Gavin Terrill's Blog

10 Critical Thinking Traps & Tips

There is a great list of critical thinking traps & tips over at litemind.com. I'm summarizing them here so I remember them!

1. The Anchoring Trap: Over-Relying on First Thoughts.

initial impressions, ideas, estimates or data “anchor” subsequent thoughts

• Always view a problem from different perspectives
• Think on your own before consulting others
• Seek information from a wide variety of sources

2. The Status Quo Trap: Keeping on Keeping On

 status quo automatically has an advantage over every other alternative

• Consider the status quo as just another alternative.
• Know your objectives.
• Avoid exaggerating switching costs.

3. The Sunk Cost Trap: Protecting Earlier Choices

it's a sunk cost, and it shouldn't influence your decision

• Be OK with making mistakes.
• Listen to people who were not involved in the earlier decisions.
• Focus on your goals.

4. The Confirmation Trap: Seeing What You Want to See

looking for information that will most likely support your initial point of view

• Expose yourself to conflicting information.
• Get a devil's advocate.
• Don't ask leading questions.

5. The Incomplete Information Trap: Review Your Assumptions

(my favorite, but hard to execute!)

overlooking a simple data element can make our intuitions go completely astray

• Make your assumptions explicit.
• Always favor hard data over mental simplifications.

6. The Conformity Trap: Everybody Else Is Doing It

other people's actions do heavily influence ours

• Discount the influence of others.
• Beware "social proof".
• Be courageous.

7. The Illusion of Control Trap: Shooting in the Dark

we still tend to irrationally believe that we can somehow influence results. We just love to feel in control

• Understand that randomness is part and parcel of life.
• Beware of superstitions.

8. The Coincidence Trap: We Suck at Probabilities

Probabilities can be unintuitive.

• Don't over-rely on gut estimates.
• Beware of "after the fact" probabilities.

9. The Recall Trap: Not All Memories Are Created Equal

we analyze information based on experience, on what we can remember from it

• Get hard data. (there's that hard data thing again - see # 5)
• Be aware of your emotions.

10. The Superiority Trap: The Average is Above Average

people have much inflated views of themselves

• Be humble.
• Don't go overboard. (wrt applying rigor and rational thinking)

I encourage you to read the full article as it contains several good examples and great explanations of the tips.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

There was a lively thread on proggit the other day about how difficult programmers can be to work with:

• "always trying to one up each other and prove how smart they are"
• "petty infighting and ruthless backstabbing"
• "constantly seek refuge in argument by authority, blindly quoting their favorite gurus to support their positions"
• "desperate need to believe in absolutes"

I have to admit, I am certainly guilty of pretty much all of the traits listed in the post. Some more than others, much to my chagrin.

It occurred to me that as I have gained more experience (read: got older) these tendencies have tended to diminish. I have realized the more aware I have become with the business side of the equation, ideals I was once passionate about now seem rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things (and of course with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight).

My interaction style has also changed a lot. Whereas before I would quickly jump to conclusions when I saw things that were "wrong", I now try to come up with possible explanations for why it is the way it is before flying off the handle. What I have found is that I often learn something new - if not with the code or process then certainly about the way the individual works.

So today I came across a post in The Fishbowl about a thing called the "Principle of Charity". It's a good read. Fundamentally it says be charitable to whom it is you are dealing with and assume the best of them:

1. They are not idiots, brain dead or morons.
2. They are honest and not trying to scam, manipulate or deceive you.
3. They did their homework.

I like it! It is nice to find out about things you have a sense of but can't quite put a finger on. Getting back to that proggit thread, I wish someone had told me about this 20 years ago. I dare say my technical discussions would of been much more efficient and less aggravating had I afforded my poor colleagues the benefit of the doubt occasionally.

Charles says his challenge is to remember the principles. I think my challenge (now that I am enlightened) is how to respond to individuals who violate those principles when dealing with me. Let me clarify that. I mean to say how to respond "politely".