Many college students are not progressing in the development of their critical thinking skills. Concept mapping is a technique for facilitating validation of one's critical thinking by graphically depicting the structure of complex concepts. Each of our three studies of concept mapping involved approximately 240 students enrolled in four sections of an introductory psychology course. In each study, students in two sections were required to use Cacoo, a free online resource, to construct concept maps of specified complex concepts. In the initial study of the efficacy of concept mapping, students who constructed concept maps scored significantly higher on unit tests, F (3, 240) = 4.17, p = 0.007, p < 0.01, 95% CI, 0.047 ES. In the second study, students, who constructed concept maps during preparation for unit tests, performed significantly higher, F (3, 240) = 8.89, p = 0.000, 95% CI, than students who constructed concept maps after lectures that included the specified complex concepts. The third study found no significant differences between hierarchical and systems types of concept maps for facilitating critical thinking, F (3, 192) = 0.975, p = 0.406, 95% CI, ES = 0.015. Consequently, we conclude that validating one's critical thinking by the construction of concept maps, regardless of type, will tend to facilitate successful performance. Additionally, we submit that graphic depiction, regardless of type, will facilitate comprehension of complex concepts within all disciplines.