What prompts us to think critically? What holds us back from critical thinking? How can we do more of it? And how can we get others to do it? Show & Tell presents the ideas of Steve Joordens to answer all these questions and more.

1. Based on a talk by Steve Joordens -
Professor of Psychology, University of
Toronto Scarborough
CRITICAL
THINKING

2. How we form
opinions (according
to William James):
1. We have a heap of old
opinions already
How the
world
works

3. 2. We meet a new experience
that puts them to a strain:
• someone contradicts us
• we find our beliefs contradict
each other
• we hear facts that don’t tie up
with our beliefs
• we have a desire that our beliefs
don’t satisfy
WTF?!

4. 2. We meet a new experience
that puts them to a strain:
• someone contradicts us
• we find our beliefs contradict
each other
• we hear facts that don’t tie up
with our beliefs
• we have a desire that our beliefs
don’t satisfy
WTF?!

5. 3. We try to escape by
tweaking our mass
of opinions
4. But we still try to keep
as much of our old
beliefs as we can
Hmmm

6. BUT are we REALLY so
ready to change our
views?

7. BUT are we REALLY so
ready to change our
views?
I think not.

8. In reality, we
face a number
of issues.

9. Indoctrination
This is when everyone else
around us believes something,
making it very easy for us to
accept that belief without
thinking too hard about it

10. The MEDIA
indoctrinates us
by pushing views
to us daily as if
they’re fact.

11. The MEDIA
indoctrinates us
by pushing views
to us daily as if
they’re fact.
Fashion magazines
push a particular
image of beauty
that we end up
buying into.

12. This is the fact that we unconsciously try
to be like the people we most admireModelling
007 strikes
again

13. Our ability to think
rationally is something
which develops
over time.

14. So even before we’re able
to think rationally, these
other influences are able
to have their effect.

15. “Society
attacks
early,
when the
individual
is helpless.”
B. F. Skinner

16. How then do we get
people to do it?
So it’s not really
natural to think
rationally.

18. NOT SO
EASY.

19. Confirmation bias
This is our natural tendency to look for
data that fits what we already believe and
ignore the data that doesn’t.

20. Most people are open-minded about
the ideas they already agree with.

21. But what the heck good is that?!?!
Most people are open-minded about
the ideas they already agree with.

22. So you see why it’s so difficult to get
people to think critically.

23. Let’s do a live
experiment on
critical thinking.

24. SLAVERYSLAVERY

25. Slavery was
around in
America
until 1865.
SLAVERY

26. Slaves were
subjected to all
types of abuse –
physical abuse,
sexual abuse, etc.

27. Slaves were
subjected to all
types of abuse –
physical abuse,
sexual abuse, etc.

28. Slaveowners
didn’t think
there was
anything
wrong with
owning
slaves – it
was just so
common.

29. Many people at that time thought there was
something different about white people and
African Americans that justified unequal treatment.

30. If you were a young white person
growing up in the South at that time,
it might be very easy for you too
to assume that this was normal.

31. So what if you DON’T believe this?
Imagine you are a young white person
in the South in the 1800s but you feel
this is unjustified. That it’s WRONG for
one human to own another.

32. This might depict how you’d feel:

33. In fact…
This is not a quote
about slavery.

34. It is a quote by J.M. Coetzee
about today’s context.
And it goes on like this…

37. He’s talking about eating meat.

38. J.M. Coetzee views eating meat as
another form of INDOCTRINATION.

39. Why do we eat meat? Because our
parents and everyone else around us
eats meat, and we grew up doing it.

40. But did you actually rationalise it?
What if you try to?
Let’s do that a little bit.

41. Here’s one good reason to eat meat:

42. Here’s one good reason to eat meat:
MEAT.TASTES.GOOD.

43. We’ve evolved
to like the taste
of meat. When
food sources
were scarce,
meat provided
fat and proteins
we needed to
survive.

44. But today we can get that
nutritional value in other ways.

45. But today we can get that
nutritional value in other ways.

46. So what are the reasons
NOT to eat meat?

47. Here’s one…
In factory farming techniques,
animals are often confined to
areas no larger than their bodies.

48. They are literally
sitting in their waste every day.

49. They often go
completely insane
before they are
slaughtered.

50. Should animals have the right to
freedom? If not, why not?

51. If we think it’s okay to confine
animals, what is our basis?

52. What is it that we possess and they don’t that
gives us a right to freedom and not them?

53. We as humans generally don’t
think it’s right to inflict pain and
suffering on others.

54. BUT even in the most
‘humane’ factory farming
conditions we are intentionally
inflicting pain and suffering
in horrifying proportions. And
we do it routinely to extremely
large numbers of animals.

