Improve your thinking (a practical exercise) 

One of the best ways I improved my thinking greatly was to quit lying, even little white lies to save people feelings and such . It freed up so much of my mind no it having to remember who I told what.

The best way I found to teach my children to critically think is in a debate, to defend a belief they don't believe in. The other thing I taught them, is when given information to question the motive.

I didn't realize how inextricably intertwined both thinking and writing were until Jordan kept emphasizing it, despite it being seemingly obvious at face value. That's something that educators need to reinforce. Also, there are law schools that will teach using the Socratic method of asking questions to stimulate thought. I think this type of pedagogy should be employed in other disciplines as well because it's a lot more useful than passively listening to a lecture.

The best way to exercise Critical Thinking for me so far has been to never commit to a side, be it social or political as well as to listen to everybody. Listening to both parties should always be a must no matter what before you form an opinion on X matter. It also enriches your knowledge on the topic you are researching/arguing. I think in the first stages of Critical Thinking you should keep your ears and eyes open and your mouth closed. Variety and detachment.

Three-year olds are pretty good at critical thinking. When you tell them some fact or anecdote they respond with "Why?" It doesn't really matter what reason you give them, they just probe deeper, "Why?" If you want to be better at critical thinking, be more like a three-year old.

Putting my thoughts in writing, and then reading it aloud to myself, is invaluable.

1:20 thinking allows our thoughts to die rather than having our actions kill us. Plan out something then look for the hazards before you take action. 4:00 the quality of our thoughts depends on the ability to speak out minds.

Mindfulness is the key. Being able to observe your thoughts and know they aren't you.

I’m an alcoholic who’s spent the last 7 months of my life sober thanks to God, AA, and Jordan. I’m 40 now and thats the longest stretch of sobriety I’ve had since my mid 20’s. I hope I have the opportunity to thank you in person some day Jordan. Since I’ve been sober I’ve needed to hear a lot of what you have to say. Re-programing my thinking and approaches to people. Fighting my deeply selfish nature and seriously flawed thinking has been freeing, healing, and necessary. Restorative I think you might say. Talking things out with my sponsor is where many of my flawed thoughts go to die and where I’ve learned some correct, or perhaps proper thinking. You are such a gift Jordan.

"if you are merely repeating an accepted script, then to what extent can you say that youre an individual at all". exactly

Critical thinking is simple, but straining. All you have to do is take a statement and imagine a world where it’s true and a world where it’s false. Then, honestly work to find and itemize the essential differences between each of those two worlds and the real world. That’s it. Our personalities automatically choose one comparison automatically, so there’s no trouble there. The hard part is imaging a world where the opposite is true so that could also be compared with the real world (a precondition to what you really want - the two comparisons themselves could be compared). People who are incapable of doing that mental rehearsal or simulation on certain issues are being held emotionally hostage to their biases on those issues and as a result, invariably confirm their biases. Some people almost entirely confirm their biases on all issues and end up grooming themselves into a closed worldview after a while. This acquired disability where emotions, feelings, and proclivities overwhelmingly replace reason is one the bases of totalitarianism.

When I was in the Philosophy Department as a student we had papers which both professors and students would get together and present. You have to think through your ideas in order to reject stupid ideas and develop a more reasoned position. Wittgenstein said, Open the Door and then let intelligence in the room. In other words, say what you want to say and then decide whether an idea is stupid or not but in this current atmosphere you cannot open your mouth without being attacked. This is not open discourse and not a way of acting in a Critical Thinking. If you really want to learn Dr. Peterson more about Critical Thinking then Professors Ralph Johnson and Anthony Blair were leading thinkers in this area of Critical Thinking Theory. They wrote a book called Logical Self Defence (LSD) which was well received by all kinds of Critical Thinking Theorists. They were leaders in the world in this area.

Our personality is structured by our thought process, and when an individual says they "don't know who they are", i think the more accurate question would be "where they are" in their thought process cause some times you wander to a thinking process you have never encountered before or may have had a belief that you were good with a certain way of thinking.

