Rita got an e-mail forwarded by her friend, Shilpa that she can get a free Tokia cell phone from the leading cell phone company, provided Rita sends a copy of this mail to twenty other persons with a copy to the senior Manager, Sales Division of Tokia. The mail looked authentic with name of Marketing Manager of Tokia at the bottom of the mail. Shilpa said that she had already sent twenty copies of this mail, which included the mail sent to Rita, and a copy to the Sales Manager of Tokia. Rita thought about this and looked up the address of the Marketing Manager of the Tokia Company webpage on the Internet. She then wrote directly to the Marketing Division Manager asking whether the claim in the e-mail message is true. She promptly got a reply that the message is a hoax to promote chain letters and to harass Tokia Company, and that Tokia has no intention to honour that claim in the e-mail message.
This is a definite example of critical thinking. This answer will deal with ideas as to why Rita is a critical thinker and Shilpa is not a good critical thinker.
It says that the mail looked authentic. Although, something seems right a critical thinker's first aim would be to question it. That shows the passionate drive of a critical thinker in finding out accurate information. Rita did so by looking up the address of the Marketing Manager in the Tokia company webpage. Shilpa did not bother to do so and ended up wasting her time and also the time of twenty other people. On the contrary, Rita wrote directly to the Marketing Division Manager and received a prompt answer that the e-mail message was a fraud.
When Rita received the mail she thought about this. This is an important aspect of a critical thinker and you can't say the same for Shilpa. Shilpa did not look up the address of the Marketing Manager the way Rita did. This shows an important feature of how Rita thought critically and was disciplined in her thinking. Also, the quest for the truth on Rita's part was admirable in terms of critical thinking. A critical thinker's ultimatum is to acquire the truth in any affair. Rita did this and Shilpa did not do so.
Rita was looking for the accuracy of the mail. It is vital to have accurate information because bad selections are made based on false details. When there are inadequate facts, then people will have to go through much trouble and end up getting the wrong answer. This is what happened to Shilpa as opposed to Rita who made sure to get the genuineness of the e-mail checked. Shilpa skipped this crucial step along with several other things that needed to be done when she blindly proceeded to forward the e-mail.
Rita was also attempting to get precise information. That is, to get hold of particulars that others may have overlooked. As a result she thought independently and aimed for precision or exactness which is one of the critical thinking standards. Shilpa did not worry to do so. Shilpa lacked precision which is typical of a critical thinker in not habitually seeking out the exact thing she was facing. This meant that Shilpa was acting on phony information.
Rita did not blindly act on the message like Shilpa. Shilpa seemed to have been narrow-minded. Narrow-mindedness is a barrier to critical thinking. Shilpa also showed a tendency to fall prey to conformism. These are also barriers to critical thinking. The problem is that most human beings believe what they are told and do not think for themselves. Generally, thinking is better when it is deep rather than shallow and this is specifically what Rita did.
With regard to the scenario, there are some practical inconsistencies and logical inconsistencies. The practical consistency was that the message said one thing but in reality was doing something else. It said it would reward readers who forwarded it, but actually it was promoting chain letters and harassing Tokia Company. Logical inconsistency is present too as Shilpa is guilty of being involved in believing inconsistent things that cannot all be true. Shilpa believed in the electronic note which was false.
The whole process came to a halt with Rita. It was made public that the e-mail was a hoax and Tokia would not honour the reward. Rita had succeeded in getting the solution and this is a highly essential characteristic of a critical thinker as they are able to get to the heart of an issue without being distracted. In the case of Shilpa, she kept the cycle of chain letters going which was really a pointless exercise. Conversely, Rita contemplated logically and drew a well-founded conclusion.
Shilpa made an unwarranted assumption that Tokia would be giving away a free cellular phone. An unwarranted assumption is where things are taken for granted without good reason. Rita did not close her mind by merely assuming things but made steps to see for herself whether what was presented to her was right. She was searching for facts to support the authenticity of the e-mail and not putting her hopes on something baseless.
Shilpa was merely indulging in wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is where we believe something not because there was good evidence for it but simply because we wished it were true. Shilpa seemed to be wishfully thinking of being presented with a Tokia cellular phone if she did the simple task of sending an e-mail to twenty other persons. On the other hand, Rita was not at fault in comforting herself by deeming something correct when there was no good enough evidence. Rita did not fantasize but instead sought about facing the actuality of the matter.
Rita is a critical thinker because she thinks for herself when making a decision about whether to forward the e-mail or not. She looked attentively at the truth claims of the mail and set out to check for herself the veracity of it. Critical thinkers are those people that have a passion for the truth. They make reasonable and intelligent choices regarding what to believe and what to do.
Shilpa did not make attempts to get hold of the truth. One could argue that it was simply an instance of forwarding an e-mail and Shilpa may not have bothered as forwarding a message has become the done thing. However Shilpa included in the mail a message to Rita confirming she had sent it to twenty people including Rita with a copy to the Sales Manager of Tokia. This meant that she had been sure of the mail's promises and had not checked its sincerity. Therefore it is an indisputable incident of poor critical thinking on the part of Shilpa.
