Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Pros and Cons of Identifying Critical Thinking with System 2 Processing

  • Published:
Topoi Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The dual-process model of cognition but most especially its reflective component, system 2 processing, shows strong conceptual links with critical thinking. In fact, the salient characteristics of system 2 processing are so strikingly close to that of critical thinking, that it is tempting to claim that critical thinking is system 2 processing, no more and no less. In this article, I consider the two sides of that claim: Does critical thinking always require system 2 processing? And does system 2 processing always result in critical thinking? I argue that it is plausible and helpful to consider that critical thinking requires system 2 processing. In particular, this assumption can provide interesting insights and benchmarks for critical thinking education. On the other hand, I show that system 2 processing can result in a range of outcomes which are either contradictory with critical thinking, or of debatable social desirability—which suggests that there is more to critical thinking than mere system 2 processing, and more to system 2 processing than just critical thinking.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In the same spirit, the positive effects of group discussions on critical thinking must be benchmarked against the simple exposure to the conclusions of others. People can easily adopt the output of others’ critical thinking, without engaging in critical thinking themselves (Rahwan et al. 2014). In other words, the fact that group discussions promote responses that match the output of critical thinking does not mean that they promoted critical thinking in he first place.

  2. There are not hard data that I know of on the relative proportions of system 2 processing that go into sustained inhibition or biased rationalization. In some fields, such as deductive or probabilistic reasoning, psychologists seem to consider that biased rationalization is less frequent than sustained inhibition (Evans and Ball 2010), probably because reasoners do not have a personal stake in these problems. In other fields (such as moral reasoning), some authors famously and controversially argued that all that is not intuition is reducible to biased rationalization (e.g., Haidt 2001).

  3. That is not to say that people who say it is morally acceptable to kill one person to save several lives are motivated by utilitarian ethics (Kahane et al. 2015). But I will continue to use the ‘utilitarian’ label in this article, so that my terminology is consistent with that of the articles I will summarize.

References

  • Bartels DM (2008) Principled moral sentiment and the flexibility of moral judgment and decision making. Cognition 108:381–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouvet R, Bonnefon JF (2015) Non-reflective thinkers are predisposed to attribute supernatural causation to uncanny experiences. Personal Soc Psychol Bull 41:955–961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway P, Gawronski B (2013) Deontological and utilitarian inclinations in moral decisionmaking: a process dissociation approach. J Personal Soc Psychol 104:216–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins DD, Cummins RC (2012) Emotion and deliberative reasoning in moral judgment. Front Psychol 3:328

    Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W (2012) Bias and conflict: a case for logical intuitions. Perspect Psychol Sci 7:128–138

    Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W (2014) Conflict detection, dual processes, and logical intuitions: some clarifications. Think Reason 20:167–187

    Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W, Bonnefon JF (2013) The whys and whens of individual differences in thinking biases. Trends Cogn Sci 17:172–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W, Moyens E, Vansteenwegen D (2010) Feeling we’re biased: autonomic arousal and reasoning conflict. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 10:208–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W, Novitskiy N, Geeraerts L, Ramautar J, Wagemans J (2011) Cognitive control and individual differences in economic ultimatum decision-making. PloS One 6:e27107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Neys W, Vartanian W, Goel V (2008) Smarter than we think: when our brains detect that we are biased. Psychol Sci 19:483–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond A (2013) Executive functions. Annu Rev Psychol 64:135–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans JSBT (2008) Dual-processing accounts of reasoning. Annu Rev Psychol 59:255–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans JSBT, Ball LJ (2010) Do people reason on the Wason selection task? A new look at the data of Ball et al. (2003). Q J Exp Psychol 63:434–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans JSBT, Stanovich KE (2013) Dual-process theories of higher cognition: advancing the debate. Perspect Psychol Sci 8:223–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Facione P (1990) Critical thinking: a statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction. Research findings and recommendations. (Technical Report). American Philosophical Association

  • Fredericks S (2005) Cognitive reflection and decision making. J Econ Perspect 19:25–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gervais WM, Norenzayan A (2012) Analytic thinking promotes religious disbelief. Science 336:493–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer G, Brighton H (2009) Homo heuristicus: why biased minds make better inferences. Top Cogn Sci 1:107–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene JD (2007) Why are VMPFC patients more utilitarian? A dual-process theory of moral judgment explains. Trends Cogn Sci 17:322–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene JD (2013) Moral tribes: emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. Penguin Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimm V, Mengel F (2011) Let me sleep on it: delay reduces rejection rates in ultimatum games. Econ Lett 111:113–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt J (2001) The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychol Rev 108:814–834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halpern DF (2014) Thought and knowledge: an introduction to critical thinking, 5th edn. Psychology Press, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahan DM (2013) Ideology, motivated reasoning, and cognitive reflection. Judgm Decis Mak 8:407–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahan DM, Peters E, Wittlin M, Slovic P, Larrimore Ouellette L, Braman D, Mandel G (2012) The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nat Clim Change 2:732–735

