The Challenge of Critical Thinking: Why Stress Hijacks Our Rational Brain

Stress, emotion, and the ability to take an ethical, rational stand for what you know is right.

The author having a bad hair day.

Think about the last time you lost your cool and flew off the handle.

How long did it take to regain a calm state of mind where you could think critically — analyzing and evaluating the situation fairly and logically to create a practical and measured response?

This begs the question: What is critical thinking?

Here’s a thoughtful definition:

“Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.” (Source)

That sounds reasonable — an almost utopian world.

But why does this powerful concept “to live rationally, reasonably, empathically” so often collapse in…