# How to be a little more skeptical?



## ENTJam (Nov 15, 2010)

Hey, how's everyone doing?

So... I have recently come to the conclusion that I am too easy with giving the benefit of the doubt to people... I try to never think that a person has an evil intent. Even if everyone else thinks otherwise...

How can I be a little more realistic in my judgements?

Thanks!


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## Jetsune Lobos (Apr 23, 2012)

*To perform this exercise you will need:*

> One left hand.

> One hammer.

> One youtube video of Mitt Romney publicly speaking.


_Moving on...
_

* If you find yourself agreeing with the animated mannequin at any given point, one quick downward swing of your trusty hammer should take care of that. Give yourself 8-15 seconds to writhe and then move along.

* Remember, if you run out of phalanges on that hand you've always got ten more to slam through down below.

Happy swinging and good luck!


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## Thomas60 (Aug 7, 2011)

1 Question to any proposition: "What's the accountable way?"


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## Abraxas (May 28, 2011)

ENTJam said:


> Hey, how's everyone doing?
> 
> So... I have recently come to the conclusion that I am too easy with giving the benefit of the doubt to people... I try to never think that a person has an evil intent. Even if everyone else thinks otherwise...
> 
> ...


Critical thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## ENTJam (Nov 15, 2010)

Thanks, @Abraxas... guess I forgot about that.
@Zippy BawBaw and @Thomas60 whaaa...?


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## Peripatetic (Jul 17, 2012)

I heard a Nietzsche quote somewhere about the thinker not needing someone to object to his ideas since he is his own objector...or some such thing. Anyways, doubt doubt doubt.


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## Jetsune Lobos (Apr 23, 2012)

Abraxas said:


> Critical thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Lame.


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## Thomas60 (Aug 7, 2011)

@ENTJam
An accountable way is the way something gives us a vested interest or ownership of the problem, seeks to communicate with reliable and valid information.

The reason I phrased my response as "What is the accountable way?", is because that question subtly sets the expectation that the other person should plan to act and communicate 'personally integrity'.


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## cades (Apr 25, 2012)

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect
~~Mark Twain


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## iwrite (Oct 10, 2012)

If you aren't naturally skeptical, learn how to raise one eyebrow. If someone says something you haven't quite processed, raise one eyebrow and let out a sarcastic _sure_ or _right_
...
This should give you ample time to think of something skeptical to say, though the eyebrow is enough, really.
Honest.


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## Rayos (Mar 28, 2012)

You don't have to think a person has evil intent. They could just be wrong without knowing it.


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## Zerosum (Jul 17, 2011)

I learnt an excellent technique from my dad.. When I was kid, dad was talking to his friend (hardcore christian) and he raised the topic of "what man can and cannot eat". Basically dad stood there and seemed to accept everything and would just rebuff his friends weird appeals to logic with "yeah that makes sense". However, as soon as his friend left, he turned and looked at me and said "that bloke is an idiot sometimes". Basically, you don't need to shut everyone down and appear to be a smart ass (Have to watch myself with this) and you don't have to simply blindly accept it. 

My advice to you, is to simply stop listening to others opinions and start forming your own.


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## ENTJam (Nov 15, 2010)

Zerosum said:


> My advice to you, is to simply stop listening to others opinions and start forming your own.


That's what I do. But my opinion is _always_ that the other person did not "lie" or "tried to pull a fast one" or "tried to use me" or whatever you'd like to call it, EVEN when everyone else seem like it is pretty damn obvious the other person was not being truly honest...


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## Zerosum (Jul 17, 2011)

ENTJam said:


> That's what I do. But my opinion is _always_ that the other person did not "lie" or "tried to pull a fast one" or "tried to use me" or whatever you'd like to call it, EVEN when everyone else seem like it is pretty damn obvious the other person was not being truly honest...


Ahhhh ok? Mmmmm so are you saying then that your gullible?


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## ENTJam (Nov 15, 2010)

Zerosum said:


> Ahhhh ok? Mmmmm so are you saying then that your gullible?


Exactly. :/

What can I do to fix myself?


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## Zerosum (Jul 17, 2011)

ENTJam said:


> Exactly. :/
> 
> What can I do to fix myself?


When I was a kid (from 5 to 16), my best friend who lived across the road from me was a girl who was a year older. She used to always make up these great stories and I used to fall for them every time, she got a great amount of satisfaction from my gullibility. 

Basically I just stopped believing anything anyone said until they can prove it otherwise.. Im not really sure what you are believing? Is it crazy stories? Or is it your gf lying to you?