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahane G, Everett JAC, Earp BD, Farias M, Savulescu J (2015) utilitarian judgments in sacrificial dilemmas do not reflect impartial concern for the greater good. Cognition 134:193–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman D (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Karbach J, Kray J (2009) How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task-switching training. Dev Sci 12:978–990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon T, Beaulac G (2014) Critical thinking education and debiasing. Informal Log 34:341–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotito G, Migheli M, Ortona G (2013) Is cooperation instinctive? Evidence from the response times in a public goods game. J Bioecon 15:123–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas EJ, Ball LJ (2005) Think-aloud protocols and the selection task: evidence for relevance effects and rationalisation processes. Think Reasoning 11:35–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A, Wager TD (2000) The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex frontal lobe tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cogn Psychol 41:49–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore AB, Clark BA, Kane MJ (2008) Who shalt not kill? Individual differences in working memory capacity, executive control, and moral judgment. Psychgol Sci 19:549–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munakata Y, Herd SA, Chatham CH, Depue BE, Banich MT, O’Reilly RC (2011) A unified framework for inhibitory control. Trends Cogn Sci 15:453–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen UH, Tyran JR, Wengström E (2014) Second thoughts on free riding. Econ Lett 122:136–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owen AM, Hampshire A, Grahn JA, Stenton R, Dajani S, Burns AS, Ballard CG (2010) Putting brain training to the test. Nature 465:775–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennycook G, Cheyne JA, Barr N, Koehler DJ, Fugelsang JA (2014) Cognitive style and religiosity: the role of conflict detection. Mem Cogn 42:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennycook G, Cheyne JA, Seli P, Koehler DJ, Fugelsang JA (2012) Analytic cognitive style predicts religious and paranormal belief. Cognition 123:335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennycook G, Fugelsang JA, Koehler DJ (2015) What makes us think? A three-stage dual-process model of analytic engagement. Cogn Psychol 80:34–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahwan I, Krasnoshtan D, Shariff A, Bonnefon JF (2014) Analytical reasoning task reveals limits of social learning in networks. J R Soc Interface 11:20131211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rand DG, Greene JD, Nowak MA (2012) Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature 489:427–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rand DG, Peysakhovich A, Kraf.-Todd GT, Newman GE, Wurzbacher O, Nowak MA, Greene JD (2014) Social heuristics shape intuitive cooperation. Nat Commun 5:3677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Razmyar S, Reeve CL (2013) Individual differences in religiosity as a function of cognitive ability and cognitive style. Intelligence 41:667–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shenhav A, Rand DG, Greene JD (2012) Divine intuition: cognitive style influences belief in god. J Exp Psychol Gen 141:423–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloman SA (1996) The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychol Bull 119:3–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE (2004) The robot’s rebellion: finding meaning in the age of Darwin. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE (2009a) Distinguishing the reflective, algorithmic, and autonomous minds: is it time for a tri-process theory. In: Evans JSBT, Frankish K (eds) In two minds: dual processes and beyond. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 55–88

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE (2009b) What intelligence tests miss: the psychology of rational thought. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE (2012) On the distinction between rationality and intelligence: implications for understanding individual differences in reasoning. In: Holyoak KJ, Morrison RG (eds) The Oxford handbook of thinking and reasoning. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 343–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE, Stanovich PJ (2010) Aframework for critical thinking, rational thinking, and intelligence. In: Preiss D, Sternberg RJ (eds) Innovations in educational psychology: perspectives on learning, teaching and human development. Springer, New York, pp 195–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich KE, West RF (2008) On the relative independence of thinking biases and cognitive ability. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 94:672–695

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suter R, Hertwig R (2011) Time and moral judgment. Cognition 119:454–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thaler R, Sunstein CS (2008) Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press, Yale

    Google Scholar 

  • Trémolière B, Bonnefon JF (2014) Efficient kill-save ratios ease up the cognitive demands on counterintuitive moral utilitarianism. Personal Soc Psychol Bull 40:333–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trémolière B, DeNeys W, Bonnefon JF (2012) Mortality salience and morality: thinking about death makes people less utilitarian. Cognition 124:379–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Support through the ANR-Labex IAST is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole (CNRS, Center for Research in Management), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, 21 allée de Brienne, 31015, Toulouse Cedex 6, France

    Jean-François Bonnefon

Authors
  1. Jean-François Bonnefon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-François Bonnefon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bonnefon, JF. The Pros and Cons of Identifying Critical Thinking with System 2 Processing. Topoi 37, 113–119 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9375-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9375-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation