Unleashing the power of critical thinking hinges on the ability to ask incisive questions. It's not about finding immediate answers, but about challenging assumptions, exploring perspectives, and fostering a deeper understanding. Let's delve into the art of asking better questions.
At the heart of critical thinking is the ability to formulate deep, different, and effective questions.
For effective questioning, start by…
- Analyzing and effectively breaking down an issue to make a decision or find a solution
- Formulating deep and different questions
- Answering even the most difficult topics
Hold your hypotheses loosely
In critical thinking exercises, we often fall rapidly into an intuitive and jointly held “answer” or hypothesis – particularly in groups – and we ask questions that seek to prove rather than disprove our thoughts. Critical questions, however, may force us to fundamentally reconsider our initial conclusions.
Stew in a problem
The best questions are often formulated after consideration and a good night’s rest
- Sleep can actually help your brain assimilate a problem and see it more clearly
- A deliberate process often leads to better conclusions
- Resist unnecessary urgency
- Map a process that will allow you to solve a problem over several days or longer
Listen more than you talk
The key to great questions is active listening
- Understanding what another person is saying while showing then you are engaged and interested
- Omitting your brain’s “prediction engine” allows you to ask better questions
- Show that you care by taking their perspective seriously
Ask the hard follow-up questions
It can be easy to put our brains on cruise control, to accept easy answers, or to yield to social pressures that push us to avoid interrogating others.
- While we don’t need to ask a litany of “whys” to get to the heart of critical thinking, we should ask thoughtful, even hard, follow-ups questions.
Leave your queries open-ended
Avoid asking yes-or-no questions and instead pose queries that force the respondent to open up and pontificate
- Open-ended questions encourage critical thinking in a group, offer an individual to expand on their viewpoints, and leave people the space to actively problem-solve
Consider the counterintuitive
When problem-solving, we often quickly fall into groupthink
- The group converges on a path too rapidly, and instead of periodically assuring they are headed in the right direction, they continue further and further – even if it’s the wrong way.
- Be the person who questions the group’s conventional thinking
- There’s a chance your question is off-base
