A Glossary of Critical Thinking Terms and Concepts

by Linda Elder

This compendium of terms is testament to the fact that critical thinking entails a body of concepts and principles which, when internalized and practiced, enable people to raise their thinking to a higher level. It entails the primary terms in critical thinking as well as many secondary terms, and illuminates these terms as a network of interrelated meanings. The authors have also included a significant number of terms that illuminate the barriers to the development of critical thought — for example those terms which center around the problems of sociocentric and egocentric thought. For most entries the authors provide a brief definition followed by elaboration and exemplification of the concept. In a number of cases the authors link the terms to instruction, for the benefit of readers who are educators or students.

84 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 6, 2009

About the author

Dr. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist and a prominent authority on critical thinking. She is President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking. Dr. Elder has taught psychology and critical thinking at the college level and has given presentations to more than 20,000 educators at all levels. She has co-authored four books, including Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life and Twenty-Five Days to Better Thinking and Better Living. She has co-authored eighteen thinker’s guides on critical thinking and co-authors a quarterly column on critical thinking in the Journal of Developmental Education.

Dr. Elder has also developed an original stage theory of critical thinking development. Concerned with understanding and illuminating the relationship between thinking and affect, and the barriers to critical thinking, Dr. Elder has placed these issues at the center of her thinking and her work.

With experience in both administration and the classroom, Dr. Elder understands firsthand the problems facing educators. She is a dynamic presenter who reaches her audience on a person-to person level.

To contact Dr. Linda Elder, email: elder@criticalthinking.org