bother.
The basic functions of
the human mind
Thinking Feeling Wanting
The Mind's Three Distinctive Functions
The mind has three basic functions: thinking, feeling, and wanting.
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
9
THINKING
the key to
Thinking Feeling Wanting
Your emotions
Your decisions
DO YOU CONTROL YOUR THINKING?
YOUR THINKING
controls you
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
10
Rational Capacities or Egocentric Tendencies
Control the Mind
The three functions of the mind thoughts, feelings and desires
can be guided or directed either by ones native egocentrism or by
ones potential rational capacities. Egocentric tendencies function
automatically and unconsciously. Rational tendencies arise only
from active self-development and are largely conscious.
Feelings
Thoughts
Organized
by
Rational
Capacities
Egocentric
Tendencies
Desires
The Mind
or
The Miniature Guide to Taking Charge of The Human Mind
2004 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
15
Feelings That Accompany Egocentrism
These are some of the many feelings that might accompany
egocentric thinking. They often occur when egocentric thinking
is unsuccessful.
Defensiveness
Arrogance
Apathy
Alienation
Resentment
Depression
Anger
Irritability
Indifference
UNSUCCESSFUL
EGOCENTRIC
THINKING
Essential Idea: When egocentric thinking is successful in getting
what it wants, positive feelings accompany it. But when egocentric
thinking is not able to achieve its purposes, negative feelings result.