"Critical thinking keeps you alive by helping you avoid bad information that can harm your health. It beats brilliance because breakthroughs and fortunes often come from questioning the obvious. Your brain works against critical thinking; it's wired to agree with others and protect your existing beliefs. Critical thinking can be trained by checking original sources and getting comfortable with being wrong."
"City rats face a daily buffet. Pizza crusts. Half a bagel. Spilled fries. But mixed into this feast could be poisons. One careless bite and that is the end of the story. So how do rats survive? They hesitate. When a rat encounters unfamiliar food, it often lets another rat eat first. If nothing happens, the observer will join in later. If the taster gets sick or dies, that food is banned forever."
Rats survive urban environments by exhibiting cautious sampling of unfamiliar food: observers let others taste first and avoid items that cause illness, a behavior called bait shyness. Humans face a similar landscape of nutritious and toxic information but often accept claims without verification, increasing risks such as vaccine refusal driven by false links to autism. Critical thinking outperforms mere brilliance by questioning obvious assumptions and enabling breakthroughs and prudent choices. The human brain resists critical thinking through conformity and belief-protection mechanisms. Critical thinking skills can be trained by consulting original sources and cultivating comfort with being wrong.
Read at Psychology Today
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