What exposes you to the ideas of others and gets you thinking in different ways?
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The ability to alter ane'due south listen when confronted with new evidence or data — or ameliorate yet, the willingness to actively seek out opposing viewpoints — is an important quality needed to exist successful in both business and in life. It is crucial for leaders who want to ensure their organization remains innovative and necessary for society to part optimally. All as well oftentimes, nonetheless, we tin can go insulated from information that runs counter to our existing behavior.
Nikada | Getty Images Breaking this type of thinking should be a priority for anyone interested in enhancing their critical thinking skills. Afterward all, when you insulate yourself from opposing viewpoints, y'all are potentially depriving yourself of information needed to make a more than informed decision. Toward that stop, here are a few strategies you can begin incorporating correct away that tin aid you go more than open up to opposing viewpoints and enhance your ability to think critically.
1. Be willing to question your electric current view of reality
Take a moment to reverberate on some of your nearly deeply held beliefs and opinions. As you do so, endeavor to be intentionally broad, accounting for the full spectrum of social, political, and organizational problems that comprise your current view of reality. For example, yous may reflect on your beliefs regarding the nature and source of inequality present in society, the trade policies most conducive to advancing a country's economic interest, or how to finer pb during moments of crisis.
Related: 16 Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
Equally you take stock of your ain constellation of views and beliefs, what is the likelihood that each reflects a fully informed opinion? More pointedly, bold that in that location is some truth to be known nigh each of these issues, such that the views you hold may exist more or less factual, consistent with reality, or conducive to human flourishing, what is the likelihood that you simply so happen to hold the right view on each one of them?
An honest and apprehensive assessment of this question should open your listen to the possibility of your own fallibility and the value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. Accordingly, a disquisitional get-go stride toward becoming more open up to opposing points of view requires a sense of humility, which constitutes a willingness to learn from others and an acquittance of your own limitations and fallibility. Luckily, this is a quality that can be developed and nurtured through practice.
2. Regularly seek out counter-data
Merely recognizing your own fallibility, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition for becoming more open and tolerant to opposing viewpoints. Indeed, it is all also piece of cake to get into the habit of narrowly focusing our attending on information that aligns with our pre-existing views. Organizational leaders, for example, can easily find themselves in insulated data silos, such every bit when they surround themselves with sycophants eager to limited opinions their leader wants to hear. Too, within the full general public, the increasing prevalence of media curated for each individuals' idiosyncratic interests and preferences makes it easier than e'er to remain oblivious to information and evidence that runs counter to one's existing beliefs. Overcoming such tendencies tin can exist exceptionally difficult, especially when the beliefs and opinions we hold are highly entrenched or become tied to our identity.
Related: Most Grads Say College Taught Them Few Critical Thinking Skills
Given the mental discomfort that can arise when nosotros come across information contrary to our current views, a willingness to seek out alternative perspectives takes a conscious effort. Identifying your dominant or "default" point of view and making a habit out of consuming information that runs somewhat opposite of this reference betoken is therefore a crucial next pace. For example, as a leader, you may reflect on how you lot view your current organizational processes and procedures and actively seek out sources that are critical of such practices. A good analogy comes from the open part space motion. Over the final few decades, many leaders accept embraced open office concepts in their organizations, believing that such environments enhance teamwork and inventiveness. Yet, conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of open office plans is quite disconnected from the science.
Importantly, such advice can (and should) be incorporated into all aspects of your life, not merely those issues of an organizational nature. For example, if you naturally lean toward one cease of the political spectrum, it can be helpful to regularly consume information from media outlets that lean opposite of your own political viewpoint. You lot may not agree with everything you're exposed to — nor should you — but you will undoubtedly identify blind spots in your own thinking and may even strengthen your own convictions past understanding non only the best and most convincing arguments for your position just too those against it.
3. Go enlightened of how yous feel in the moment
Even with the all-time intentions to remain receptive to opposing viewpoints, putting this mindset into practice can be exceptionally challenging. Oftentimes, the moment we encounter information that lies in contrast to our own beliefs, we run the risk of being carried away by intense affective reactions that can thwart a genuine effort to empathise the opposing viewpoint. For example, we know from research that when nosotros encounter morally-charged situations, we often make quick, instinctive judgments based on emotion. Merely later on the fact do nosotros justify how we came to the evaluation in the first identify. More troubling, this process frequently occurs below the level of awareness, leaving us to (mistakenly) think that the judgment we've made was the result of a rational, thoughtful process. Accordingly, it is important to remain mindful of these processes and to regularly monitor how you feel in the moment to ensure your judgment of the opposing evidence is based on reason and non on unbridled emotion.
Related: You lot Can Really Learn to Call up More than Critically with This Online Course
At that place is value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. To reap the benefits, be sure to acknowledge your own fallibility, seek out opposing information, and remain mindful of your emotions when evaluating the testify.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/346101
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