With the proliferation of mis- and disinformation in media, hallucinating large-language model output integrated into our software and devices, and the sheer volume of information and opinion available online, it is essential that we leverage critical thinking strategies to counter the various narratives and targeted messages ubiquitous in modern Western society. The present paper argues that many critical thinking strategies are based on behavioral theories with limited justification at the cognitive and neural level. These theories exhibit false dichotomies which are convenient and persuasive in their simplicity, but may in fact lead to vulnerabilities when used as a basis for critical thinking. We argue that critical thinking strategies need to be understood in cognitive terms, and extant behavioral theories re-examined and re-interpreted to understand how memory formation, elaboration, and recall impacts decision-making. To accomplish this, we will proceed as follows: 1) we will provide an overview of decision-making research and address some concerns with popular dual-process accounts; 2) we will provide a cognitively-grounded explanation of decision-making and how integrating information about source credibility may be counterproductive, 3) we will provide evidence from cognitive models how certain kinds of critical thinking strategies may be exploitable, an 4) we will make recommendations for critical thinking education including the necessary role of adaptive instructional systems to independently assess various critical thinking processes involved in sense-making.