Critical thinking

Critical thinking is important when making judgments about the message being presented, testing it for soundness.

It weighs evidence, logic and assumptions before accepting or rejecting a claim.

Focusing solely on details instead of the main point is a failure of thinking, not what critical thinking does.

Ignoring the context in which communication occurs is likewise a lapse, since critical thinking attends to context.

Saying it is only associated with listening is too narrow, as critical thinking spans reading, speaking and reasoning.

Critical thinking is often tied to higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy such as analysis and evaluation.