You arelooking better, Jordan. Very glad to see this. The world is better with you around. Thank you...

I would love to see Dr. Peterson do a segment called “Ask Dr.P” where anyone can come with any psychological problem and he applies his methodology and research in a podcast based answer form. The questions could be filtered and chosen through an email system where anyone is able to send a message but only the most pertinent and frequent questions are the ones chosen by the JBP team.

I have multiple notebooks I use for different personal writing projects. This video has reminded me that I want to be in those notebooks regularly. It’s tough when I work 70hrs/wk with a constantly changing schedule and run a household, but damn if it isn’t important! Thank you as always, Dr. Peterson!

From watching the docu-film "What the Bleep Do We Know" a few years back, I learned to often become the observer of myself. This helps one gain an objective perspective, as much as is possible, on one's emotional reactions and on responses to others, to circumstances and helps somewhat disarm the thousands of random conscious thoughts going through our mind during all waking hours. From this observational perspective one can modify one's behavior so as to not waste energy on worry and on inconsequential thoughts and concerns thereby freeing one up to live more in the present moment...which ultimately leads to internal peace.

Listening to Dr. Peterson is like listening to a superb classical symphony. I close my eyes and pleasure my mind by listening to the intellectual splendor of his words. It is perfection. It is divine. It is uplifting.

Jordan B. Peterson is the dad I never had, the mother, the brother and the friend, he is able to understand and articulate our inner demons better than anybody else, what a precious and brilliant mind, huge respect for him 🙏🏼

Great video Jordan. I've been playing on Twitter for the last week and I am amazed at the lack of independent thinking and oftentimes, thinking at all.

THANK GOD FOR JORDAN PETERSON !

My appreciation for words is increasing by watching an old cat who has gone blind and deaf try to construct and retain mental maps of his environment. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to think well without a vocabulary. To have words redefined would be even worse!

Hello, Dr. Peterson. I enjoyed this presentation very much. It explains the dumbing down that we are experiencing in society. Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!

Thinking allows our thoughts to die instead of us. That hit me!

This is a ground breaking style of advertising. Bravo.

Exactly, thoughts can become troubled… had to take a pause today due to depth of understanding that was so shocking to my system that is was causing physical stress. But knowledge is power. Just have to let it absorb and get roots.

The title is VERY misleading as I was expecting to see an exercise on improving critical thinking, but I enjoyed the video anyway.

Jordan, I am a 50yr old straight white male and admire your way of speaking and explaining each of your topics. Times might be overwhelming but you are a great inspiration and rational guide to a lot of people men and I can bet women. Keep your self available for those who need it. I was born in 72 so you can understand the cultural and communicational changes i have seen over my time influenced by technology. I can only hope there is enough guidance in such an unregulated platform as the net that people continue the values that have got us this far. Keep up your good work. I live in a country that has a PM known as "Scomo" and an opposition leader known as "Elbow" Where have the values gone?

Astonishing level of conversation!

Hey Mr. Peterson, just got the email that the event that I bought the tickets for your presentation at Cox Business Convention Center Tulsa Oklahoma got postponed, and hope you are doing okay. If I have to wait 10 years I will, you changed most of what I thought life was and re-directed it for the best. Thank you wish you the best.

critial thinking is internal speech, when you talk it's externalized. So, when you attempt to think more about it, you think in an stablished perspective, but when you identify that, you can try to make your own perspectiveIs Is better to make a person think in a process to a conclusion insted or giving the conclusion

One thing I find to be true over the years is that being smart is more about having different perspectives about the some subjects and exam which one of these perspective is more logical in the long run, that way you improve your thinking and overcome the flaws, and also if your think of it that way then someone had done so as well, probably before you did, so it’s best to exam that thoughts by putting yours in contrast to others

Amazingly lucid and unique string of thought. One Might even say original, and devoid of past influences. Jordan Peterson is a pioneer in original thought. Even if he does not believe that himself.

amazing. Peterson always makes us think deeper. well done.

Never been amazed more about his genius!

