By Scott Dockins
Though I lack statistical data, I am willing to bet it is safe to assume that most have heard “What were you thinking?” a time or two. Am I right? As a child, I heard this often. As a parent, I say it often. I still hear it, too, but not from my parents, from my wife. As Forrest Gump said: “Sometimes we all do things that, well, just don’t make no sense.” (1). You may be wondering what this has to do with being a college student, and I must confess, I am wondering the same. Just kidding. Or am I? Implicit in Forrest Gump’s statement is our ability to use reason to form conclusions, i.e., make decisions, and as you have likely “deduced,” the more adept our reasoning abilities, the greater the probability that we avoid “…do(ing) things that, well, just don’t make no sense.” (1), both in and out of academic and professional settings. Now, my exploration of reasoning and decision-making will be broad and terse; my goal is too “prime” that gelatinous thing between your ears, a.k.a. your brain, so you begin your college career thinking about thinking (metacognition) and thus improving your ability to think critically and efficiently in and out of the classroom. First on the agenda is metacognition, then inductive and deductive reasoning, and finally, I will conclude with decision-making, all of which are skills every college student needs to hone to be successful, whether a freshman or beyond.
Meta-What?
I have always considered myself a “thinker,” but I have never given much thought to “thinking about thinking” until college. Metacognition is a five-dollar word referring to intentionally thinking about thinking (2) to improve cognition. Evidently, it is not uncommon for incoming first-year college students to significantly lack “…metacognitive knowledge; knowledge about different strategies, different cognitive tasks, and particularly, accurate knowledge about themselves.” (2). Why does this matter? Well, evidently, metacognition plays a critical part in most cognitive tasks required of your brain, especially those cognitive tasks required by college education, such as: “…oral communication, persuasion…comprehension, reading comprehension, writing, language acquisition, attention, memory, and problem-solving.” (2). An excellent place to start thinking about thinking is by examining how we reason.
Reasoning
Reasoning refers to the”… cognitive processes…” of using data to draw “…conclusions that go beyond that information.” (3), and according to Reasoning Ability and Academic Achievement Among Secondary School Students in Trivandrum, Indian college students, “…reasoning ability and academic achievement…” were positively correlated (4), i.e., the better their reasoning ability, the better they performed in college. Two types of reasoning processes we routinely use are inductive and deductive reasoning.
Inductive Reasoning.
Heuristics or biases are cognitive guides “…built through a lifetime of social and personal experiences.” for the sake of brevity (5) so we can navigate environments efficiently. Heuristics draw general conclusions from specific instances (3) and, thus, are a type of inductive reasoning. Conclusions reached via inductive reasoning are not always accurate (3), so it is advisable to consider the validity of conclusions reached by such methods.
For example, a common quip among my fellow co-workers was “How ya doing?” in which the questionee would snap back with a paradoxical good-hearted, and sardonic, “Living the dream.” One day I was returning from lunch with a newer co-worker and tossed out the usual “How ya doing?” to which they replied, “If a turtle is on a fence post, somebody put it there.” They continued to saunter away as I stood frozen in the aisle, struck by bewilderment and riotous laughter. Now, if you think such a conclusion is obvious, i.e., “Of course somebody put the turtle on the fence post. How else would it get there?” You would probably also conclude, “Anytime a turtle is found on the fence post, somebody likely put it there.” I suspect you would be right. However, if you find yourself concluding that a teacher has it out for you because of a poor grade or their refusal to let you hand in a late paper, you better reexamine your reasoning process because you have fallen victim to an illusory correlation, i.e., concluding that “…a relationship between two events…exist, but in reality, there is no relationship, or the relationship is much weaker than it is assumed to be.” (3) In short, your poor grades are more likely to be due to your poor study habits, while your teacher’s refusal to let you hand in a late paper possibly has more to do with their classroom policy than opinion.
Deductive Reasoning.
When we use deductive reasoning, we are “…determining whether a conclusion logically follows from statements.” (3), such as, “I saw a turtle atop a fence post. Turtles are not good at climbing vertical semi-smooth surfaces. Therefore, somebody placed the turtle on the fencepost.” This is an example of syllogism, the most rudimentary form of deductive reasoning developed by Aristotle (3); syllogisms have three statements comprising two premises and a conclusion (3). Other forms of syllogisms are categorical and conditional syllogisms. How do you know the difference? Well, when premises and conclusions begin with “…all, no, or some…” such syllogisms are categorical, such as: “All insects have six legs. Some insects fly. Therefore, all butterflies are insects that fly.” If the first premise of a syllogism “…has the form “If … then.”, then you have spotted a conditional syllogism, such as If my boys do their chores, they will have the privilege of playing their video games. My boys’ chores are done. Therefore, my boys are playing video games.” Why does deductive reasoning matter? Evidently, “…deductions are an essential component of cognitive development and human thinking…” (6).
Decisions. Decisions.
He (my eldest boy) has a car full of kids, and he’s worried he will have to buy another car, and he just paid 60k for music lessons, bahaha!!!
Decisions, Decisions
As a college student, you will be a full-time problem-solver. You will make countless decisions every day, and the number of decisions required of you will only increase in quantity as you progress in your college career, which is why it is necessary to think about how you think. Every day you will be tasked with “making choices between alternatives.” (3), i.e., making a decision or choice. Sometimes choices will be inconsequential. Other times the consequences of a potential choice will be incalculable. So, when you have the time to actively think, think, as “…conscious thinking…” is likely superior to relying on heuristics when you are not in a time crunch (7). Therefore, to become a good decision-maker, you must have strong metacognitive abilities, which require you to examine not just why or what you are thinking but how you are going about that thinking.
References
1.) Tadross, M. (Producer), Groom, W., Roth, E. (Writers), & Zemeckis, R. (Director). (1994). Forrest Gump [Motion Picture]. U.S.A. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/.
2.) Lumpkin, A. (2020, March). Metacognition and its Contribution to Student Learning Introduction. College Student Journal, 54(1), 1-7. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=86e3e57f-49af-40ae-896e-cfdbba271bdd%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#AN=142782711&db=a9h
3.) Goldstein, E. B. (2021). Cognitive Psychology : Connecting Mind, Reserach, and Everyday Experience (5 ed.). Boston, Massachusetts , USA: Cengage. Retrieved April 8, 2023
4.) Rani, K. (2018, February 1). Reasoning Ability and Academic Achievement . Journal on School Educational Technology, 13(2), 20-30. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1171193
5.) Zaphir, L. (2021, yOctober). Rationality, Bias, and Prejudice: Developing Citizens’ Ability to engage in Inquiry. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53(11), 1161-1170. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1811680
6.) Prado, J., Chadha, A., & Booth, J. R. (2011). The brain network for deductive reasoning: a quantitative meta-analysis of 28 neuroimaging studies. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 23(11), 3483–3497. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00063
7.) Morsanyi, K., & Handley, S. J. (2012, May). Logic Feels So Good—I Like It! Evidence for Intuitive Detection of. Journal of Experimental Pscyhology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 38(3), 596-616. doi:10.1037/a0026099
Photo 1: Dockins, S. (n.d.). WHHAAAAT? IL: Scott Dockins. Retrieved April 25, 2023
Photo 2: Dockins, S. (n.d.). Choices Matter. IL: Scott Dockins. Retrieved April 25, 2023