Face saving
Face saving is a barrier exhibited when people believe, claim, or do something to affirm that they are the kind of individuals that believes, acts, or say they are, concerning a particular thing or situation. The goal of this critical thinking barrier could be self-gratification or gain acceptance or membership to a given group of people, which a person may want to please or share its identity. Unfortunately, the claim, action, or the belief may not be genuine and might be a form of self-marketing towards the target group. I recall the same barrier occurring to me during my junior years in high school. One afternoon during the summer holiday before the closure of the school, my classmates and friend suggested that were should go swimming as our first event of the season. Most of the student voted in favor of the activity, but I was sure it was a bad idea for my case since I did not know how to swimming or had the costumes. However, to avoid letting down my friends and being seen as uncooperative, I decided to join. On the eventful day, we met at the nearest beach, and everyone was ready to have fun. People changed into their costumes and jumped to the ocean one by one. I was the last one as I panic, my friends approached me and pulled me to the water. They started to swim and left me assuming that I knew what to do. I was too irrational not to tell them that I did not know how to swim or at least not shown up for the event since, I immediately drowned and almost died were it not for the lifesavers at the beach who realized that I had submerged and stayed below the water longer than usual.
Stereotyping
Stereotyping is a critical thinking barrier where overgeneralization about a group of people. The overgeneralization is irrational because the statistics used to make the conclusions usually are insufficient. Also, the generalizations are beyond what available evidence can confirm. While I was in high school in my junior years, a teacher came to class for a cross-cultural studies lesson. He said different communities are popular for particular activities, for instance, art is common among the French and Greek people. He selected a Chinese student to come forward and share anything about martial art. The student was embarrassed since he did not know anything about that subject. However, he knew more about art. It was so irrational for the teacher to assume that the student knew martial art by virtue of being Chinese. His stereotyping attitude prevented him from consulting the student or others on their strong skills without considering their cultural background. The stereotyping compromised his critical thinking skills from making a reliable judgment.
The Situation "g" where the person claims that eating meat is not appropriate due to PETA membership
The situation "g" where the person claims that eating meat is not appropriate due to PETA membership. The obstacle present in this situation is conformists, the person does not want to take meat for merely being a member at PETA. The person becomes irrational since the group perspective that is against meat without proof of harm or disadvantages that overweighs the benefits has been presented. The person becomes dogma and subscribed blindly to the PETA beliefs which may lead to malnutrition, as mean has essential minerals such as iron needed for blood clotting and other biological reasons.