"Your ability to abstractly represent the world and then to generate avatars that can be defeated without you dying is dependent on your incorporation of a multitude of opinions, and that works to the degree that communication is actually free and you get access to as much thought as you can possibly manage." I, like many others, have been a child of the internet and grew up attempting to synthesize the many many different opinions that have been expressed freely over the years. Access and recommendation have been essential in continuing that growth and challenging our mindsets once they become entrenched. But once we get own ideas in order and make sense of the world as it truly is, we can attempt to make a contribution through re-expression of our hard won knowledge to other people. Having been deeply inspired by Jordan myself, I set out to create a picture of the human motivational structure as it relates to our most fundamental biological necessity; the need for resources. Why do people function the way they do and set certain priorities in their mind? What are the unique social resource mechanisms by which an individual can extract value for themselves? How do our investments in each of five unique survival strategies impact our degree of self reliance, satisfaction, and sense of meaning? In a series dissecting each these different mechanisms being used, I am attempting to describe the social resource structure that defines the modern world. Much of these categorizations have arisen out of Peterson's discussion of the struggle of "Being", and humanity's collective attempts to transcend the basic nuts and bolts of resource acquisition to survive. I would be forever grateful if anyone here wanted to take a look at the findings on my channel, including any maintainer of JBP channel who might see this - I think you would really find the content visually unique as well as philosophically engaging!

I was reading the classic fairytales to my son yesterday and thinking of this very idea in light of what Dr. Peterson has been saying about these canonical stories. The issue with many children’s cartoons and stories today is there’s no real danger, no death or suffering and no real consequence for good or evil actions. The canonical fairytales take about real life and bring home the wonder of reality and our dynamic story in it. Hope that makes sense. My son and I were Both mesmerized reading these stories together!

Very very good topic and thanks for talking about things people these days don’t want to hear about

The timing of this video is crazy to me. Just today I was sitting in class writing about my ideas of critical thought in the notes app on my phone. I had gotten maybe essay worth, and in just doing that I developed my thoughts further. Now later at night I see this video was posted around the same time i was writing about something related to this conversation, interesting.

This man saved my life.

Great discussion! 👍 Thank you!

This man been helping me getting better in my life in crazy way for the last year I didn’t expect I will get better like that but I guess the biggest lie we been told “” it’s not easy “” Everything just depends on exactly how you look at it and for everyone else here to get advice you at the right place. Keep taking care of yourself 💜.

Nice work JP, know that you make a difference in the world.

I used to think I was so smart when I was a teenager, I'm 24 Its like I'm realizing how dumb I am all at once, god I have so much to learn

One thing to consider is personality types like with MBTI, this type of critical thinking comes natural to types like ENFP, INFP, INFJ etc. Especially being able to think in a wide range of multiple perspectives, sure other types can learn but it is much more difficult and some might not be able to at all. Jordan explains things very well and he takes very complex subjects and breaks them down simply to their core elements. That goes a long way to help others think in a similar way or at least be able to understand the concepts.

This may be the most important 10 minutes of video I have seen. I will watch it 10 times before I can digest all of it. Even then maybe not

Love the Rogerian nod JBP makes at 9.04

Good match up, love your work

you can kind of write out your thoughts and then analyze your own thinking. Possibly it is some new revelation or a way to reflect. I wrote this page of spewed thoughts to later look at. It made me see I have some challenges or confused thinking.

"Thought is internalized speech"... well, I can "think" music... and many have said music is a language, but here it is very direct. There are no words there, no idioms, but still every passage or even single note carries lots of meaning to me.

Thank you for the video!

I will say 2 techniques from Ancient greeks and one from me, 1) ask difficult questions your self, for example what is logic what is thinking how do i improve what do i have to improve on my self etc, this force your brain to get into a logical course of thoughts to produce an answer also the answer will be really useful if u take action, if you ask your self what are your errors you can spot them and fix them, 2) observe how you think, this is a deeper meaning to "know thy self), know how you make thoughts opinions what are the errors etc, and my technique is to debate, debate really helped me but try to make it meaningful so you dont waste much time on

TVF Luvall said, Thought is internalised speech but also emotion (positive|negative regarding separation) directing thought upon value - and thus consequential as mere spontaneous information.

