Neuroscience and Critical Thinking

Arguments from authority are the "because I said so" argument; the argument that just because someone is in charge, their argument is correct. This type of fallacy can also apply to people who seem believable just because they have traits perceived as positive; for example, "Shelly volunteers at a shelter and is a good person, therefore what she believes about organic food is right." The darkest side of this fallacy is often found in cults, where people fall prey to the tendency to believe people in authority who are charismatic. People evolved to want to exist in cohesive social groups where they can follow a leader. This respect helps keep society together, but it cannot override rational thinking

part of critical thinking is being able to hold a well-reasoned, calm, intellectual debate.

Emotions and "gut instincts" tend to guide us to conclusions that

However, history is full of strange events—this is how the world works. There are coincidences all the time! This is part of something called "the law of large numbers," where the number of events and circumstances happening in the world every day is so large that strange things are bound to happen.

Everyone is a bit of a conspiracy theorist at heart. People love the idea that broad organizations are what is keeping them from achieving their goals, instead of their own flaws and mistakes. This is because humans developed pattern-recognition traits as an evolutionary tool to aid in survival;

The goal of an argumentative debate should always be to find any underlying fallacies or faulty premises, not to destroy the other side

Having awareness of how your thoughts work is the first step toward developing critical thinking skills.

There is another type of intelligence called "emotional intelligence." This is where you're aware of your emotions, know what they are, and are able to control them enough that you can actually use them to help you solve problems. This means that you can healthily process your own emotions and understand and empathize with other people.

As a species, we feel a deep psychological need for meaning in our lives.

This reaction is behind such powerful reactions as nostalgia and homesickness. Advertisers often capitalize on these emotions, and try to remind us of familiar things to form a connection and make us feel safe with a product.4