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## NekoNinja (Apr 18, 2010)

ENTJam said:


> Hey, how's everyone doing?
> 
> So... I have recently come to the conclusion that I am too easy with giving the benefit of the doubt to people... I try to never think that a person has an evil intent. Even if everyone else thinks otherwise...
> 
> ...


There is a lot that goes into skepticism. The scientific method, open-mindedness, doubt, free thought, logic and biases, etc. I could send you some links if you want them.


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## ENTJam (Nov 15, 2010)

Zerosum said:


> When I was a kid (from 5 to 16), my best friend who lived across the road from me was a girl who was a year older. She used to always make up these great stories and I used to fall for them every time, she got a great amount of satisfaction from my gullibility.
> 
> Basically I just stopped believing anything anyone said until they can prove it otherwise.. Im not really sure what you are believing? Is it crazy stories? Or is it your gf lying to you?


Classmates, actually: "No, I didn't have time to do my part...", "I can't show up tonight for *insert something s/he is supposed to do here", "I have to study, so I can't do my part"... So, say classmate A makes these claims. Classmates B, C, D... as soon as A walks out, they start making fun of him/her: "Sure... he said that so many times before"... etc, etc.

I believe classmate A. Classmates B, C, D... clearly don't believe him, because of some fault of classmate A in the past or simply because the same excuse is used over and over again... which is plausible, honestly, from my point of view.

Whom should I believe? S/he or them?



NekoNinja said:


> There is a lot that goes into skepticism. The scientific method, open-mindedness, doubt, free thought, logic and biases, etc. I could send you some links if you want them.


I would appreciate any links that you think will assist me in being more skeptical...


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## NekoNinja (Apr 18, 2010)

ENTJam said:


> Classmates, actually: "No, I didn't have time to do my part...", "I can't show up tonight for *insert something s/he is supposed to do here", "I have to study, so I can't do my part"... So, say classmate A makes these claims. Classmates B, C, D... as soon as A walks out, they start making fun of him/her: "Sure... he said that so many times before"... etc, etc.
> 
> I believe classmate A. Classmates B, C, D... clearly don't believe him, because of some fault of classmate A in the past or simply because the same excuse is used over and over again... which is plausible, honestly, from my point of view.
> 
> Whom should I believe? S/he or them?


I'm not sure much can really be done to help you with something like this. You can't ever really tell whether someone is lying without some sort of prior reason to think they might be lying. Someone who commonly makes excuses to get out of doing things could be lying or might actually be really busy. You can't really know unless you know the person. Either way, if it is a group activity, they should be holding up their end regardless of what other activities they may have. If they can't keep up with their responsibilities then that is their problem, not yours, regardless of the reasons. Sometimes people may be taking on too many activities in university, and thus if they can't keep up with all of them, they may need to drop some. The best thing I could say about this person, as a skeptic, is that I don't know them, and I don't know whether they are lying or genuine. As a general rule it's best to assume that the person is honest. This however doesn't mean that they are right about something, because after all, someone can be honest, but still completely wrong. If the two individuals are judging that this person is dishonest solely on the fact that they claim to not be able to do various projects often, then they aren't being skeptical themselves, but rather presumptuous. 

Do you still want my links and such? They aren't really related to this sort of problem. It's more of scientific skepticism and being skeptical of things like the paranormal, supernatural, alternative medicines, etc. Although they are good principles to have in general.


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## Zerosum (Jul 17, 2011)

ENTJam said:


> Classmates, actually: "No, I didn't have time to do my part...", "I can't show up tonight for *insert something s/he is supposed to do here", "I have to study, so I can't do my part"... So, say classmate A makes these claims. Classmates B, C, D... as soon as A walks out, they start making fun of him/her: "Sure... he said that so many times before"... etc, etc.
> 
> I believe classmate A. Classmates B, C, D... clearly don't believe him, because of some fault of classmate A in the past or simply because the same excuse is used over and over again... which is plausible, honestly, from my point of view.
> 
> ...


Lol ahhh mate this doesn't make you gullible.. Some people tell lies to get out of doing stuff, I do it and im sure you do it every now and again as well. As Nekoninja said, you can never really tell if someone is telling the truth or not (unless they use verifiable facts.. If the facts aren't verifiable, you wont ever no). Basically, these kind of things aren't really an issue and my recommendation would to be just to shake your head and move on... If people were influencing your views on important topics by using emotional spin and trumpeted up facts, then you should be concerned.. But you sound like a smart guy, so I don't think we have a problem there and therefore would just say this kind of stuff is normal and people lie all the time.


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