Asking the Hard Questions
How Assumptions Destroy Critical Thinking
The correlation between discernment and digging deeper
Now more than ever, assumptions are rampant wherever we go and whoever we talk to and whatever we watch. Whether it is a news anchor, congressman, or your neighbor next door, we all obtain and form assumptions which underlie our theories, beliefs, and actions.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines to assume as “to take as granted or true”. Dictionary.com goes a little farther and defines assume: “to suppose to be the case, without proof”. The “without proof” part is the kicker.
When one assumes something, they are only relying on their intuition, prior experience, or emotion as evidence. A white police officer assumes the black guy walking down the cop is up to something. A black guy assumes a white man in a suit is a rich, capitalist jerk. See how sneaky assumptions and presumptions control our view of the world and what is front of us? Presumptions and assumptions are applied to all areas of life: Religion, health, politics, and education. Every area of life has a theory behind it with a set of assumptions that need to be understood.
The dichotomy between the white and black man is not the only black and white example of the destruction of misplaced assumptions. Your doctor, psychologist, teacher all assumes and presume as well based on minimal to no evidence.
A kid can’t stand still in class? The teacher assumes ADHD. Woman with writhing pain in her right temple? The doctor assumes she is only having a temporary migraine. A girl has been sad for over a week? The therapist assumes she suffers from depression. What could rid us of making these hasty hypotheses is a little something called critical thinking? OOOOOOOOO…… AAAAAAAAHHHHHH……
Critical thinking requires us to look at the source of the problem in everything, through evidence and research thus avoiding assumptions that allow us to believe something based on false inferences. Before we just agree with what another person says, we need to ask questions. And lots of them. As we ask more questions, we can more easily think outside the box and think rationally, as well.
A common theme of the modern today is we are taught what to think not how to think.
When was the last time you heard a news anchor say, “What I am saying now is a theory, not a fact. Please go out and ask a couple of questions I give here to spark your curiosity and come up with your own hypothesis.” Not in my experience. This is where technology has hurt and helped us. If we do not know the answer, we utilize the internet rather than follow a process for solving the problem.
Now, I use the internet for research, and it has been a critical tool in my thinking process. But I find that in my experience (aka assume) the majority of millennials just take the easy route straight to the answer. There is a good deal of information out there these days. Scratch a good deal. There is an excessively copious amount of information.
Opinions, biases, presumptions, and assumptions saturate our daily conversations, thoughts, and lives. It is up to the individual to not take what is said and seen as they are.
Without questions that lead us to find the truth, society will become more and more divided. Discerning what is fact and what is fiction not only shapes our diagnoses and beliefs but our actions.
The actions you take today are a reflection of your beliefs, so let us take responsibility and ask the hard questions regarding the underpinnings of those beliefs.
©Maddy Roh
