One-line takeaway
“What evidence would cause you to change your mind?” is the kind of question that leads to a more balanced perspective.
What is Think Again about?
Adam Grant gives Malcolm Gladwell and Jordan Peterson a run for their money…
But, in the beginning, I felt that this book could also create a wrong expectation. At first glance, Think Again seems to be building toward a clear practical message: being able to unlearn and rethink is useful in life. Read that way, the book can become a bit underwhelming, because it does not always turn that idea into something particularly new or actionable.
So, my first reaction was: “Fun facts, but nothing new.”
But then I realized that this reaction comes from picking up the book from the wrong shelf. This is not exactly a self-help book. Grant is not promising a step-by-step guide to better thinking. As he writes, his aim is “to explore how rethinking happens.”
And he delivers exactly that.
Table of Contents
Summary and review
Individual rethinking reinvents our belief system
Grant begins the book by exploring human psychology and the ability of people to rethink. What does it mean to be mentally fit? Is it being more intelligent or the ability to rethink and unlearn? Grant suggests that rethinking is more important in many cases, providing examples from real-life situations. In historical terms, we can think of this pretty optimistically, as if cognitive laziness had been a major issue for our species, we would still live in caves. It is important to note, however, that most of the time, the issue does not arise from our cognitive abilities.
We don’t just hesitate to rethink our answers. We hesitate at the very idea of rethinking. (page 11)
With the advances in access to information and technology, knowledge is not only growing, but it is growing at an increasing rate, so the balance between intelligence and rethinking tends to favor the latter. The irony is that as one becomes more intelligent, they become more susceptible to not rethinking their decisions.
My favorite bias is the “I’m not biased” bias, in which people believe they’re more objective than others. It turns out that smart people are more likely to fall into this trap. The brighter you are, the harder it can be to see your own limitations. Being good at thinking can make you worse at rethinking (page 29).
Opening other people’s minds becomes easier when you take a passive approach
Regardless of one’s intelligence level, Grant argues that people never expect to be the least intelligent person in the room. People would do anything to avoid becoming that individual. Sounds obvious. And, this is why one should not attempt to change someone’s mind by saying, ‘Actually, that is not quite accurate!’
In the second half of the book, Grant introduces two rules to follow when opening others’ minds.
- The argument should be simple
- Instead of debunking one’s beliefs directly, we should ask the question, ‘what evidence would change your mind?’
These approaches create a ‘common ground’ that allows the other people to believe that we are not looking down on them. As a result, mutual respect increases the likelihood that other people will open up to you. This is what is being called as ‘Motivational interviewing’.
Together, they developed the core principles of a practice called motivational interviewing. The central premise is that we can rarely motivate someone else to change. We’re better off helping them find their own motivation to change (page 141).
Leaving learners in the dark might not be the worst teaching technique
Toward the end of the book, Grant discusses ‘collective rethinking’. In essence, the argument goes, it would be more effective, at least in the long run, if students were given the opportunity to rethink their decisions. More practically, let them remain confused for a period of time so that curiosity and interest will replace their confusion.
Finding the right balance between rethinking and taking actions…
Grant’s goal, as mentioned before, is not to provide his readers with advice on better ways to rethink, but rather, to introduce an unconventional perspective for them to consider rethinking. There is, however, one important question that remains unanswered. When should rethinking stop or where should the line be drawn? How do we know when we have done enough rethinking and are ready to take action toward whatever goal we have in mind? As with most psychological questions, the answer is “it depends.”
I think the answer is different for every person in every situation, but my sense is that most of us are operating too far to the left of the curve– i.e. most of us act without rethinking(page 328).
The most logical way to gauge if we are not overly polarized towards either end of the spectrum is by asking a simple question that has been thoroughly discussed throughout this book, and that is, ‘what evidence would cause you to change your mind?’
