We all want to be heard. We all want to share our ideas and/or thoughts. Of course we believe that our opinion is the MOST important one in the world. That’s cool. But maybe doing a fact check is a good thing to do…before we open our mouth.
Fact checking. A few years ago John Stossell, a reporter on 20/20, began reporting on facts vs. what we believe to be true. He also discussed where these ideas come from. His facts were hard to challenge. His interpretations may be subject to argument, but the facts weren’t. He also wrote a companion book.
The bottom line is that what we “believe we know” is; a compilation of what we are told by informed and/or uninformed people including friends, relatives, news reporters, people with their own agendas, and more learned experiences.
Have ever heard of attribution error?
Attribution error is a true analysis…based on false or incomplete information.
All of these things create the world that we believe we live in.
I see these things as almost a parallel universe to reality. Hear me out. We build these pictures and opinions from our experiences, provided information, other beliefs that are assumed to be correct, and more.
Imagine that we live in a metaphorical glass tube that’s maybe 6 ft. in diameter cylinder that is always around us.
When we experience or learn something we will paste a picture of our interpretation on the inside of the glass.
Once we have learned many things, the glass becomes covered. Inside the glass we end up with a small opening for us to see new things, and to be able to accurately interpret life as we see it.
All of the previous learned messages and postings clutter the image of our world.
These are the things that become our reality.
The problem is that many of our ideas are based on incorrect or incomplete information.
So the pictures we base our lives on may not always be true.
So ask yourself; where did I learn that? Is it really 100% accurate, mostly accurate, or accurate enough that it justifies what I already believe (whether that is correct or not)? Apply this analysis to your next conversation.
So, the basic question must be; BASED ON WHAT?
There were some researchers who wanted to test a frog’s response and reaction time. They placed the frog on a starting line and then slammed their hands on the desk.
The frog jumped 20 feet!
Then they cut off it’s front legs. They put him down and slammed the desk!
The frog jumped only 15 feet. They hurriedly made their detailed notes.
They then cut off one back leg and placed him carefully on the line again.
SLAM! The frog jumped 3 ft and a little sideways. They looked at each in amazement. Their heads dropped to their note boards and they carefully documented the frogs reaction in their notes.
They cut off the last leg.
SLAM!
The frog didn’t move.
SLAM!
Nothing. The frog just looked at them. They looked back.
They stepped to the corner of the room, where the frog could not hear them talking about him.
Suddenly they came back and looked at each other.
“Agreed?” In unison they all said “yes.”
Hands to their note boards, they wrote: FROG WITH NO LEGS…CANNOT HEAR.
That is attribution error.
Something to consider.
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