Sequential Problem Solving A Student Handbook with Checklists for Successful Critical Thinking — Background and Themes

Diction: Blending Technical and Moral Language

Lozo's vocabulary oscillates between the clinical and the ethical. He uses terms like 'reptilian system,' 'limbic system,' and 'neo-cortex' alongside phrases such as 'created in the image of God' and 'obligation to help each other as citizens of a world community.' This juxtaposition is deliberate: the author aims to ground moral reasoning in neurological science. For instance, he writes that 'fear overpowers our desire to be loving because it engages lower brain centers.' The word 'loving' here is notable—it is not a typical term in problem-solving manuals. Lozo also employs imperative constructions ('We can begin by analyzing') and first-person plural ('we often are ashamed'), creating a sense of shared struggle. The diction thus serves a dual purpose: it asserts authority through scientific terminology while fostering a collaborative, almost pastoral tone.

Structural Choices: Checklists and Hierarchies

The book's structure mirrors its content: it is organized into sequential steps, with a 'problem solving checklist flowchart' in the introduction and appendices on outline styles and argumentative fallacies. Lozo presents Kohlberg's moral development stages as a table with age, test, and question columns—a format that reduces complex developmental theory to a quick-reference tool. This structural preference for lists and hierarchies reflects the author's belief that 'a checklist for moral decision making can provide a framework for keeping our actions in the realm of planned activity.' However, the excerpts also reveal a tension: Lozo's step-by-step framework is occasionally interrupted by discursive passages on the Triune Brain or interpersonal conflict, suggesting that the handbook is not purely procedural but also exploratory. The inclusion of 'Stream Of Consciousness' as a learning technique further complicates the linear structure.

Integration of Psychological Models

Lozo draws on at least three psychological frameworks: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, MacLean's Triune Brain model, and Kohlberg's stages of moral development. He uses these not as mere citations but as explanatory tools. For example, he links impulsive behavior to 'animal-like behavioral weaknesses' when 'physical safety or food and shelter needs are threatened,' directly invoking Maslow. The Triune Brain model is employed to explain why people 'act like animals' under stress: 'fear engages lower brain centers that are not controlled by abstract thought centers.' Lozo then pivots to Kohlberg's stages, presenting them as a ladder from 'Will I get caught?' to 'Is this what God wants me to do?' The integration is not always seamless—the leap from neurology to theology is abrupt—but it reveals the author's ambition to synthesize scientific and spiritual perspectives. Notably, Lozo does not critically evaluate these models; he treats them as established truths.

The Unattached Person: A Case Study in Diction and Inference

One of the most distinctive passages in the excerpts concerns the 'unattached' person, defined as someone with 'a defective conscience.' Lozo's diction here is stark: he describes such individuals as 'manipulative' and 'often become sociopaths,' their behavior 'molded before the' (the excerpt cuts off). The term 'unattached' itself is a euphemism that Lozo uses to label a personality type, and he links it to a 'lifelong distrust of others and a supreme belief in their own ability.' The phrasing suggests a clinical detachment, yet the moral weight is clear. Lozo advises that 'gentle, kind people' are 'especially vulnerable to harm from people that are termed unattached.' This section exemplifies how the author blends descriptive psychology with prescriptive caution. However, because the excerpt is incomplete, the reader cannot know how Lozo develops this concept further—whether he offers strategies for dealing with such individuals or merely warns against them.

Lozo's handbook is best approached as a hybrid: part study-skills manual, part moral philosophy, part pop-neuroscience primer. Readers should note that the author's claims about the Triune Brain and Kohlberg's stages are presented without nuance, and the 'unattached' person concept may raise ethical questions. The value of the text lies less in its scientific rigor than in its earnest attempt to systematize thinking across domains. For those interested in how educational writers of the late twentieth century synthesized diverse intellectual currents, this book offers a revealing case.

Year after year, I watch young hands reach for Lozo’s little handbook on careful thought, and I am reminded of an old sea captain’s memoir, The Men of the Merchant Service Being the polity of the mercantile marine for 'longshore readers — Background and Themes. Both quietly honor the dignity of method, the patient compass that steers one safely through fog.