The first question that must be asked before answering this question is: What exactly is logical thinking? Logical thinking is the process in which one uses reasoning consistently to come to a conclusion. If this definition is strictly followed, logical thinking cannot be affected by any outside influences as long as the premises are truly valid. For example the syllogism:

is truly logical because the major premise is true. In a more 'general world' however, we refer to logical thinking as simply deducing a reasonable explanation or conclusion from what is already and personally known. What is personally known is often fallacious because of stereotypes, cultural taboos, and/or prejudices. Because of this, the premises used in reasoning are not always truly valid but are accepted as valid. This is what influences the conclusions that are reached; the premises which have been 'jaded' by culture and individual beliefs.

There are many aspects to culture and all of them affect what is personally known and the way one makes decisions. Th

The main aspect of culture which affects logical thinking, I believe, is history. A person's or people's history is responsible for many traditions, opinions, and aspects of a certain culture. History is often the cause of stereotypes, prejudice, and cultural taboos; which are all examples of things which affect people and lead them to arrive at fallacious conclusions. For example in Hungary it is 'wrong' to chink beer mugs before drinking. This is because of past relations with Austria. Austrians would touch mugs and toast to being "comrades" before drinking beer. Because of the former situation of Hungary being occupied by the Russians, they associated chinking mugs to the Communist regime. The actual act of touching glasses is not wrong physically but it has become associated with an 'unpleasant' period of Hungary's history and as a result has become a cultural taboo.

It is very often that these individual beliefs and culture affect a person's reasoning. In reasoning, the conclusion is the statement one is trying to prove; the premises are those statements which provide evidence for the conclusion. Arguments are traditionally broken into two types; inductive and deductive. It is only the deductive argument which provides conclusive evidence since it deduces from the general to the particular. For example:

In this example the premises do not provide sufficient evidence for the conclusion because it does not say if other types of animals nurse their young. Once a conclusion has been reached through deductive reasoning it then has to be determined if it is valid or invalid. This is where the culture and individual beliefs can affect the conclusions which are reached. Often the argument is not true because the premise used is an assumption, biased, or fallacious. For example:

Logic in the strictest sense is not affected by culture and individual beliefs. In the "real world" however, everyone is not the same and everyone is not capable of knowing everything. Because of this, a person's culture and individual beliefs affect reasoning. This is because they believe the fallacious premises which are used to make a conclusion. They could believe these things because of deep rooted stereotypes based on prejudice. Culture and indiv

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