Considering the Opposite¶
Lord, C. G., Lepper, M. R., & Preston, E. (1984). Considering the Opposite: A Corrective Strategy for Social Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(6), 1231-1243.
Cited by¶
6 citations across 6 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Mechanisms¶
- Counterfactual Assumption Test
- The guarding discipline is to treat every counterfactual as a hypothesis to watch or test, never as a verdict that the original is safe, and to borrow the consider-the-opposite habit deliberately rather than only when a flip feels comfortable.
This sourceShows that deliberately considering possibilities opposite to one’s initial belief can reduce biased assimilation and biased hypothesis testing.
- The guarding discipline is to treat every counterfactual as a hypothesis to watch or test, never as a verdict that the original is safe, and to borrow the consider-the-opposite habit deliberately rather than only when a flip feels comfortable.
- Disconfirming Evidence Search
- A deliberate hunt for the breaker — the discipline sometimes taught as consider the opposite — is one of the few reliably effective correctives.
This sourceLord, Lepper, and Preston experimentally tested 'consider the opposite' instructions and found them effective in reducing biased assimilation and attitude polarization.
- A deliberate hunt for the breaker — the discipline sometimes taught as consider the opposite — is one of the few reliably effective correctives.
- Hypothesis-Tree Review
- Its defining failure mode is bias in the adjudication — reviewers close the branch they want closed and keep alive the one they favor, so the review launders a hunch as a verdict; the standard corrective is a structured "consider-the-opposite" discipline and a designated challenger.
This sourcePresents a structured consider-the-opposite discipline as a corrective for biased adjudication.
- Its defining failure mode is bias in the adjudication — reviewers close the branch they want closed and keep alive the one they favor, so the review launders a hunch as a verdict; the standard corrective is a structured "consider-the-opposite" discipline and a designated challenger.
- Meta-Cognitive Reflection Prompt
- It is a deliberately minimal version of consider-the-opposite
This sourceFinds that deliberately considering the opposite corrects biased social judgment more effectively than generic instructions to be fair.
- It is a deliberately minimal version of consider-the-opposite
- Plural Causal Synthesis Review
- Crucially, it runs a consider-the-opposite pass on whichever model the room favors, forcing the strongest case for a rival before any weighting is fixed.
This sourceTests consider-the-opposite instructions as a corrective that requires reasoning for a conclusion contrary to the one initially favored.
- Crucially, it runs a consider-the-opposite pass on whichever model the room favors, forcing the strongest case for a rival before any weighting is fixed.
- Why Else Could This Be True? Prompt
- Its strength is reach at near-zero cost: it interrupts the reflex that treats a coherent story as a true one, and prompting people to consider how the opposite conclusion might hold is a documented way to reduce overconfidence and biased assimilation.
This sourceFinds that prompting people to consider opposite possibilities reduces biased assimilation in social judgment.
- Its strength is reach at near-zero cost: it interrupts the reflex that treats a coherent story as a true one, and prompting people to consider how the opposite conclusion might hold is a documented way to reduce overconfidence and biased assimilation.
Verification¶
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