Thinking Problems
By: Stephen M. Ryan
CEFR Level: A2+
Word Count: 842 words
The Brain in Simplified English
Marisol, a high-school student, thinks that their teacher gives too much homework.
She asked her friends what they thought. Most of them agreed with her. A couple of people said that it is not too much homework, but she had always thought those people were a little crazy, or at least crazy about studying..
When someone agreed with her, she told them to ask other classmates what they thought. Most of those classmates thought there was too much homework, too. Some said it wasn’t a problem. The people who said it wasn’t a problem were students who liked to please the teacher as much as possible.
She talked to her teacher about it. Her teacher said, “Look, Marisol. There are three classes in this school for tenth graders. The other two classes get less homework to do, and their test scores are not as good as our class. I think that shows that more homework leads to better grades.” Marisol wasn’t surprised by her teacher’s answer. She had expected the teacher to say something like that. Most teachers, in her experience, are in favour of giving students more studying to do.
She decided to look online to see what other people thought. She googled for “problems that come from too much homework.” She found there were A LOT of problems: sleepiness; anxiety; stress; lack of exercise; social isolation, and so on.
After her checking with her friends, other classmates, her teacher, and many websites, Marisol was 100% certain that their teacher was giving the class too much homework. Almost everybody she had checked with agreed with her! It must be true.
Can you see what thinking mistakes Marisol made in getting evidence for her opinion? I can think of four mistakes. How about you?
These are the four mistakes that I found:
- She started by asking her friends. Maybe one reason that she was friendly with them is that her way of thinking was like their way of thinking, so it is not surprising that they agreed with her. Also, as her friends, they peobably didn’t want to disagree with her.
- When people disagreed with her idea, she found reasons to ignore their opinion, like “I always thought they were crazy” or “they are the kind of people who like to please the teacher” or “Of course a teacher would say that!”
- When her teacher offered evidence about homework and grades (not just an opinion), she did not think it was important.
- When she looked online, she looked only for information that would support her idea (“problems that come from too much homework”).
It’s not only Marisol. Everybody makes thinking mistakes like these. I make these mistakes. You make these mistakes. It is a problem with our thinking.
- We tend to listen to the opinions of people whose way of thinking is similar to our way of thinking.
- We don’t listen much to people who disagree with us. If we do pay attention to what they say, we tend to find special reasons why they are wrong (for example, “they must be crazy to think that. I don’t want to consider the ideas of people like that”).
- When we are given evidence, we tend to accept it only if the evidence agrees with what we already think. If it doesn’t agree with our opinion, we find reasons not to consider it.
- When we look for evidence, we often search for it in ways that just gives information that we agree with.
Number 4 is a big problem these days, because many people use the Internet to look for evidence for their ideas. Google and other search engines are designed to just show us the kind of information we like. Social media sites do this, too: they connect us to people and ideas we will like. As a result, we do not see the ideas of people who disagree with us.
We need to be careful about this thinking problem. It can cause us to make big mistakes. What can we do?
- Be sure to listen carefully to opinions you disagree with.
- When you find yourself thinking of reasons not to listen to opinions (“These are crazy people!”), listen to them even more carefully.
- Look for real evidence, not just opinions. “Johan thinks this but Mary Jane thinks that.” This is not evidence. They are just Johan and Mary Jane’s opinions. Ask them why they think in that way. Maybe, like Marisol’s teacher, they will be able to give you evidence.
- Be careful with the evidence. The way Marisol searched for information online only gave her evidence that made her opinion stronger. Look for evidence for the opinion you disagree with, too. When searching online, begin with search words and questions that do not include your opinion, like “How many hours of homework is best for 10th grade students?”
We all have these problems with our thinking. It is a part of being human. We should all be careful about them.
