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Nonconscious Thinking and Critical Thinking

Quame Ennin

Arizona State University

Psy 304 Effective Thinking

Laura Petrolle Clemons, Ph.D.

May 25, 2024

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Critical Thinking Strategies

Critical thinking is the ability to objectively analyze and evaluate an issue to form a

judgment. The textbook, Thinking Critically, defines critical thinking as “the process of reasoned

judgement. That is, judgment that is both purposeful and reflective” (Facione & Gittens, 2016). A

person with critical thinking skills can strengthen the connection between facts and ideas; as well

as being able to identify a topic, compose an idea based on the topic and analyze the point or

argument being presented. Being an effective thinker requires one to utilize critical thinking

skills. However, being an effective thinker is not exclusive to critical thinkers as one can be a

critical thinker while trusting that their nonconscious self will also be able to lead them to a

reasonable conclusion.The ability to think critically while trusting one’s own nonconscious self

is elaborated in Bechara’s article via an experiment involving how people respond in gambling

situations (Bechara et al., 1997)

Study Summary

The article elaborates on how people respond during complex situations (Bechara et al., 1997).

Deciding advantageously in a scenario requires a person to know the likelihood of favorable or

unfavorable outcomes based on previous experiences, or to have a strong sense of reasoning based on

prior knowledge. The authors performed an experiment to study how people respond to a situation

via a gambling scenario (Bechara et al., 1997).

Each participant was given a deck of cards and was uncertain of the outcomes by turning

each card. There were penalties, rewards, and a lack of certainty in the game to emulate decisions in

real life as people are normally uncertain of what will happen in their own life but will continue to

make informed decisions that typically result in the best outcome. Each player was given four decks

with a loan of $2000 copy U.S bills. The goal was to “lose the least amount of money and win the

most” (Bechara et al., 1997). Each card deck carried rewards with deck A and B carrying a $100

reward and deck C and D carrying a smaller reward of $50. Deck A and B carried the highest reward

but also carried a higher penalty in comparison to deck C and B.

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The unpredictability of receiving a penalty or reward led the participants to think about which deck

they decide to turn over a card. The experiment showed that after experiences a loss or reward,

the players generated SCRs before selecting a card from a bad deck and avoided the decks with a

higher risk. In addition, it was also shown that players with bilateral damage to the ventromedial

prefrontal cortices do neither (Bechara et al., 1997). So, in contrast to those who were aware of

the rewards or losses, those with brain damage were not able to consciously make these decisions

(Bechara et al., 1997)

Interpretation:

The article elaborated on a nonconscious approach to thinking however the book Thinking

Critically elaborates on a conscious approach to thinking. One of the core critical thinking skills is

interpretation, which is defined as the “expression of the meaning or significance of a wide variety of

experiences, situations, data, events, judgements, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures, or criteria”

(Facione & Gittens, 2016). The participants in the card study interpreted the information when

deciding which decks to turn the cards. However, they were utilizing a nonconscious approach in

contrast to the conscious approach described in the textbook. While both can be utilized separately to

interpret information, “the difference between conscious and unconscious processes (regardless of the

appellations ascribed to each process) is an inescapable contrast that is encountered after even a

cursory examination of mental and nervous phenomena” (Morsella & Poehlman, 2013). To apply it to

the card study, the nonconscious approach is displayed when participants were turning cards from

certain decks without definitive understanding why they strategically chose cards from certain decks.

If participants were utilizing a conscious approach, they would have written down statistics of how

often a card deck led to a penalty or reward. If participants wrote down how often turning a card from

each respective card deck, the participants would answer the question of what is happening and how

to make sense out of what they were experiencing,

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The findings demonstrated that people frequently choose well even before fully

comprehending the optimal course of action. This implies that intuitive processes might be

involved in decision-making. All things considered, the experiment emphasizes how difficult

it is to make decisions and how important intuition is when making wise decisions.

Critical Thinking and How It Compares

Critical thinking is an alternative method of making decisions. According to Facconi and

Gittens (2016), there are six fundamental components of critical thinking: interpretation,

analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation

Inference

Making logical inferences and conjectures based on the information at hand and prior

understanding is known as inference. Self-regulation is the capacity to continuously assess

one's own actions and conclusions in light of fresh information (Facione & Gittens, 2016). The

ability to think critically and the unconscious approach to decision making are comparable.

Inference because it makes use of prior experience to decide the optimal course of action even

when the person is unaware of the process. It differs in the sense that the nonconscious

method does not provide a tangible decision, it just points the person in the right direction. In

other words, the brain subconsciously infers what the correct decision could be and presents

the inference in something like a “gut feeling”. Self-regulation is comparable to the

nonconscious approach because in the study, participants began to generate SCRs when a risky

decision was presented (Bechara et al., 1997).

Self-regulation

Self-regulation is another core critical thinking skill defined in the textbook. This skill

involves one’s ability to monitor their own cognitive activities, elements used in those

activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis and evaluation to

one’s own inferential judgements with a view towards questioning, confirming, validating, or

correcting either one’s reasoning or one’s results (Facione & Gittens, 2016). The card study
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also utilized this skill when participants chose card decks that they felt would result in higher

penalties. When peaking of self-regulation with nonconscious thinking, one could argue this

can also be known as one’s gut feeling. However, when speaking in a conscious thinking

approach for Bechara’s 1997 study, one would be asking themselves if the methodology they

are using is working. For example, rather than picking to choose from card deck C or D based

upon a feeling or assumption, the participant would have thought about which card brought

them more in rewards as opposed to a punishment and continue to make their decision based

off this information.

