Critical thinking in an image world: Alfred Korzybski's theoretical principles extended to critical television evaluation

Purposes. The purpose of this analytical study was to identify Alfred Korzybski's major theoretical principles of critical thinking about language and to analyze the possibility of extending those principles to a critical approach to television evaluation. Based on the assumption that television is not only a voluminous, but a principal, source of information, ideas, and values for the young, the researcher has attempted to contribute to an understanding of how our youth can be better educated to examine television more consciously and critically.; Procedures. The study began by identifying three significant problems related to the development of a critical approach to television evaluation: the shift from a print-based culture to an image-based culture, the inadequacy of the existing educational approaches to develop critical thinking about television, and the need for a media ecology approach. The researcher, then, identified and examined five of Alfred Korzybski's theoretical ideas to see how they could extend to an approach to the critical evaluation of television. The theoretical ideas as they relate to television are as follows: (1) The time-binding rationale for critical television evaluation; (2) A reality based approach to television criticism; (3) The theory of abstraction and how it relates to television; (4) The structural nature of language applied to an understanding of the structural nature of television; (5) Alfred Korzybski's critical thinking techniques extended to critical thought about television.; Conclusions. (1) Based on this study, there is very good reason to believe that Alfred Korzybski's theory of language evaluation can provide a dynamic approach to television evaluation. (2) The principles of critical thinking set forth in this study may provide a more accurate and effective means of helping people think critically about television. (3) Based on the theoretical approach to television evaluation set forth in this study, curriculum now needs to be developed and tested.