Rethink more often

Who doesn’t like to win arguments, get the approval of the audience or defend their values and beliefs??Normally, we associate our thinking models very closely with our identity.?These mental modes affect our will to question our own opinions and our skill to open other people's minds.

I took the Think Again quiz that Prof. Adam Grant has designed, and was intrigued by the results.?I encourage you to take the 10-question Think Again quiz as well…

In our daily lives, we often think like Preachers, Prosecutors, Politicians, or Scientists.?Psychologists find that we enter preacher mode when we're defending a sacred value, prosecutor mode when we're trying to win an argument, politician mode when we're campaigning for the approval of an audience, and scientist mode when we're searching for the truth.?Each model has pros and cons.?Our dominant thinking model in a given situation affects our behaviours and in many cases, the outcome of the situation as well.?

One of the topics that has fascinated mankind from time immemorial is about predicting the future.?Prof. Grant launched a Forecasting tournament last year and over 2K people registered their predictions on 25 different events.?Before the tournament, the participants were encouraged to take the Think Again quiz.?Out of the 10 questions in the quiz, the answers to two questions (Questions 2 & 4) had the highest correlation in determining the best forecasters.?Those two answers determine how much of your thinking is like a Scientist.?

People who thought like a Scientist for both questions were twice as likely to be accurate about the future than people who chose only one as a Scientist, and three times more accurate than people who chose neither answer as a Scientist.?Thinking like a Scientist means having the humility to know what you don’t know, the curiosity to question your convictions, and the intellectual integrity to seek out evidence that contradicts your assumptions and people who challenge your thought process.?People who thought like scientists made significantly fewer accuracy and calibration mistakes.

When you think like a scientist, changing your mind isn’t a threat to your ego—it’s a moment of growth. It means you've learned something new…