Connection: The amazon listing above is of a paranormal device called a spirit box. In the description they use scientific sounding language that is meaningless. They say “The P-SB7 Spirit Box utilises a milli-second adjustable Forward or Reverse frequency sweep technique coupled with a proprietary high frequency synthetic noise or white noise distributed between frequency steps.” The critical thinking process has been used multiple times to debunk the functionality of this tool.

Connection: Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London were skeptical of psychic abilities. They used the critical thinking process to define the claim, recognize their own bias, evaluate the sources used for their research(make sure that they used reputable sources),  evaluate the evidence, summarise their work to create a conclusion, create anecdotes and demonstrable validity of their  research by putting it into practise by creating an experiment using the scientific method. After the test concluded, the researchers stated that their test showed that psychic ability don't exist. One of the mediums Patricia Putt rejected the results stating that she “needed to work face-to-face with people or to hear their voice, so that a connection could be established.” In her opinion psychic ability can not be measured using a scientific method. Many believers online agreed with her, that science can't explain mythical abilities. They all were unable to use critical thinking to recognize their own bias that was a barrier to critical thinking processes because of group thinking.

Connection: The image above is of a psychic. Psychics often use various techniques to create an illusion of accuracy or mystery. For example they often use vague/general statements that could apply to a wide range of individuals, they also gather information about an individual in advance and ask leading questions that guide the individual to reveal information about themselves, which they can use to make the reading seem more accurate. Alot of their customers only remember the “hits” and forget about the “misses”. By only remembering the “hits” they are only confirming their own bias. To avoid this they should go into the meeting with a skeptical mind and use the critical thinking process to recognize their bias and evaluate the evidence to come to a conclusion. They should remember that a lot of the people claiming to be psychic are only using pseudoscience to garner fame and money. 

Connection: Our religious and political beliefs can impact our decisions because they unknowingly create biases that we aren't able to recognize immediately. These biases can create a barrier to critical thinking if not acknowledged.   

Connection: The image above is a naturally forming hill that our brain immediately perceptually identifies as a horse. Our brain constantly is looking for patterns. Depending on our experiences we will all see different things. 

Connection: The link is a reddit post where someone had a dream that their cousin died. When he woke up he was notified that cousin had died. He doesn't understand what just happened, so his brain went to the simplest answer. He manifested his own dream. In actuality it's most like a precognitive dream. Where the brain takes the information it has and dreams about the most likely scenario.  

 
Connection: The link above is an article created by the CDC stating that vaccines do not cause autism. There is a large portion of the world that believes that vaccines cause autism in children. This conspiracy theory has been debunked thousands of times. Scientific studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism.  When listening to conspiracy theories it's best to be skeptical and use critical thinking to come to your own conclusion based on the evidence you have presented in front of you.  

Connection: The article written by Riley Black talks about a television series called Ancient Aliens. In the show they often spew a large amount of non factual information at the audience in hopes that the audience is not able to digest information and use the critical thinking processes to understand that the information that they are being given is untrue. Multiple times in an episode they will say one thing and then immediately contradict themselves. As pointed out in this article they can’t seem to decide whether the aliens exterminated dinosaurs 66 million years ago or whether the dinosaurs somehow managed to survive and are currently still alive. This isn't the only article to debunk the information in Ancient Aliens. There are hundreds.

Connection: The link above is a youtube video created and published by “Wireless Philosophy”. It is a phenomenal video that goes in depth about "Red Herring". The video also teaches the audience to always be skeptical about the information they are being given and gives them the necessary information about "Red Herring". To be used with critical thinking to evaluate the sources of information(make sure that they are reputable sources) and evaluate the evidence given to them.

Connection: There is a popular conspiracy theory that big pharma have developed cures for deadly diseases like cancer. They don't want the cure to be readily available because it won't benefit them financially. This theory has been debunked thousands of times. Big pharmaceutical companies have invested billions in the development of a new treatment method for cancer. If they did truly have a cure it would make sense to release it and get their investment back. 

Connection: We all have our own beliefs systems. That unknowingly may create a bias towards certain topics. Some religions believe in an afterlife, some believe in reincarnation and some believe that there is nothing after we die. These beliefs can create barrier to critical thinking if we don't  recognize our own bias

Connection: The video shows a cup that has a Hershey Kiss in it. We are instructed to follow that cup. When you focus in on the cup you're narrowing your view. You're missing the whole picture. Doing this can cause you to miss important details like a rubber duck being put onto the table. Narrowing our view can cause a barrier to critical thinking because we are so focused one thing, we miss the rest.