Six Stages to Becoming a Master Thinker
A scientifically-backed method
Critical thinking is a skill that can be developed just like any other skill — with practice.
You want to build your critical thinking skills just like you would a muscle. Certain mental activities will help you strengthen your critical thinking skill, much like lifting weights will help you gain muscle mass. As you do, you will progress through six stages. As you advance through the stages, you will find you have more control over your life and can do better in the world.
According to psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul, these are the six stages.
First, be an “unreflective thinker” by rarely thinking for yourself.
At this stage, you don’t really dive deeper into ideas and tend to accept things at face value.
An unreflective thinker will take action based on preconceived notions, regardless of the reality of a situation. They may be guided by unexamined prejudices and inaccurate information, none of which they bother to question. You’ll see a lot of these folks online.
We’ll call them sheep because they tend to follow and believe whoever acts like they know something, even someone ignorant or destructive.
How do you become an unreflective thinker: Believe everything you read, don’t reflect on your assumptions, don’t write out your thoughts on paper for examination. Just go with whatever your “gut” tells you, even if your gut is wrong.
Second, become a “challenged thinker” by questioning your current beliefs and ideas.
This thinker at least acknowledges the value of reflection, but may not examine their thinking as often as they should.
The challenged thinker knows that they can’t accept everything at face value or based on a hunch and is, in theory, willing to examine their own thoughts. However, they may not fully recognize the extent of their errors of thinking.
How do you become a challenged thinker: Start to question your assumptions and beliefs.
For example, if you believe that sickness is caused by punishment for past immoral actions, ask yourself if you can absolutely know that belief to be true?
Start journaling every morning about some of your basic beliefs and determine if you truly know that belief to be true.
Third, become a “beginning thinker” by examining where your beliefs and ideas come from.
At this stage, the thinker actually begins to examine their assumptions and beliefs.
A beginning thinker may be slow and limited when examining their ideas, but they at least spend time questioning their assumptions and ways of thinking. They look at the source of their beliefs and question the credibility of that source.
They may not examine all their belief and they may still cling to them (even if mistaken) after their examination, but they have at least started the journey.
How do you become a beginning thinker: Look at some of the basic beliefs that you uncovered in the second stage. Journal about them again, but this time ask yourself where these beliefs came from. How did you get it?
In my example, a person who believes sickness is punishment may want to figure out where they got that belief. Was it from a parent, a couple of incidents in which a quick judgment was made, or maybe a leader of some kind?
Now ask yourself, is this a credible source for this belief? What other sources might contradict this idea?
Ask this question of many of your beliefs, both small and large.
Fourth, become a “practicing thinker” by holding your thoughts and beliefs up against reality.
This stage really gets the thinker to start thinking about the nature of their own thinking, i.e. metacognition.
Metacognition means that you think about your thinking. You question your thoughts. You notice your patterns of thinking.
However, people in this stage aren’t perfect and don’t entirely examine every thought and assumption critically. Most people don’t make it past this stage.
How do you become a practicing thinker: Continue to journal about your thoughts. Notice your assumptions. Could they be held on by inaccurate information?
At this stage, many people start to read and research ideas from credible sources. They’ve thought about where information comes from and desire to find accurate information, even if it contradicts their own belief.
In my example, the believer in karmic sickness may read up on the biological causes of sickness. They may research patterns of who gets sick and who doesn’t. They bring all this information together and weigh it against their former beliefs. They adjust their belief accordingly.
Fifth, become an “advanced thinker” by valuing truth above your own ideas and exploring different perspectives.
The advanced thinker takes all the practices of the practicing thinker and makes them a habit.
The advanced thinker values “intellectual integrity,” meaning they want to see the truth no matter what. With boldness and courage, they examine even their most basic assumptions. Any new information adjusts their previously held beliefs. They start seeing things from other people’s perspectives and see why those people might view things another way.
In short, the master thinker has mastered the art of metacognition and self-examination.
How do you become an advanced thinker: Read and reflect.
Read different ideas and different perspectives. Think about what you read. Come up with contradictions. Embrace complexity and areas of gray. Flip ideas on their head. Start to combine ideas and dissect ideas. Analyze them based on past knowledge.
Learn about logic and logical fallacies (you can easily find them described online). Join quality debate teams online. Read newspapers and opinion pieces that examine ideas thoroughly and allow for complexity. Take notes of important ideas.
And then, write all your thoughts and questions down in your journal.
Sixth, become a “master thinker” by learning everything you can about the world and letting reality guide your life decisions.
A master thinker does all of the above all the time. They welcome the challenge to their way of thinking.
The master thinker has a strong grasp of the reality of the world, and they constantly update their own way of thinking based on new information and ideas. They have examined all of their core beliefs and held them up to the test of reality. They value accurate information and examine the sources of that information.
A conspiracy theorist looks for ways that facts conform to their beliefs. The master thinker looks to conform their beliefs to the facts of the world.
How do you become a master thinker: Value intellectual integrity and truth above all else.
Regardless of your religion, political beliefs, cultural understanding, or commonly held assumptions, question all of your thoughts and every new idea that comes along. Look where the evidence directs you. Spend a lifetime reading widely about the world. And then develop your own thoughts through your journal and discussions with other thinkers.
When you become a master thinker, you understand the world, which allows you to deal with it on its terms.
And then, you become a master of life.
