BELIEF: AN OWNER’S MANUAL
ARTICLE 13
A CLOSER LOOK AT AMBIGUITY
PART 6:
CONSEQUENCES OF FAILING TO ATTEND TO AMBIGUITY
CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING THE AMBIGUITY OF INFORMATIVE BELIEFS
While the errors we make when we’re under the spell of catalytic narratives are uniquely severe, we make similar mistakes when using rules of thumb and imprecise beliefs. That is, we often look to rules of thumb and imprecise beliefs to offer more concrete, powerful, and reliable guidance than they’re capable of providing. That mistake leads us to rely on such beliefs to help us in ways they can’t, to act on them with confidence they don’t warrant and, in some cases, to blind ourselves to the evil they encourage.
Unless we resist our inclination to assume that our informative beliefs are more precise than they are, we are vulnerable to viewing the guidance those beliefs provide as more valuable and reliable than it is. Such errors render us vulnerable to using the wrong tools to manage life’s challenges.
CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING THE AMBIGUITY OF REASSURING BELIEFS
While beliefs we rely on for reassurance may superficially resemble beliefs we rely on for information, the purpose of reassuring beliefs is to delude us rather than inform us. Not surprisingly, they operate differently. And ambiguity affects them differently.
If we want to use precise reassuring beliefs to delude ourselves, we need to cherry-pick, distort, and deny facts. In other words, using precise beliefs to delude ourselves requires us to compromise our grasp of reality, our integrity, or both. Such compromises with reality are likely to discredit us. In addition, those compromises may be difficult to maintain unless those around us are similarly deluded. The more precise the beliefs we’re wrong about, the more likely it is that expressing those beliefs will lead to alienation from our families, friends, and colleagues or to referral for psychiatric treatment. Holding such beliefs – or at least admitting that you do – is rarely worth it.
On the other hand, if we want to use reassuring imprecise beliefs to delude ourselves, we merely need to find information that can be interpreted as supporting the conclusions we want to reach. That’s generally easy to do if the way you want to see things is reasonably popular and not spectacularly wrong.
It’s easy to enlist reassuring rules of thumb (including heuristics and proverbs) in the cause of self-delusion. All you need to do is take advantage of their ambiguity and inconsistency by choosing those that support seeing things the way you want to.
And reassuring catalytic narratives allow you to see things any way you might wish, with little chance that anything will threaten your vision.
SUMMARY: WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE AWARE OF THE AMBIGUITY OF YOUR BELIEFS
Why is it essential to pay attention to the ambiguity of your beliefs? Because we habitually place an excess of faith in the guidance they provide. Because we treat informative beliefs that, at best, increase our odds of success as if they guaranteed it. Because we treat informative beliefs that, at best, direct our attention to things that are likely to matter as if they provided explicit guidance. Because we rely on informative catalytic narratives to help us achieve our objectives, even though those narratives provide us with no information about the way things work or how to get things done! And because, absent attention to the ambiguity of our reassuring beliefs, we risk squandering not only our time and effort but our credibility and integrity.
EXERCISE 13
INCREASING YOUR SENSITIVITY
TO THE CONSEQUENCES
OF FAILING TO ATTEND
TO THE AMBIGUITY OF YOUR BELIEFS
1. Refer to the list of beliefs you generated during Exercises 7A, 9, 10, 11, or 12. If none of those lists is readily available, identify one or two beliefs that guide you in each of the areas below. Suggested areas from which to draw beliefs are:
• where you find joy
• where you find meaning and purpose
• your view of others – especially those whose views differ from your own
• your personal life
• your vocational/professional life
• advice/guidance you offer others
• political positions you advocate
2. Choose three or more beliefs you rely on for guidance and are interested in examining. If you have not already done so, use the questionnaire found in Exercise 7A to determine whether those beliefs are informative, reassuring, or both.
3. Print the appropriate number of copies of the tool below.
4. Write each belief in the space containing the sentence stem, “I believe that . . .”.
5. Keeping the pertinent belief in mind, answer each of the questions in “A Tool to Help You Increase Your Sensitivity to the Consequences of Inattention to the Ambiguity of Your Beliefs,” below.
A TOOL TO HELP YOU INCREASE YOUR SENSITIVITY
TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF INATTENTION TO THE AMBIGUITY OF YOUR BELIEFS
I believe that . . .
1. Using the evaluation instruments included in Exercises 9-12, determine whether the belief in question is a precise belief, an imprecise belief, a rule of thumb, or a catalytic narrative.
2. Reflect on whether your treatment of the belief suggests that you view it as . . .
a) providing guidance that, if followed, makes it likely you’ll achieve your aims (i.e., the guidance of a precise belief)
b) providing guidance that, if followed, increases the chance that you’ll achieve your goals – but doesn’t make it likely that you’ll do so (i.e., the guidance of an imprecise belief)
c) encouraging you to attend to issues that it may be worthwhile to think about without providing guidance about what’s likely to happen or how to achieve your goals (i.e., the guidance of a rule of thumb)
d) shaping your values and/or views of reality without providing guidance that helps you achieve your goals (i.e., the guidance of a catalytic narrative)
3. Reflecting on your answers to questions 1) and 2) above, identify the differences between the guidance each belief actually provides and the guidance you thought it provided. If your expectations were unrealistic, what were the consequences? What might you have done differently if your understanding of the ambiguity of the belief in question had been more accurate?
4. What thoughts and feelings did you experience while doing this exercise?