Thinking And Decision Making

Thinking And Decision Making

Thinking and Decision-Making Paper
Elizabeth Jones
MGT/350
March 13, 2011
Dominic deLacy

Thinking and Decision Making Paper
Critical thinking is the process of skills that allows an individual to analyze, evaluate, generate, and gather information, which is used to make a decision or solve a problem. This process and skills allows an individual to use information, decide if the information has bias, and accurately make a decision (Michael Scriven and Richard Paul, 1987).   There are different styles of thinking used in the critical thinking process. Three of these styles are optimistic, scientific, and logical. These styles have similarities as well as differences. Each style of thinking has an effect on the critical thinking process, and the individual as they go through the steps of the process. It is important for an individual to understand the different styles of thinking to better evaluate their process of critical thinking and to increase the effectiveness.
Scientific Thinking
One important style used in the critical thinking process in the scientific thinking style. This style is important and very valuable as it is the basis for a lot of research and innovative thought, which eventually results in societal, medical, and humanistic advancements and realizations of new facts. This current day and age is heavily focused on science and research. As a result, scientific thinking is a critical part of our progression and innovation. Understanding the scientific method (which consists of four steps: observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and verification) is vital to this thinking style. The scientific method is essentially the foundation for which scientific research is based on and therefore advancements are made. This thinking style is based soundly on observation. This thinking style is the different from other styles in that respect. It starts with an idea or a hypothesis and thoughts are generated in attempts to prove/disprove it. The ultimate...