Barriers to Critical Thinking

Personal barriers are the obstacles that an individual has that can positively or negatively affect a person’s academic and career success. It is important to learn and understand what my barriers are in order to become a successful student and career woman.

Enculturation

Enculturation is described as any of the values and preferences you have now, including religious ideas, sexual mores, and work ethic, were instilled in you since birth by your culture (citation here)

As a child I was often told that we are Christians and we will go to church because that is what we do. Whenever I challenged or questioned my mother her response would be “because I said so”. This was not an easy barrier to overcome, but it was one that I would not readily accept.

I began studying other religions and meeting people of other religions to gain a better understanding of how other individuals worship. The most important thing I learned is that although we all may worship and have a different name for the God we serve, some values are universal. Some morals such as praying, respect, lying, stealing and forgiveness are practiced by several different cultures.

Ego Defense

Ego defenses are psychological coping strategies that distort reality in order to protect ourselves from anxiety, guilt, and other bad feelings. Some of the more basic ones that impact on our thinking are denial, projection, and rationalization. (citation here)

For most of my young adult life I had a serious spending habit, which caused some financial set backs that effected as an adult. I had no qualms about using my bill money to purchase the latest styles. If I was offered a credit card I would max the card out, not taking into account that this was affecting my credit. If I was called on the carpet I would make excuses and get defensive about being confronted about my habit.

I literally had to hit rock bottom before I realized I had a problem. I lost my car, I was evicted my apartment and had a hard time getting credit. First and foremost I had to get to the bottom as to why I would spend money on things I did not really need. What I discovered is that my mother denied me a lot of the material things that my friends had and it made me resentful. So when I moved out on my own I started to buy the things that everyone was buying.

It wasn’t until after my children were born that I began to open my eyes and see that there are more important things in life that materially wealth. My family is what is important, leaving a legacy for my children and my children’s children has helped me learn to save more and spend less. I have also attended financial seminars that have really helped me become financially responsible.

Emotions

Emotions are an important feature of human experience. They are, in part, what separates humans from machines and the lower animals, for machines can compute but they cannot experience joy. (citation here)

I have always been the type of individual that is protective of those I love sometimes to a fault. When I became a mother these emotions intensified to an unhealthy level of protection. Whenever someone attacked my children or accused them of wrongdoing I took it as a personal affront. Unless I saw my children misbehave I could not believe the worst of them.

Some friends of mine helped put my parenting skills in perspective, they suggested I get to know my children’s personalities so that. Learning their individual styles would help me better understand what they were really capable of. This has helped me be more objective and unbiased when separating fact from fiction. I have also learned not to take offence when faced with my children’s wrongdoing.

Learning my personal barriers an taking the initiative to actively seek ways to overcome them will not only help me be a better student but a better mother, friend and employee. I had to have a willing hear and open mind to first acknowledge that I had a problem and then work to find long term solutions that were positive and healthy.