Barriers to Thinking

Barries to Critical Thinking

I can clearly Identify three barriers that affect my critical thinking. Enculturation is the main barrier that influence my thought content. Being raised in a small farm town In Indiana, I was sheltered from the vast and various other cultures of todays society. Now that I live in Los Angeles as an adult, I still tend to think in terms of "small town". I often get asked where am I from. The way I speak, dress and react to things is completely different from the natives of Los Angeles. I was brought up to always say "please, thank you and no thank you and I am sorry", basically to have manners and be curtious. Well I am finding here that people are not as curteous, and there is nothing wrong with that in this new society. It is not expected. So in terms of the way that it has affected my thinking, I now think that people in big cities are agressive, rude and have to concept of consideration. It is a dog-eat-dog environment, and everyone is out for themselves. I know that this is my own thought content. I have started to demise some of these steriotypes by making friends and becoming socially involved in church. Realizing that they too are a product of their environment as well. This has helped me become more open minded and I had to start viewing situations from different perspectives.

Emotional Influences almost always affect my way of thinking. For example I manage a very busy fast paced medical clinic. When it is really busy and an attorney calls I will just tell them that will have documents by the end of the day. After hanging up, I think at times if i would have just taken a few more seconds to explain that the documents will be sent the next day, I would not get so stressed. I am a person who likes to keep everyone happy so I make irrational decisions at times which leads me to have more work to do with less times.

My self concept is a barrier that atrributes my characteristics. I am always aware of who I am as a...