International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Use of AI Effects on Critical Thinking: Experimental Study

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming an increasingly common part of students’ academic lives. From generating explanations to assisting with assignments, these tools offer speed and convenience. However, as their use grows, an important question arises: do they support students’ thinking, or do they gradually replace it? The present study explores how AI assistance influences different aspects of critical thinking among students. An experimental research design was used, in which participants were randomly assigned to either an AI-assisted group or a non-AI group. Critical thinking was assessed using a 25-item Critical Thinking Questionnaire (CThQ) based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy, measuring remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. In addition, a structured Resource Allocation Task was administered to examine real-time decision-making and applied reasoning. It was expected that AI assistance might improve performance in foundational cognitive domains such as remembering and understanding, but could potentially reduce engagement in higher-order processes like analysing, evaluating and creating if students relied heavily on generated responses. By combining questionnaire-based and performance-based measures, this study seeks to provide a clearer understanding of how AI affects thinking at multiple cognitive level. The results of this study suggests that participants using AI often produced more structured and organize responses, particularly in tasks involving understanding and presenting information. However, participants who worked without AI demonstrated stronger independent reasoning and more detailed justification in their responses. overall, the results suggest that while AI may support lower-level cognitive processes, excessive reliance on it may reduce engagement in higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and creation. The findings aim to contribute to ongoing discussions about responsible AI use in higher education and highlight the importance of maintaining independent and reflective thinking in technology-supported learning. Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Critical Thinking, Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, Experimental Study, Cognitive Offloading, Undergraduate students.