Includes bibliographical references and index.

The benefit of asking the right questions -- Critical thinking as a social activity -- What are the issue and the conclusion? -- What are the reasons? -- What words or phrases are ambiguous? -- What are the value and descriptive assumptions? -- Are there any fallacies in the reasoning? -- How good is the evidence : intuition, personal experience, testimonials, and appeals to authority? -- How good is the evidence : personal observation, research studies, case examples, and analogies? -- Are there rival causes? -- Are the statistics deceptive? -- What significant information is omitted? -- What reasonable conclusions are possible? -- Overcoming obstacles to critical thinking -- Should we protect children from advertising? -- What is the proper role of government in improving the qualitty of families in our culture? -- What is the secret to happiness? -- In what ways can the media influence society and what can we do about it? -- What role does physical appearance play in our lives?