Critical Thinking in Practice : A Quantitative Survey Study on Students’ Normative Attitudes Toward Critical Thinking

This study investigates upper secondary students’ normative attitudes toward critical thinking in the context of social studies education. Based on a quantitative survey distributed to students across three different programs, the study shows how students perceive the necessity of critical thinking across individual, societal and democratic dimensions. The findings suggest that while students generally express a positive attitude toward critical thinking, their support for it varies depending on the context in which it is applied. Overall, critical thinking was the least valued in individual dilemmas, compared to being the most valued in societal dimensions. Boys tend to value critical thinking more in personal or moral dilemmas, whereas girls assign greater importance to questions of societal responsibility. The study also reveals a potential discrepancy between students’ self-assessed critical thinking abilities and their willingness to endorse critical thinking when it conflicts with values such as emotional well-being, morality or social cohesion. These results are discussed using a dispositional theoretical framework, suggesting that students may possess an abstract understanding of critical thinking while not yet fully internalizing the dispositions required for it.