Think Again Flashcards
What set of cognitive skills might matter more than intelligence?
The ability to rethink and unlearn.
What is the first-instinct fallacy?
Study that found a majority of test answer revisions are changed from wrong to right.
What is cognitive laziness?
When we prefer the ease of hanging on to old views over the difficulty of grappling with new ones.
What do psychologists call it when people stick to our knowledge and opinions?
Seizing and freezing
When it comes to our own knowledge and opinions, we often favor——- right, over ——— right.
Feeling right, over being right
As we think and talk what are the three different profession mindsets we often slip into?
Preacher, prosecutor, politician
We go into ——— mode when our sacred beliefs are in jeopardy.
Preacher mode
We enter ——- mode when we recognize flaws in other people’s reasoning.
Prosecutor mode
We shift into ——— mode when we’re seeking to win over an audience.
Politician mode
We move into ——— mode when we’re searching for the truth.
Scientist mode
Recent experiments suggest that the smarter you are, the more you might struggle to update your beliefs.
True or false
True
What is confirmation bias?
Seeing what we expect to see
What is desirability bias?
Seeing what we want to see.
In what mode do we refuse to let our ideas become ideologies?
Scientist mode
What does the cycle of rethinking start with?
Intellectual humility
What is intellectual humility?
Knowing what we don’t know.
If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is ——-?
Wisdom
When we shift out of scientist mode, the rethinking cycle breaks down, giving way to what cycle?
The overconfidence cycle
What happens when people are resistant to change?
It helps to reinforce what will stay the same.
What is the curse of knowledge?
It closes our minds to what we don’t know.
What is Anton’s syndrome?
A deficit of self-awareness in which a person is oblivious to a physical disability but otherwise doing fairly well cognitively.
What is armchair quarterback syndrome?
Where confidence exceeds competence.
What is imposter syndrome?
Where competence exceeds confidence.
Where does the ideal level of confidence lie?
Between armchair quarterback and an imposter.
What is the Dunning-Kruger effect?
When we lack competence that we’re most likely to be brimming with overconfidence. Having an inflated opinion of skills.
What is feigned knowledge?
Where people pretend to know things they don’t.
Why does armchair quarterback syndrome stand in the way of rethinking?
If we are certain that we know something, we have no reason to look for gaps and flaws in our knowledge.
When do we become overconfident in the Dunning-Kruger trap?
When we progress from novice to amateur.
What is confident humility?
Having faith in our capability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem.
What are the three benefits of imposter syndrome?
1) motivates us to work HARDER
2) motivates us to work SMARTER
3) make us better LEARNERS
What do people do when a core belief is questioned?
Shut down rather than open up.
What keeps us from recognizing when our opinions are off the mark and rethinking them?
Attachment
What two kinds of detachments are useful?
1) detaching your present from past
2) detaching your opinions from your identity
What should dictate your core principles in life?
Your values
What is the most important driver of forecasters’ success?
How often the update their beliefs
What does admitting we were wrong display?
Honesty and willingness to learn
What are personal, emotional clashes that are filled not with just friction but also with animosity?
Relationship conflict
What is it called when we have clashes about ideas and opinions?
Task conflict
Teams that perform poorly have more of what type of conflict?
Relationship conflict
Can task conflict be beneficial?
Yes
What type of people tend to be more critical, skeptical, and challenging?
Disagreeable people
Why are disagreeable people ideal members of a challenge network?
Because they are fearless about questioning the way things have always been done and holding us accountable for thinking again.
Dissatisfaction promotes creativity when people feel —— and ——-?
Committed and supported
Why do disagreeable people make good critics?
Because their intent is to elevate the work, not feed their own egos
Do agreeable people always steer clear from conflict?
No
What is a major problem with task conflict?
It spills into relationship conflict
When we argue about ——, we run the risk of becoming emotionally attached to our positions. We’re more likely to have a good fight if we argue about——-.
Why, how
Expert negotiators devote more than a third of their planning to what?
Finding common ground
Expert negotiators present fewer or more reasons to support their case?
Fewer
Skilled negotiators are more likely to do what instead of going on offense or defense?
Ask questions
How can we demonstrate openness in a debate?
By acknowledging where we agree and what we have learned from them.
Harish Natarajan used the steel man method to find common ground in a debate? What is this?
Steel man, consider the strongest version of their case
Who is the most likely person to change your mind?
Yourself
What is the lowest form of an argument?
Name calling
How can you shift attention away from the substance of a disagreement when someone becomes hostile?
Have a conversation about the conversation
What two reasons do people want to identify with a group?
They seek belonging and status
What is it called when people interact with others who share the same stereotypes making them more extreme?
Group polarization
When returning from space, astronauts are less focused on individual achievements and personal happiness, and more concerned for the collective good. What is this reaction called?
The overview effect
What can help build bridges between rivals?
Common identity
In an experiment, when did Boston and New York fans show less hostility?
When they reflected on how silly the rivalry was.
What does counter factual thinking involve?
Imagining how the circumstances of our lives could have unfolded differently.
Research suggests there are more ———- between groups than we recognize.
Similarities
What is the most effective way to break down stereotypes someone may have of you?
Talk with them in person
What is the common problem with persuasion?
What doesn’t sway us can make our beliefs stronger
What is the central premise of motivational interviewing?
We can rarely motivate someone else to change. We are better off helping them find their own motivation to change.
What are the three key techniques to motivational interviewing?
1) asking open-ended questions
2) engaging in reflective listening
3) affirming the persons desire and ability to change
What is the most effective way to help others open their minds?
Listen
What is the distinction between sustain talk and change talk, as it relates to motivational interviewing?
Sustain talk is about maintaining the status quo, change talk is refreshing a desire, ability, need or commitment to make adjustments
What is the fourth technique of motivational interviewing recommended for the end of a conversation?
Summarizing
What desire does motivational interviewing require?
A desire to help people reach their goals
What is the “righting reflex” as it relates to motivational interviewing?
The desire to fix problems and offer answers
How can a listener make people less anxious and defensive?
Interacting with as a empathetic, nonjudgmental, attentive listener
What is a basic human tendency to seek clarity and closure by simplifying a complex continuum into two categories?
Binary bias
What is the antidote to binary bias?
Complexifying: showcasing the range of perspectives on a given topic
What is the fundamental lesson of desirability bias?
Our beliefs are shaped by our motivations
How can we think like fact checkers?
1) INTERROGATE information
2) REJECT RANK and popularity as a proxy for reliability
3) UNDERSTAND that the sender of the information is not always the source
What is the phenomenon known as the awestruck effect?
When a speaker delivers an inspiring message
What is one of the hallmarks of an open mind?
Responding to confusion with curiosity and interest.
What does rethinking depend on when it comes to a collective group?
An organizations culture
In what culture is rethinking more likely to occur?
A learning culture where growth is a core value and rethinking cycles are routine
What is psychological safety?
It’s fostering a climate of respect, trust, and openness in which people can raise concerns and suggestions without fear of reprisal.
In performance cultures, the emphasis on results undermines ————.
Psychological safety
How can you change the culture of an organization?
Starting with modeling the VALUES we want to promote, PRAISING those who exemplify them, and BUILDING a coalition of colleagues who are committed to making a change
What is the standard advice for managers on building psychological safety?
To model openness and inclusiveness
What is it called when we double down and sink more resources into a plan instead of rethinking?
Escalation of commitment
What celebrated engine of success can fuel escalation of commitment?
Grit
What is identity foreclosure ?
When we settle prematurely on a sense of self without enough due diligence and close our minds to alternate selves.
Define your identity in terms of ———, not ———.
Values not opinions
