This Specialization is designed for professionals, educators, and lifelong learners seeking to enhance their critical thinking skills through neuroscience-based strategies. Across four courses, you will explore how the brain influences decision-making, uncover cognitive biases, and learn practical techniques to improve reasoning and problem-solving. This Specialization equips you with advanced critical thinking skills applicable in both personal and professional contexts.

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Critical Thinking: A Brain-Based Guide for the ChatGPT Era Specialization
Enhance Critical Thinking with Neuroscience and AI. Master neuroscience-based techniques and AI insights to strengthen your critical thinking and decision-making skills.



Instructors: Dr. Barbara Oakley
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What you'll learn
Explore how your brain’s networks influence reasoning, including deductive, inductive, and abductive thinking.
Identify and manage biases to enhance everyday decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Overview
Skills you'll gain
- Deductive Reasoning
- Lifelong Learning
- Logical Reasoning
- Social Sciences
- Decision Making
- Innovation
- Open Mindset
- Critical Thinking
- Cognitive flexibility
- Creative Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Analytical Skills
- Emotional Intelligence
- Strategic Thinking
- Systems Thinking
- Independent Thinking
- Behavioral Economics
- Curiosity
- Problem Solving
Tools you'll learn
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Specialization - 4 course series
What you'll learn
How to recognize and overcome unconscious biases in decision-making
Techniques for balancing intuitive "gut feelings" with logical analysis
How to detect emotional influences on thinking in yourself and others
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Apply principles of deductive reasoning to analyze arguments.
Identify how mental models and cognitive biases affect critical thinking.
Evaluate the strengths and limitations of different logical approaches, including classical and non-classical logics.
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Analyze complex real-world arguments by learning to identify premises, conclusions, and argument markers in everyday contexts.
Apply inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning to develop structured thinking and generate plausible explanations for observed phenomena.
Evaluate missing information and rhetorical techniques to assess the strength and validity of arguments in real-world scenarios.
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Identify and understand logical fallacies such as circular reasoning and fallacies of relevance, and how they impact argument strength.
Recognize the influence of cognitive biases like confirmation bias and my-side bias on decision-making and reasoning processes.
Explore how social dynamics shape reasoning, revealing how reasoning improves through dialogue, debate, and social interaction.
Skills you'll gain
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Frequently asked questions
This Specialization has four courses, each containing two modules. A reasonable pace is to do one module per week for eight weeks (two months). You can safely consider two to three hours per week as a doable timeframe.
No particular background is needed to complete this specialization
It's recommended, but not mandatory, to take the courses in the order:
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Financial aid available,