Meditate. Seriously. Having a rich inner spiritual dimension that both transcends yet involves the thinking mind is really important. If all you have is the mind, then all you see are Gordian knots and problems. Yes critical thinking and problem solving is important. But there’s a deeper part of you that is forever untouched by these things, is incredibly intelligent and actually wants to help here and be of service. But it’s not your intellect, even though the intellect can be recognized and employed by it. The meditation book Steps to Knowledge can really put an individual on the track to discovering this deeper intelligence and utilizing it in life. It’s not the only path that can orient one towards this intelligence, but it’s a powerful one.

Thank you for this.

Thought is speech. I once discovered sub harmonics as part of thought. That some people actually vocalize thoughts at extreme low volume.

Thank you!

Our minds are not just made of language. There's also inexplicit ideas. A dictionary can only define words using other words (infinite regress), but we know what they mean. Although yes, our knowledge is in conflict with each other. Consciously or unconsciously. How ideas evolve is best explained in the theory of Karl Popper, where criticism is one of the main pillars (the other is creativity).

so well said....taking notes.

The process Dr Peterson describe at the beginning of video explaining the fact that we create avatar of our self is it conscious work or unconscious process because I don’t think I’m doing it at all.

Basically the ability to think is about understanding the mind painting a picture. To be able to think about what you think. Clearing it from preference and wishes.

Make me smarter Jordan!🎉

Uncle Jordan much appreciation

In the past, debate/discussion often included thinking out loud. That opened further discussion and greater mutual understanding. And common ground was often reached because both sides were aware of, respectful of, and ultimately in the search for TRUTH. Now, if someone is going over their thoughts aloud they are attacked, ostracized, and labeled as the "other" and an enemy. It is the death of debate. It's interesting to think of where we went off track with this.

“A thought,once uttered, is untrue”.. well said… by someone else. Look it up. Some languages are yet to be invented to formulate, articulate, even internalize, deep thoughts more freely and truly. Be that the language of math, arts, or poetry, which is a language akin to arts. Not all thoughts can be articulated in words. It does not diminish their validity and usefulness. Thinking is generally more complicated than words most people can master. It does not mean one should not put efforts in expressing oneself. Strangely enough, the language of math is far better suited for critical thinking than “normal” language. In arts, it often amounts to mere gut feeling. And yet, some artists are unmistakably better articulators and thinkers than others. It is the ability to express what, once uttered, rings true, is tricky and should be valued. '

Thank you Jordan Peterson

Intelligence is a brilliant tool for defeating "wordy" bullies. Muscle is useless when you have the upper-hand in conversation that is being steered towards trying to own you unexpectedly in front of a crowd. (These guys go out of their way to find vulnerability in individuals to comb their ego's all over you).

Jordan, my spirit dad 💕

Excuse me sir... Can you make a video on panic attack... Am having alot and also having counciling but they can't find the source or reason for my attacks.. it would be very helpful... I also had anxiety i hve seen your video and it's been very ton helpful.. so please if possible make one... I follow you and it really given my life a path being naive...

Who else found jordan around 20-25yrs old and is listening everyday👍

THANK YOU.

I think this man is a SPY. He knows so much about everything that my mind doesn't even care to think.

I wrote a semi-autobiography via poetry and self published that book. It was well received but a financial bust as was expected going in to it. Even included the influences and what the writings actually meant to me, why they were born. One can look at or think of something and with a little effort, formulate it in to a more artistic/expressive form. It seems to me, loosely speaking, that one who can view something from many different angles is often better equipped for life's turmoil.

Its hard to talk about critical thinking when world is lacking sense of discernment. Love and light🌎

Superb.