55. Still have doubts?
Go to YouTube and type ‘meet
your meat’ to see what goes
on in a factory farm.
BUT even in the most
‘humane’ factory farming
conditions we are intentionally
inflicting pain and suffering
in horrifying proportions. And
we do it routinely to extremely
large numbers of animals.

56. The bottom line is:
If you believe it’s wrong to intentionally inflict pain
and suffering then eating meat conflicts with that.

57. Do you think global warming is a serious concern?

58. Do you think global warming is a serious concern?
Did you know that its main cause is methane
released from raising animals in factory farms
for meat consumption?

59. A UN report in 2006 said the emissions from
raising animals for food are more than that
from all forms of transportation combined
– planes, trains, automobiles, etc.
+ + + +

60. Think how inconvenient it
would be if we could only
get around by walking.
Sigh

61. Think how inconvenient it
would be if we could only
get around by walking.
Yet we could obtain a
greater environmental
benefit if we all stopped eating meat.
Sigh

62. Today the 2 biggest killers
are cancer and heart disease.

63. Today the 2 biggest killers
are cancer and heart disease.

64. • That all life forms deserve freedom
So if you believe:

65. • That all life forms deserve freedom
• That torture is wrong
So if you believe:

66. • That all life forms deserve freedom
• That torture is wrong
• That we should care about the environment
and do what we can to protect it
So if you believe:

67. • That all life forms deserve freedom
• That torture is wrong
• That we should care about the environment
and do what we can to protect it
• That we should strive to be healthy
So if you believe:

68. • That all life forms deserve freedom
• That torture is wrong
• That we should care about the environment
and do what we can to protect it
• That we should strive to be healthy
So if you believe:
…all these beliefs that you hold are inconsistent
with eating meat.

69. Wow.
Do you feel uncomfortable right now?

70. GOOD. THAT’S THE IDEA.
Wow.
Do you feel uncomfortable right now?

71. It’s not easy to think critically.

72. We know there
is information
out there that
conflicts with
our behaviour,
but we are
AVOIDING it.

73. WHY?
Because it means we’ll have to
change how we live.

74. WHY?
Because it means we’ll have to
change how we live.

75. But here’s an idea:
You can be in one state cognitively
and another state behaviourally.

76. For example, I’m
cognitively a vegan. If I
could live the way I really
think I should be living I
would be a vegan.

77. Behaviourally,
I’m not there yet.

78. Behaviourally,
I’m not there yet.
I’ve been slowly
walking in that
direction, and
being careful not
to walk backwards
…but I still love my
cheeses and I do have
some fish now and then.

79. And that’s okay.

80. It’s okay to believe one thing and slowly
work towards changing our habits.
Because if we don’t accept interim states, we’ll never
adopt any views we can’t act on overnight.

81. So here are 3 ways to
Be a critical thinker

82. Have big ears
Be open minded about what you listen to. Welcome information. If you express an opinion
and someone doesn’t agree, don’t get mad – get thankful. Listen to them.
“Why don’t you believe what I believe? What’s the information you have that I don’t?”
Consider that information and incorporate it.

83. Don’t be worried about expressing what you currently believe to be true. Do it often. Just
don’t view it as etched in stone. Opinions should be viewed as current working
hypotheses based on the information you have now. You express them to get a reaction
– maybe resonance but hopefully some people say “No, I don’t agree. I have a different
perspective.” And those are the people you want to listen to and whose information you
want to use to revise your opinion.
Have a big mouth

84. Keep an eye out
If you have the nagging suspicion that if you had more information about something
your opinion about it would change, if you value rational thought, you have to learn
more about it. These situations are the toughest because we know that once we learn
more we’re going to have to change the way we live. And we naturally try to avoid
things that disrupt our lives. But especially in situations involving ethics, we have to
throw ourselves into the new information.

85. THANK YOU!
Go forth and think critically!

86. Information:
Steve Joordens - Professor of
Psychology, University of
Toronto Scarborough
Slide design:
Show & Tell
www.showandtell.guru
THANK YOU!
Go forth and think critically!

87. Information:
Steve Joordens - Professor of
Psychology, University of
Toronto Scarborough
Slide design:
Show & Tell
www.showandtell.guru
For more
information on meat
consumption see:
The Philosopher and
The Wolf
Animals Like Us
THANK YOU!
Go forth and think critically!

88. www.showandtell.guru
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