Nonconscious and Conscious Thinking

The difference in nonconscious thinking and critical thinking is that one requires an in-

depth thought process while the other is one based upon prior experiences. Both approaches

are 5 tools that can be used to solve problems. However, if one were able to reconcile these

two approaches, they would be able to become a strong critical thinker as well as an adept

truth- seeker. Critical thinking requires interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation,

explanation, and self-regulation (Facione & Gittens, 2016). These steps require one to use

logic when contemplating an issue. However, sometimes problems aren’t always solvable

through logic. For example, if a person is driving safely behind a car that has just slammed on

his/her brakes, the person would unconsciously slam on their brakes. This reflex could be

based on prior negative experiences and happens so quickly that the driver would not be able

to consciously consider his/her options in this situation.

Nonconscious thinking is typically based on prior experiences and is a reaction

more so than it is a thought process (Morsella & Poehlman, 2013). An example ofthis is

when a stove top has just been turned off. In theory, the stove top should no longer be hot

because the

stove has been turned off. However, one would only know that the stove top is still hot

immediately after being turned off after he/she had experienced it being hot immediately after
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turning off. These two strategies can effectively be used together if one were to use critical

thinking to support a nonconscious thought process. An example would be with the stop top, if

one did not know the stove top was still hot after but saw the coils still had a reddish tint, one

could utilize their critical thinking to interpret, analyze, infer, evaluate, explain, and self-

regulate on this occurrence.

Conclusion

All decision-making processes require some sort of thinking, either consciously or

nonconscious (Bechara et al., 1997). The major difference between these types of thinking is

the ability to think critically and consciously in contrast to thinking nonconscious, as shown in

Bechara’s 1997 study. Utilizing either one of these approaches will likely lead to a reasonable

solution. Thinking nonconscious can be summarized as one deciding based off a feeling while

thinking critically can be summarized as one deciding based off evidence and utilizing the six

core critical thinking skills. In conclusion, the strongest form of effective thinking is utilizing

critical thinking skills to support what the nonconscious is suggesting people to do.
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References

Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding

advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science (New

YorkN.Y.), 275(5304), 1293–1295.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5304.1293

Facione, P. A., & Gittens, C. A. (2016). Think critically. Pearson.

Morsella, E., & Poehlman, T. A. (2013, September 10). The inevitable contrast: Conscious

vs. unconscious processes in action control. Frontier Psychology, 4, 590. https://doi.org/

10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00590

Meszaros, M. (2007). Multiattribute judgment and nonconscious cognition: Further

characterization of the deliberation -without -attention effect (Order No. 3277697).

Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304698162).

http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-

theses/multiattribute-judgment-nonconscious-cognition/docview/304698162/se-2
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Narrative Summary

Most of the revisions made to my paper were regarding citations, APA format, and

clarifying on certain ideas or points made in the paper. Upon going through the whole work I

saw that there were several mistakes I committed on the work which some of them were

unforgivable like the indent and spellings. Which through the work of the article -

httpswaccolostateeduwritingspacesdasbenderpd://../books/2/--critical-thinking. The article

clearly guided me a lot to even know to reference and cite as well as indent. Aside this,

There were numerous annotations stating to cite from the articles which I didn’t do and have

hopefully corrected in this revised paper. Regarding APA format, I made several errors in my

reference page. I utilized links rather than the doi, which is a digital object identifier and

never changes. After working with the writing center, I understand why the doi is a preferred

form of citation over a link as links can be changed and doi’s cannot.

I hope this article will guide me in all my future writings and referencing and more on the

making the academic connection. Most of my sentence I constructed were not having any

link of the subject matter but through the article I have realized the need to construct

paragraph and sentence which has a direct link to the subject matter.
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Article Review Application

Since all effort to book for appointment could not work for me I then made up my mind to

use :Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academicby Gita DasBender.

The core critical thinking skills employed while composing the written assignment

Was The Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric? This tool allowed for accurate explanation of

evidence, thoughtfully analysis and evaluations of alternative views and accounts for results,

procedures, describes assumptions, reasons and follows evidence. (Facione & Gittens,2016). The

application of The Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric allows for a strong argument. I

experienced the most difficult portion of Written Assignment 1 was to compare and contrast the

nonconscious thinking approach to information processing discussed in the article by Bechara et al

(1997) with the critical thinking approaches addressed in the first two modules. I found myself

overwhelmed with the many topics needed to be addressed and compared.

Upon reflecting on the feedback given from the instructor on Written Assignment 1 Infact I was

not at all since many mistakes were committed, But now, I developed clarity and understanding on

the steps needed to be taken, in order for the assignment to improve. I found this feedback to be

useful, but struggled to expand my previous thoughts throughout the assignment. The approaches I

used to overcome this difficulty was attentive reading, noticing key terms and listening important

ideas (DasBender, 2011). These procedures allowed for the obstacles of rewriting writing

assignment one to be overcome errows and mistakes.