What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the practice of analyzing all available evidence before making a judgment, while accounting for known and subconscious biases. It means checking that sources are credible, evaluating the argument, weighing alternate views, and testing the hypothesis.

It’s a learnable skill, not a fixed trait. This article covers the characteristics of critical thinking, the skills behind it, and practical ways to strengthen yours.

Why is critical thinking important?

Critical thinking hinges on being rational and objective, which is useful across disciplines and settings. It’s the keystone of science and the humanities, and it’s essential for anyone who wants information literacy—the ability to engage with information independently, without media or popular bias.

5 characteristics of critical thinking

Critical thinking has five main characteristics that affect any :

Dispositions

Critical thinkers have certain traits and dispositions that let them think through every part of a problem. These traits include:

Open-mindedness
Respecting evidence and data
Valuing fair-mindedness
Skepticism
Using clarity
Precision
Cognitive flexibility

Argument

Making sound arguments—backed by supporting evidence—is part of critical thinking. You’ll consider several arguments for and against before coming to your reasoning.

Reasoning

You’ll need reasoning to draw a conclusion from the facts and data in your . Once you’ve worked through various arguments, you can determine your standpoint.

Criteria

Something must meet certain conditions to count as factual. Critical thinking means you can discern fact from fiction.

Metacognition

Metacognition is thinking about your own thoughts—analyzing them and seeing other avenues of thinking. It helps you reach better hypotheses and more definite conclusions.

6 key critical thinking skills

Six thinking skills help a critical thinker reach a thorough conclusion:

Identifying bias

Identifying your bias is a major factor in critical thinking. Internal bias can alter how you see evidence and read project data. It’s also worth uncovering bias when working with people, since it can create workplace inequalities and group discord.

Inference

Inference is the ability to draw a logical conclusion from the available data and information.

Research

You must research the facts and information to generate your conclusion. Some projects or situations require much more research than others.

Identification

Identification is the ability to spot problems and what’s affecting them. The skill tells you when to analyze a situation after noticing broken patterns or other issues.

Curiosity

Intellectual curiosity means questioning what’s happening around you and exploring different ways of changing or affecting it. Starting with an open, inquisitive mind can help you see things others miss—and think outside the box.

Judging relevance

A data set can contain a wealth of research, but not all of it is relevant. A key part of critical thinking is seeing what is and isn’t important.

Judging relevance keeps you focused, so you don’t wander into parts of a project or data set that aren’t essential to your conclusion.

An example of critical thinking skills

Imagine you’re reading about a new drug, and one article shows thrilling results.

Thinking critically, you compare the study cited in the article with other results. You discover it’s an outlier—most other research has shown the drug is ineffective in treating the condition.

You take another look at the first journal article and see the drug company paid for it. With the outlier results, bias, and conflict of interest, you reject the study’s conclusion.

9 actionable tips to improve critical thinking skills

Want to improve your critical thinking? Here are a few ways to build the habit:

Play logic games

Spend time on logic puzzles or other games that make you think critically.

Question your assumptions

When you notice you’ve made an assumption, question it and think about where that belief stems from.

Ask more questions

Increase the number of questions you ask day to day. Prefer over .

Practice active listening

Most people don’t truly listen to what others say. Developing active listening skills means you’ll pick up far more in conversation.

Go beyond the echo chamber

Diversify your thinking and step outside your comfort zone. That may mean consuming media from a different source or discussing a topic with someone who holds opposing views.

Consider your actions

Before acting, think about the consequences and develop more than one way to respond. After weighing your options, you can form a more logical, less emotional response.

The same applies to problems: try to think of multiple solutions and analyze how you arrived at them.

Look for a mentor

Find a mentor who can guide you through thought processes and new ways to understand your information. Alternatively, find a critical thinking coach or take a course.

Embrace individualism

Forge your own thinking path rather than following the crowd. One way to fend off herd mentality is to stay aware of your thoughts and question what others are following.