How to Think for Yourself

This lesson discusses the concept of "social proof" and why you should be wary of it as you strengthen you independent thinking.

This lesson discusses strategies to sidestep the influence of social proof on your decisions and activities.

This lesson presents a scenario where Rhonda defied the prevailing thoughts and perceptions in her department to become more assertive and get rewarded with a promotion.

This lesson suggests some exercises you can complete to help reduce the effects of social proof on your beliefs and decisions.

This lesson discusses what fear is and how it shuts down the higher-order, rational parts of our brain and thinking processes. You'll learn how other people try to use fear to get you to quit thinking, and you'll develop strategies to keep thinking rationally when faced with fearful situations or information.

This lesson discusses how Edward took control of his fears and made rational decisions. You will see how he prevented fear from shutting down his thinking and how he made choices that were in his best interests.

This lesson discusses some exercises you can perform to keep thinking rationally when someone is trying to make you afraid (to manipulate you). The worksheet activities will be discussed. You should complete all these exercises to get the most benefit from this course.

This lesson will discuss what persuasion is, what types of tricks other people use to persuade you into doing what they want, and tactics you can use to disarm these persuasive tactics and improve your own intellectual independence.

This lesson discusses several specific persuasive tactics people may try to use on you. The goal is to disarm persuasive tricks primarily by recognizing them when they're used.

This lesson gives a case study where Rhonda when searching for a new apartment. The leasing agent tried to get her to agree to a larger, more expensive apartment than what she needed. You will see how Rhonda disarmed the leasing agent's persuasive tricks and get the apartment she could afford.

This lesson includes exercises you can complete to identify and resist manipulative attempts to persuade and influence you. You will feel more confident, in control, and better able to think for yourself as you master these habits.

This lesson discusses what it means to ask effective questions and why developing that habit is so important in learning to think for yourself.

This lesson includes methods to develop your questioning ability more. Developing this skill is one of the most important elements in learning to think for yourself.

This lesson presents a case study of Edward, who was in a bad job situation, and how he used the principles of asking effective questions to open the door to better employment opportunities.

This lesson discusses some ways you can improve your ability to ask effective questions. As you ask more powerful questions, you'll increase your self-confidence knowledge, and intellectual independence.

This lesson provides a high-level summary of the information contained in the course. It also provides an overview of the reference guide and bonus lessons contained in this section.

This lesson contains a quick reference guide which includes a summary of the important points and application suggestions for learning to think for yourself.

This lesson discusses several suggestions of how to make better decisions. You will learn about some of the factors that lead to poor decisions and how to avoid them. You will also learn about the concept of opportunity cost and how understanding it will make your decisions easier.

This section contains all of the audio, MP3 files for the lessons in this course. You will need to download and extract the compressed (ZIP) folder to your device.