Scepticism and personality type

[n8rae]

Going with your gut feelings is fine when the outcome is unimportant, and probably essential in some areas e.g.art. In real life 'gut feelings' are ok for prioritising which option(s) to investigate further, but a disaster if relied upon. How do you think con artists and fraudsters survive? They rely on people liking what is revealed and not trying to analyse or investigate.

What i think i was trying to say was, "if you have a general understanding of the how the game is played, you should be able to go with your gut feeling most of the time." Obviously if someone is trying to sell you something (a new idea, a financial product, etc.) you need to ask more questions, but in everyday life skeptical thought is not always needed.
I used to have a friend who would have to "go and think about it" every time he needed to make any decision. In the end our friendship came to an end cos when i went to him with a concern and needed someone to help me work through a dificult issue, he didn't respond as a friend or an emotional being he just said he had to "go and think about it."

Relying on gut feeling is the antithesis of skepticism. It can of course lead to a much more exciting life, if on balance your guesses pay off and you can live with the mistakes.

I have trained my gut feelings in skepticism.
I don't mean that my gut feelings are never wrong, but i have thought thru so many issues so much that when i get into a new situation my "gut feeling" usually aligns with my final skeptical decision.
Knowing this means i can relax most of the time and not have to tie myself up in knots every time i have to make a decision.

what do you think?

nathan rae


www.nathanrae.co.uk

[Cuddles]

I have trained my gut feelings in skepticism.
I don't mean that my gut feelings are never wrong, but i have thought thru so many issues so much that when i get into a new situation my "gut feeling" usually aligns with my final skeptical decision.
Knowing this means i can relax most of the time and not have to tie myself up in knots every time i have to make a decision.

what do you think?

As Pebble says, this is exactly what things like con-artists and frauds rely on, and even many perfectly legal things like advertising and politicians. Feelings just aren't that reliable. They are great for getting a general idea of something, or for prioritising problems, when it comes down to it that's pretty much what they're evoloved for. If you see a stripy pattern in the grass you don't want to hang around asking exactly how big the stripes are, you just say "Arggh, a tiger!" and run like hell, even if it turns out not to be some of the time. However, "Arggh, a tiger" often isn't the appropriate response these days, and there are billions of dollars spent on both legal and illegal ways to exploit it.

in everyday life skeptical thought is not always needed.

The thing is, this is precisely why most skeptical organisations are set up - because skeptical thought is always needed. Most people think like you, that feelings and instinct are fine for everyday life and skepticism is just for things that look suspicious or unusual, but that is not the case. Sure, you can often get by without any major problems, but for every person who manages that there's another one who gets ripped off by fake psychics, or has their identity stolen, or gets conned out of all their money, or votes a fraud into office, or wastes money on products that don't work, or any number of things that can, and regularly do, happen. Some are not so bad, some can destroy your entire life, but they can all mostly be avoided by a little critical thinking.

[Mulder]

I took a personality test once and failed!

[Pebble]

What i think i was trying to say was, "if you have a general understanding of the how the game is played, you should be able to go with your gut feeling most of the time."

I have trained my gut feelings in skepticism.
I don't mean that my gut feelings are never wrong, but i have thought thru so many issues so much that when i get into a new situation my "gut feeling" usually aligns with my final skeptical decision.
Knowing this means i can relax most of the time and not have to tie myself up in knots every time i have to make a decision.

what do you think?

I think what you are describing in the first part of this is learned behaviour and pattern recognition. There are many things we all do as if 'by instinct'. For example riding a bike, deciding whether to go out or not, typing etc. Pattern recognition is more complex, so in ones work, there will be many situations where one faces apparently complex decisions so routinely that one appears to make the right choice without thinking about it. Here we have over time identified the three or four pieces of information that affect the decision we will make and seek these out from a seemingly chaotic stream of data, and ignore all other information. This works remarkably well most of the time, but when it goes wrong, investigations after the fact show that we are sloppy by nature.

As to training you 'gut instinct' in skepticism: Yeah Right!

[Sarama]

Cuddles Quote:
As Pebble says, this is exactly what things like con-artists and frauds rely on, and even many perfectly legal things like advertising and politicians. Feelings just aren't that reliable. They are great for getting a general idea of something, or for prioritising problems, when it comes down to it that's pretty much what they're evoloved for. If you see a stripy pattern in the grass you don't want to hang around asking exactly how big the stripes are, you just say "Arggh, a tiger!" and run like hell, even if it turns out not to be some of the time. However, "Arggh, a tiger" often isn't the appropriate response these days, and there are billions of dollars spent on both legal and illegal ways to exploit it.

althea Quote:
in everyday life skeptical thought is not always needed.

Cuddles Quote:
The thing is, this is precisely why most skeptical organisations are set up - because skeptical thought is always needed. Most people think like you, that feelings and instinct are fine for everyday life and skepticism is just for things that look suspicious or unusual, but that is not the case. Sure, you can often get by without any major problems, but for every person who manages that there's another one who gets ripped off by fake psychics, or has their identity stolen, or gets conned out of all their money, or votes a fraud into office, or wastes money on products that don't work, or any number of things that can, and regularly do, happen. Some are not so bad, some can destroy your entire life, but they can all mostly be avoided by a little critical thinking. ------------------- End of Quote

Sarama wrote:
While I'm sure gut instinct has or had it's purpose as proposed by Cuddles, "Lions, and Tigers and Bears, oh my!", this is the very thing that is so often exploited in politics, complimentary medicine, and so forth.
And the most common, most studied tool that is used to manipulate and exploit people? You guessed it! Psychology! It is our basic instincts, our ignorance and often our fear that are relied on. I am not saying there is no value in our ongoing drive to understand each other, and put one another in flat packed fancily wrapped manageable boxes. I just put far more value in the questioning process.
As someone demonstrated above, when you dig a little deeper, you can and will find a slant or more specifically a motive.
At the very least we need to ask the question, Cui bono?
Who benefits? and Cui malo? Who suffers a detriment?
If you are not asking these questions, the one who so often suffers the detriment is you.