Excerpted from A More Beautiful Question, 10th Anniversary Edition
Along with objectivity and fair-mindedness, an important element of critical thinking is awareness—of context, of multiple viewpoints, and of your own thought processes and assumptions. The late Richard Paul, who headed the Foundation for Critical Thinking, once said, “Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking in order to make your thinking better.”
It isn’t easy to think about your own thinking, let alone to question it. It requires us to see from the outside in—and to look for things, such as our biases, that are well hidden. Then we must be willing to ask questions about what we find. Why am I thinking this way? Can I change it?
As you set out to question your beliefs, think of it as a three-part journey of inquiry into your own assumptions: first, to try to identify them; then to understand them; and finally, to possibly modify them.
Years ago, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Arno Penzias was asked what led to his success. Penzias explained that he made a daily habit of asking what he called the “jugular question”: Why do I believe what I believe? Penzias felt the question served as a daily reminder to “constantly examine your own assumptions,” which in turn helped open him up to new ideas and even to breakthroughs in his field (such as his discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation).
Let’s break Penzias’s jugular question into three parts: the What, the Why, and the What If. First, the What involves simply trying to identify what are some of your biases or assumptions on a topic. So the initial question to ask yourself would be: What am I inclined to believe about this particular issue? (If you need help, ask others close to you about which side you tend to land on in various areas.)
Moving from What to Why, we return to Penzias’s original question—Why do I believe what I believe?—which tries to get at the basis for whatever feelings or beliefs you might have on this subject. By thinking about this (and perhaps researching or talking to others about it), we can begin to see if the belief or gut feeling holds up to scrutiny.
You may realize that the viewpoint was handed down by others. It may stem from your background, a particular experience you had, the media bubble you inhabit, or the people with whom you associate. You may also come to find that this view has scant evidence to support it. Or that it may be a belief that made sense once but no longer does. (This is such a common problem that the author Daniel Pink recommends regularly asking, What did I once believe that is no longer true?) In questioning why you believe what you believe, don’t overlook the “desirability bias,” which may lead you to believe something is true simply because you want it to be true.
After considering the What and the Why of your own beliefs and assumptions, try asking What If—as in, What if my beliefs or assumptions on this issue are just plain wrong? In exploring this possibility, Richard Larrick, a Duke University professor and a leading researcher on the subject of “debiasing,” says this question works because “it directs attention to contrary evidence that would other-wise not be considered.”
How might I own my own biases?
To the extent we can gain a glimmer of awareness of our biases—through self-reflection, self-questioning, or other ways—we should make the most of this self-knowledge. Ask yourself this question: How might I own my own biases?
If we have a sense that we tend to react to certain subjects in predictable ways, or that we lean a particular way on some issues, we can own that bias by acknowledging it and trying to factor it in as we take in new information or make new judgments. We can ask ourselves: Knowing that I tend to lean in one direction, how might that be altering my view of this new information or situation?
Going a step further, you might ask: Knowing that I lean to one side, how can I begin to straighten up? Interestingly, you can do that by forcing yourself—if only temporarily—to lean hard the other way. That’s done by briefly embracing the opposite point of view.
Larrick says the “consider the opposite” approach is standard practice in his field, where people are encouraged to to ask: I normally think about this issue this way, but what would “opposite me” think about this issue?
When I first learned from Larrick about the “consider the opposite” approach, it immediately reminded me of a classic Seinfeld episode. In it, the beleaguered character George Costanza is frustrated because his decisions always seem to turn out wrong.
Thus, he decides that he is going to begin making all important decisions by first asking, What would Opposite George do?—which prompts him to do exactly the opposite of whatever he would normally do. (In the end, it doesn’t work; George still finds a way to screw up everything.)
In real life, the “consider the opposite” strategy is not meant to be followed blindly; the viewpoint that is opposite yours may not be right, after all. Rather, it’s designed to open up your thinking to consider other possibilities and beliefs—and may lead you to a more nuanced and balanced position.
A Gallery of Quotes on Critical Thinking
