![]() ![]() ![]() 187).īut, you may argue, what are the limits to being Actively Open-Minded? Should I listen and engage in every opposing point of view? As Stanovich et al. “Radical open-mindedness is the ability to effectively explore different points of view and different possibilities…It requires you to replace your attachment to always being right with the joy of learning what’s true” (2017, p. We will certainly fall short of being actively open-minded, but when we sense we are in Refutation Mode, we can try to momentarily recalibrate and see if being actively open-minded may serve us in the situation.įor example, in making billion-dollar investments, Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge-fund, places the dictate to be “Radically Open-Minded” as one of his key management principles. Nevertheless, it can serve as a cognitive aspiration. This is further complicated when beliefs are central to us (Haidt, 2012). We need to override our initial impulses. The willingness to be open-minded, assess evidence, and update our beliefs takes cognitive effort. (R) indicates item is reverse scored (for additional items, see Stanovich, et al., 2016, p. These include:ġ) “Beliefs should always be revised in response to new information or evidence.”Ģ) “I like to gather many different types of evidence before I decide what to do.”ģ) “It is important to persevere in your beliefs even when evidence is brought to bear against them.” (R) I won’t go into specifics on each dimension, but a few items should help see how Actively Open-Minded Thinking is assessed. ![]() (2016) measure Actively Open-Minded Thinking with a 30-item scale drawn from numerous sources, including items from a flexible thinking scale, Big 5’s openness to experience, and being able to resist dogmatism, among others (see also Stanovich & West, 1997). So what is the antidote to entering Refutation Mode? In Keith Stanovich’s impressive catalog of how to assess “good thinking” in his book The Rationality Quotient (with Richard West and Maggie Toplak), what emerges again and again is Actively Open-Minded Thinking. You may have experienced this yourself in raising your hand in a seminar or class-once you do so you are fixated on what you will say to the point that your attention narrows and you stop listening to the conversation that is still occurring. This is why, if someone has entered Refutation Mode, you might be surprised they didn’t hear that you’ve already addressed their point. Your emotional response and refutation of an early point shuts off additional incoming information. In Refutation Mode you may even miss additional arguments and nuances that a speaker might give. ‘Five minutes’ represented ‘think,’ not react” (2012).Īlan Jacobs, in his book How to Think (2017) calls this entering “Refutation Mode-and in Refutation Mode there is no listening” (p. In response, to Fried’s criticism, the speaker replied, “Man, give it five minutes.”įried says, “I asked him what he meant by that? He said, it’s fine to disagree, it’s fine to push back, it’s great to have strong opinions and beliefs, but give my ideas some time to set in before you’re sure you want to argue against them. ![]() And when presented with an opportunity to speak with him, I quickly pushed back at some of his ideas” (2012). “While he was making his points on stage, I was taking an inventory of the things I didn’t agree with. Fried had disagreed with the speaker and as he says: Jason Fried, the co-founder of Basecamp, a project management software company, describes being at a conference and engaging with a fellow speaker. ![]()
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