Critical Thinking - Avoid Being Manipulated

With so much online information, fake news and algorithms tracking the materials you find interesting, 'doing your own research' can land you with confirmation bias. This is why you need to recognize manipulation tactics and explore a wide variety of opinions and evidence. To avoid manipulation: examine the information or claims being put forward; explore cause and correlation  just because B occurs, is it necessarily a result of A? Does A have a vested interest in certain outcomes? Would B have happened some other way? Know that correlation does not imply causality.

• Learn to avoid manipulation.
• Be cautious of those who push a 'line' of argument.
• Examine the information or claims being put forward.
• Explore correlation and cause  just because B occurs, is it necessarily a result of A? Does A have a vested interest in certain outcomes? Would B have happened some other way?
• When in doubt, keep researching.