A big part of learning to think is recognizing and overriding our default reactions and responses to situations.

Egocentric interpretations

We can pretty fast make wrong and negative assumptions about a single event. We often project our perception of the world and take shortcuts to make conclusions on what has just happened. In those situations of frustration, anger or surprise we often overlook options that might explain the situation and tend to focus on the negative by making a mean value judgement. « There can’t be a good reason why this person did what she/he did to me. », you might think in your head. As Shane Parrish describes in his article, « We often instinctively chose to assume the worst of people ». We selfishly react to the situation and we loose our ability to think clearly. Interestingly, you might have noticed how much more reserved we can be when we are not directly concerned by the situation. We might even think that the person directly involved in the situation is overreacting. True, right? But, despite that, it doesn’t mean we will better respond to the next situation we will be involved in. We don’t realize how easy it is to accumulate dangerous thinking biases overtime by always assuming the negative from the world that surrounds us. To invert this situation, there is a simple trick. When you experience a frustrating or annoying situation ask yourself: « What could have genuinely cause this person to do what she did »? There is a french expression that sums up this way of thinking: « Laissez le bénéfice du doute » which means: « Give the benefit of the doubt ».