It’s insane that we are having to hanger this conversation! I think that people hand become mentally lazy. “Too busy” too overwhelmed to stop and actually confront what’s happening around them. The other issue, is that there is SOOO much other stimulation to instantly run to..to avoid thinking about it all. It’s terrifying 😀🥰👊🏝🇦🇺

Going through the process to arrive at a truth arrived at long ago by another is not redundant. It's the difference between understanding and parroting.

Is it just me or does Dr Peterson Seem to rly be in a groove /on a roll /picking up where he left off before he got sick and seem to be as sharp if not sharper than ever. I’m hyped appreciate y’all

I've really been enjoying the different guests you have had on your channel, Mr. Peterson. I would like to offer up the suggestion to interview Pierre Poilievre. I believe this would be illuminating for your viewers and Canadians.

This is how I think: first of all, if I can’t find an answer for something, it’s because I don’t know enough about it; in which I enter the 4 squares of knowledge: what I know, what I don’t know, what I don’t know I don’t know and what I think I know but its just a miss conception. I think about possibilities with the pieces involved and start experimenting in my head, not exactly to see if it works, but because it’s usually a great way learn more about the situation. Anyway, having smart / hyper intellectuals next to you to ask them it’s pretty useful

Thank you so much for your videos Dr Peterson! Through them I have learned to constantly go after my goals with everything I have. Thank you!

SPEAKING TRUTH IS HOW WE BATTLE EVIL. TRUTH HOLDS THE EXPECTATIONS FOR WHAT WAS, WHAT IS AND WHAT WILL ALWAYS BE. YOU CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST THE TRUTH. LIES ONLY OBSCURE TRUTH, THEY CAN NOT AFFECT IT. TRUTH IS THE REAL AXIEM OF REAL FAITH. TRUTH PUT TO WORK

We’ve been through a two year ritual dedicated to the denial of the utility of thought.

I do this before bed, and I get into very heated debates with myself 😂

Gandhi taught , that the search for and application of truth , is our guide to living. Dr Peterson brings forth that speech allows bad thoughts to die rather than us. Bringing those two insights together is finding God, loves us , each and every one , wanting us to find him. A glimmer of joy, yes?

It's listening to others ( face by face ) , without judgement. You can find out that people they are thinking one thing and speaking another. For me people are interesting, it's the only thing real.

8:55, exactly. Like in Inception. They have to believe they are the ones who came up with the idea to effect a real change in person.

The best way I found to improve critical thinking is to challenge my own views, either by questioning them or thinking of potential arguments against them.

I did. I subscribed to this channel.

Thought’s Best Utility Is In The Delay Of Action

I wish more than anything in my theater of imagination that someone like Jordan Peterson would ask me about Aristotle's syllogism, how this process works using major and minor premises, and finally a conclusion that speaks to our androgynous totality? This process involves principle which is innately invisible, and indivisible.

The only way to think critically is to be emotionally detached. As soon as you have an emotional investment in one side being right, then all of the cognitive biases come out in full force. In today's political spectrum, if you are not a centrist, you probably aren't a critical thinker; as there is no underlying logical consistency in either left-wing or right-wing thought; the coherence is only by the homogenizing effect of emotional attachment to group identity, and conformity.

Cultivate a courageous mind. The lack of courage prevents thinking and progress, arrests development.

Are there any techniques or skills one could learn that would enable a person to speak as well as they can write? I have a terrible time speaking my mind but for obvious reasons, it is much easier to write out my thoughts or ideas.

Imagine Jordan Peterson with Jordans

Socratic method simplified lol I love it

Hey, just got brought to this channel in a “Link”. Where have ye been, 🤫😊 Interested, and Interested, really good vids, Bless Bless ❤️☘️

We cannot choose thoughts, they choose us and they depend on what you take in or consume.

Coming up with original ideas usually means that idea will receive extreme pushback and denial by those who carry the 'established line of thought'. Most often they're seen as crazy, sometimes until long after their death. People who think critically and originally tend to be ostracized or simply ignored.

Jordan goes so deep.. If you ban free speech, you remove the opportunity to intellectually grow stronger & wiser.. Bravo..