To Think Well or Not to? That's Not the Question

In the first weeks of teaching my first-year seminar, “How to Think Like a Psychologist,” we discussed critical thinking. Each year my students quickly gravitate to different features of critical thinking. One year we focused heavily on the “plausibility fallacy.” In other years we spent time applying what we knew to real-life issues and problems. (This year, we have lots of choices for topics.)

This year my class has zeroed on a specific example of uncritical thinking: dichotomous thinking. This is very similar to what William Klemm refers to as all-or-nothing thinking, which you can spot by words like always, all, or never. Others talk about black-and-white thinking.

Words and phrases like everybody, none, nothing but, and either-or might indicate dichotomous thinking. Sometimes the word versus is stated or implied. Consider these examples:

• “I’m not a good critical thinker.”
• “I’m bad at math.”
• “I’m a cat person.”
• “You’re either with me or against me.”
• “The vaccine doesn’t work for everybody.” (The implication: It shouldn’t be taken by anybody!)
• “Not getting the vaccine is unpatriotic.”
• “Old people make better workers."

Dichotomous thinking is ubiquitous, potentially harmful (think stereotypes), incredibly tempting, and human. When we set up a comparison, it is only natural to see two categories: Good-bad, useful-not useful, patriotic-unpatriotic, etc. But two is such a limited number of categories! That interpretation of our observations or thoughts limits what we see—and therefore, what we can think about: two solutions, two options, two viewpoints, etc.

Humans need to make sense of our world, and organizing our perceptions can be very useful. For example, the concept of “poisonous” has its virtues. But many (not all!) dichotomous (black-and-white; all-or-none) statements may not be precise enough to capture the complexity of the issue or problem with which we need to deal. For example, when a student says, “I’m a good student,” she implies a dichotomy: Two types of students, good and bad. This really constrains some critical and necessary conversations—partly because we tend to see “good” as “perfect.” For example, if I say, “You earned a B on that paper,” a student may reply, “But I’m a good student!” as if being a good student means that there are no more skills for her to learn, that she is good at all the skills that college students need, and/or that further effort is not required.

The first step to improving thinking is awareness of the mistake itself. Thus, I encourage students to be on the lookout for dichotomous thinking, especially in their own comments and papers! This might mean explaining that the world comprises more than “good” and “bad” students.

The second step is to turn those dichotomies into continua. The question, “Am I a good or bad student?” can be turned into a continuum: “What are the next skills I can develop to become a better student than I am now?”

Another step is to recognize that more than one relevant continuum exists. For example, a student can be toward the “bad” end of the continuum on one skill, such as oral communication, but toward the “good” end of the continuum on another skill, such as applying concepts to examples. Thus, if we ask the question, “Am I a good or bad student?” we have a limited number of answers, and we may stop thinking too soon. We get lots more mileage if we create a conversation with questions such as, “In what academic skills is there room for me to improve, and what steps might I take to develop those skills?”

Examples of dichotomous thinking are easy to spot once we decide (or are compelled) to look. Just a few: Since even before the current pandemic (which is not the opposite of “nothing to worry about”), we’ve been turning the dichotomy of “online vs. on-campus” into continua that include options like synchronous remote teaching, hybrid courses, and other formats. Our society is learning that gender is not dichotomous. And my wife often tells me that my joke was “a little funny.”

As our classroom discussions continue, I think to myself, “Will students learn to be critical thinkers?” That question begs for a “no” response and some pessimism. But then I think, “In what ways can I help each student to improve on their ability to see dichotomies, turn them into continua, and then see other relevant continua?” This seems to help! I now see some options for myself.

But here’s one dichotomous, extreme statement that I cannot avoid: This post is over.