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Word Document - Critical Thinking Step-by-Step

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Word Document - Critical Thinking Step-by-Step

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Reason for Belief #3 - Emotional Connections (Article)

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Reason for Belief #3 - Emotional Connections (Article)

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Definition:
Humans are extremely emotional creatures, we tend to say & do things that could be considered irrational by others and sometimes even ourselves at a later date (ex. continuing to pay a Psychic Detective to search for a missing family member even after they provide no results because you cannot let go). The reason for this is that our brain & heart need to work in tandem to function successfully, but sometimes emotions take over and let our rationality go out the window.

Connection:
Here is an article that discusses the emotional connection in the human mind. It provides a few different talking points regarding the human emotional spectrum.

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The heart is essential to our life, pumping oxygenated blood throughout our body. But it's also the place where we experience many of our feelings - from a quickening beat when we see our loved one step off an airplane after a long separation, to a painful pause that happens when we hear bad news.

People have known for a long time about this intimate connection between the physical sensations of our body and the emotions that arise in response to the world. In fact, this link is a favorite subject of many poets, as in this line from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself: "Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes under its ribs."

Recent research has started to show that this connection is very real. Being perceptive to the physical sensations within our heart - and possibly other parts of the body - is linked to our emotional capabilities. Some researchers even suggest that people may one day be able to shift their emotional state by learning how to tune into the beating of their own heart.

The ability to monitor the physiological condition of your own body is called interoception. While most of us are aware of our heartbeat, bladder pressure and hunger to some degree, there's wide variability in how sensitive we are.

But people who have a natural capacity to monitor the internal state of their own body have been shown "to be more intuitive, experience stronger emotional arousal, have better memory for emotional material, and perhaps be better able to control their negative emotions," Vivien Ainley, a neuropsychologist at the University of London, told Psychology Today.

This connection between the physical sensations in our body and our emotions extends to the neural processes in our brain.

In a 2012 study in NeuroImage, researchers asked people to monitor their heartbeat and then watch videos of people sharing emotional stories. Both activities resulted in similar patterns of activation in the insular cortex - the location in the brain that is involved in interoception and emotions.

Another study, published in Human Brain Mapping in 2013, produced similar results. In the paper, the authors wrote: "These results suggest that attending to the bodily state underlies awareness of one's emotional state."

Given that people who are adept at monitoring the state of their own body tend to be more emotionally intuitive, it's tempting to think that training the mind to be more internally aware would lead to heightened emotional abilities.

This line of thought is especially tempting because when people displayed worse interoceptive awareness, "the less intense were their experiences of positive emotion in daily life, and the more likely they were to have difficulty with everyday decision making," Daniella Furman, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Stanford University, told Psychology Today.

Many techniques - including meditation - aim to put us in touch with our own body, as well as our own mind, by providing feedback and training. It may be too early to say, however, how much of our emotional state we can alter simply by listening more closely to our heart.

Heart
The deliciousness of milk and honey is the reflection of the pure heart:
from that heart the sweetness of every sweet thing is derived.
The heart is the substance, and the world the accident:
how should the heart's shadow be the object of the heart's desire?
Is that pure heart the heart that is enamored of riches or power,
or is submissive to this black earth and water of the body,
or to vain fancies it worships in the darkness for the sake of fame?
The heart is nothing but the Sea of Light:
is the heart the place of vision of God-and then blind?

~ Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi

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The Brain-Heart Connection: Emotions, Feelings and Health | Science and Nonduality

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The heart is essential to our life, pumping oxygenated blood throughout our body. But it's also the place where we experience many of our feelings - from a quickening beat when we see our loved one step off an airplane after a long separation, to a painful pause that happens when we hear bad news.

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Reason for Belief #2 - Agenticity (Video)

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Reason for Belief #2 - Agenticity (Video)

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Definition:
People tend to try forcing an explanation onto things they do not understand. Sometimes people will create a powerful outside force (ex. Aliens, Angels & Demons, Ghosts & Spirits). There isn't really any proof against these forces, but not many are substantiated either.

Connection:
Here is a video of Michael Shermer briefly discussing Agenticity and our tendency to try to explain what we don't always understand.

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Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science

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Michael Shermer describes how people tend to find agency even in complex systems and inanimate things -- from his Denver talk.

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Reason for Belief #1 - Patternicity (Image)

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Reason for Belief #1 - Patternicity (Image)

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Definition:
The human brain is capable of generating patterns out of literally any image presented to us. For example, when people see the image of Christ appear in a stain or on food.

Connection:
Patternicity is at work in this image, take a close look at knotted piece of wood and try to actively avoid seeing a dog's face.

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Definition:
The "Red Herring" red flag indicates anything that is designed to distract the audience from the original point. It's often something irrelevant or purposely attention grabbing. See also, misdirection.

Connection:
In the film "22 Jump Street", the main characters are following a suspect who has a tattoo, it turns out that he does not have the tattoo they're looking for & he has a tattoo of a literal Red Herring instead.

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Red Flag #2 - Suppression by Authorities (Article)

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Red Flag #2 - Suppression by Authorities (Article)

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Definition:
The "Suppression by Authorities" red flag refers to the implication or claim that a large outside force (ex. The Government, The Illuminati, Freemasons, Girl Scouts of America, etc.) is somehow preventing information from reaching the masses.

Connection:
In a real-life example of this. The internet in China is heavily censored, the government controls what the population is able to post & view. This article highlights some of the restrictions placed on it.

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Internet Access in China - Wi-Fi, the China Firewall, VPNs

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Find out about China's Internet access, from Wi-Fi connections to Internet cafes, Internet censorship and VPNs to useful apps.

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Definition:
The "Confirmation Bias" red flag refers to a specific type of hypocrisy where people will seek out any & all information that validates what they believe in / subscribe to, while at the same time ignoring even concrete & normally undeniable evidence that proves them wrong. (ex. Climate Change Denial, people ignoring video/photographic evidence, etc.)

Connection:
In this video, "Big Think" talks about several points that correlate to Confirmation Bias. They also performed an extremely interesting experiment on the subject.

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Facts Don't Win Fights: Here’s How to Cut Through Confirmation Bias | Tali Sharot

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If you want someone to see an issue rationally, you just show them the facts, right? No one can refute a fact. Well, brain imaging and psychological studies are showing that, society wide, we may be on the wrong path by holding evidence up as an Ace card.

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Definition:
The "Mystical Energy" red flag refers to claims that certain people/objects/etc. are capable of harnessing mystical energy (ex. Chakra, Aura, Prana, etc.) and that this energy can directly benefit you. Many of these examples are rooted in Ancient Religions/Beliefs, you should only be wary when someone is trying to sell it to you.

Connection:
This chart shows a "Chakra Alignment", which displays several points of "Mystical Energy" harnessed within the human body. Chakra can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern religions.

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Definition:
The "Proof by Verbosity" red flag refers to an overabundance of information being presented, in any context (ex. a debate, an interview, etc.), often it's irrelevant to the actual topic or there is so much of it that it's difficult to pull the important points from it. For example, insisting someone to read a lengthy book/paper instead of making it point-form or palpable.

Connection:
In this scene from "Parks & Recreation", Leslie Knope deploys a "Fillibuster" which is a tactic used in politics to stop a senate from voting by either debating the topic at great length or wasting time until the vote is delayed.

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Parks and Recreation - Leslie's Filibuster Clip