For those whom haven't studied psychology, allow me to introduce this conceptual term, schemas. Schemas are mental representations of knowledge. They encompass our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about a particular thing, event or person etc. Schemas help people organize current knowledge and provide a framework for future understanding. We can use our person schemas to "fill in" gaps of a person that we could just met. For instance, what do you have in mind when you met a young lady who is smiling at you?
Some might think that this person is friendly, others might say she's well-mannered etc. I might think that this person is happy and hence she is smiling. The point is, everybody have their own perception! It is your schemas or mental knowledge, that is deeply rooted in your mind that helped you come to a conclusion, in this case, as a first impression of this particular lady.
And this, links us back to the picture, Perception. The thing about perception is that there is no One Best Way. By that, i meant there is no one perception that is absolutely 'correct'. Once we have accepted this critical thinking, we can see that it all depends on how each individual derives his/her perception.
Now, let's refer from the picture above. A person can be alone on a small island for a long period and see that this boat as a savior to his situation. Similarly, this person can also be on a boat floating for a long period and see this small island as a savior to his situation.
However, there is a debatable point. We often doesn't know where the other person is coming from, or had experienced. Almost immediately, we see that this person is "in much better situation then what he himself is in". It is at this point that I'm sure most people will find it familiar. Honestly, how many people can think in the shoes of the others?
Our focus will, most of the time, be on what we had been through. Whether is this a 'correct' thinking will be another never-ending debate with no one best way solution. Hence, let us just read through this whole article as a neutral.
I recalled that our educators placed lots of emphasis on this component called "critical thinking" back in my secondary school days. That made me having some food for thoughts: "Did we lose this critical thinking skill as we aged, or did we just chose to ignore this component all together, in light of the harsh truth of reality? "
I acknowledged that this whole perception talk or debate is one that can be never ending. The fact is, there will always be supporters in view of individual rationality and self-interest. Hence, I shall leave my thoughts at that. The purpose of this article isn't about proving whether we should embrace critical thinking but rather, another thought of mine that i would like to share.
With my conclusion, I would like you readers to think about this sentence below. Never mind that I got it off 9gag, but it's the underlying context of the sentence that is meaningful, at least to me.
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