Persuasive thinking “presents powerful methods to move other minds” (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007, p. xv). Persuasive thinking the art of changing other people’s perceptions to agree with the ones held. Critical thinking, on the other hand, is the process of rationalizing one’s thought process with the purpose of self-improvement. In essence, critical thinking seeks no selfish objective; instead it promotes intellectual humility, autonomy, integrity, perseverance, courage, fair-mindedness (Paul & Elder, 2006, p. 54). However, when critical thinking is affected by persuasive thinking there is a different determination. In short, it becomes a two edged sword, a powerful weapon.
Critical thinking requires the individual to recognize weaknesses and strengths to improve. Similarly, persuasive thinking requires the person to “know thyself” (Socrates) with the objective of moving others or recognize when a person is trying to influence a critical thinkers’ thoughts.
Persuasive thinkers analyze themselves to learn about others. Persuasive critical thinkers learn about their bias, how to use likability, recognize motivations, and purposes (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007, p. 268) to reach other minds. To illustrate, persuasive thinkers identify their bias and learn to suppress it because it becomes obvious to others, who may not share the same preconception, resulting in audience loss. Moreover, persuasive thinkers use the concept of likability to portray an image others will accept with ease. For example, a hair salon sales agent cannot attempt to have many sales if he or she has a damaged or ungroom look. Contrary to this, the seller will invest in exposing the best image for people to assume it is the result of the products sponsored. Furthermore, motivation and purpose identification is imperative as persuading others is an investment expected to yield results.
To conclude,