Think Again: 8: Depolarizing Our Divided Discussions

Here are my notes on chapter 8 of Adam Grant’s Think Again book.

• Presenting a balanced case when discussing hot topics can avoid binary bias. We tend to simplify a complex continuum into two categories.
• Showcase the range of perspectives on a given topic.
• A dose of complexity can disrupt overconfidence cycles and spur rethinking cycles. It increases humility about our knowledge, increases our doubts, increases curiosity to discover information we were lacking.
• Resist the impulse to simplify is a step towards becoming more argument literate.
• Apply rethinking to different parts of our lives so that we can keep learning at every stage of our lives
• Recognize complexity as a signal of credibility.
• Favor content and sources that present many sides of an issue rather than 1 or 2.
• Recognizing complexity seeds great conversations.
• Caveats and contingencies — all the places and populations where an affect may change
• Avoid maintaining a consistent narrative rather than an accurate record
• Idea cults- when you say/think ___ is always a good or ___ is never bad.
• Productive conversations are when people treat their feelings as a rough draft.
• Restricted emotions gets in the way of rethinking
• In scientist mode- a charged conversations can results in an invigorating truth and new opportunities for understanding and progress.