Barriers to Critical Thinking

Barriers to Critical Thinking

Jacquelyn Valdez

HUM/114

November 16, 2014

Lisa Hunt

Barriers to Critical Thinking

I sit and think in retrospect sometimes about encounters that I have had with others, and how I could have handled it differently. I think about what instigated the whole scene. Was it my own self-serving bias or emotional barrier that got in the way of my ability to manage this situation maturely? Almost exclusively it is me that stands in the way of pleasant interactions. Throughout this essay I am analyzing three barriers: enculturation, ego defense, and emotion as there are clear patterns of their use in my life.

It is rare that I take a day off to care for myself if I am sick, or complain about things when life gets rough, or even ask for help. The family I grew up in was very hard-working, and perceived a cry for help as weakness and would not be tolerated. Through enculturation, I have the same views. I volunteer in my children’s activities, work full-time, go to school, and atop of it all I am a single parent. I not only vehemently refuse offers for help, but I become offended by the gesture because I think that the person asking is insinuating I cannot do it myself, even though they are just trying to be kind.

The example above is a great segue into my next common barrier: ego-defense, specifically rationalization. My rationale in most cases is someone is insinuating that I am incapable or inadequate if they offer to help out. After some incessant self-reprimanding, I can see that I am being sensitive and expose the gesture for what it really is: compassion. This carries over into the work place too. I want to be viewed as a “hero” I guess because I did an enormous amount of work alone, to satisfy the need to be accepted and viewed in a positive light by others. In my mind, settling for mediocrity does no put you in a visible positions, it places you in a position with all of the other workers that are doing what they need t do to...