Mind Brain Parenting's Newest Card Deck Uncovers Cognitive Bias

UC Irvine (UCI) startup Mind Brain Parenting just launched a new card deck under its sister brand, Mind Brain Emotion, called “52 Essential Critical Thinking.” The card deck offers skills that aim to improve people’s problem solving and decision-making skills in addition to discover their cognitive bias.

This product is the fourth in the company’s roster of card decks that are not only focused on improving mental health, social-emotional and communication skills for children and adults, but now also includes critical thinking skills. “This stemmed from my personal and professional struggles during Black Lives Matter [movement], the hate crimes, and the divisive society that we are in,” said Jenny Woo, founder and CEO of Mind Brain Parenting. “I dove deeply within myself and asked ‘within my position, what can I do to help heal the nation and those around me, including myself?’”

Since its September launch, the newest card has won two awards, including the 2021 National Parenting Product Award and the Tillywig 2021 BRAIN CHILD Award, which recognizes products that nurture a child’s intellectual and emotional development.

The 52 Essential Critical Thinking skills deck helps users uncover hidden biases, discern between assumptions and facts in news, social media and speeches as well as advertising. The game also uncovers irrational behaviors in the user and others, and helps users understand the role of implicit bias.

“We are inundated with information and data, and we are served up with seemingly compelling stories everywhere we look. This makes it exponentially more difficult for us to decipher an opinion from a fact and a commentary from documentary … the framing can be incredibly confusing,” said Woo. “I’m not here to tell you what is right and what is wrong. I’m here to equip you with the essential critical thinking skills to become a smarter consumer of information and a savvier examiner of human behaviors.”

Woo drew her inspiration behind the new product’s creation from her experience working in higher education, her research in developmental cognitive neuroscience while at Harvard University, and literary works including Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s novel “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” which focuses on flawed human reasoning.

Woo’s startup, Mind Brain Parenting, in addition to her sister brand, Mind Brain Emotion, has since graduated from UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s Wayfinder incubator and hopes to integrate this new product into the classroom. Her startup company has been profitable since 2018 and continues to experience rapid growth each year. “It’s not just about mental health and social-emotional learning as standalone initiatives, it’s also about infusing how we learn with what we learn in our core subjects, such as Language Arts,” said Woo. “It’s important to think critically with both our heart and head to learn, interpret and apply our knowledge for the betterment of ourselves and society.”

Learn more about Mind Brain Parenting.

Main Photo: Jackie Connor

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