INFERENCES:
 |
Inferences are interpretations or conclusions you come to.
Inferring is what the mind does in figuring something out. The mind says "this is true" therefore "that is true".
Make sure that your conclusions are based on all the important relevant information. Also make sure you aren’t excluding information that does not support your viewpoint.
Inferences should be logical, based on the evidence. Infer no more or less than what is implied in the situation.
|
|
Evaluating Your Conclusions
"Muddled thinking is the first step on the road to a muddled life."
~ anonymous
From the Bookstore
The Thinker’s Guide to Analytic Thinking
This guide focuses on the intellectual skills that enable one to analyze anything one might think about - questions, problems, disciplines, subjects, etc. It provides the common denominator between al... Read More |
|
Monitor Your Inferences
People continually make inferences throughout the day - perhaps hundreds of inferences. Inferences are so much a part of what we do that we rarely stop and ask ourselves whether we are making reasonable ones. |
|
I see a person with a black eye and infer he has been hit by someone.
A car pulls out in front of me and I infer the person is a "jerk."
My supervisor calls me into her office and I infer I have done something wrong.
One way to make sure your inferences are sound is to separate them from the raw data of your experience. Just because someone has a black eye doesn't necessarily imply he has been hit by someone.
|
Questions you can ask to check your inferences:
What conclusions am I coming to?
Are there other conclusions I should consider?
Does our solution necessarily follow from our data?
Is there an alternative plausible conclusion?
Given all the facts what is the best possible conclusion?
|
EveryoneThinks.org is a project of