I've been accused of having a "black & white" way of thinking. Amusingly, the people who insist that the world has all types and that I ought to appreciate that are the same people who say I need to "fix" this way of thinking.
So what's so bad about black & white thinking and how do I stop thinking like this? Is it the same as just stopping thinking altogether?
Empathy. Stop and think about why someone would be retarded enough to disagree with your unmatched intellect.
Because nobody is all good and pure and nobody is all terrible and awful. Real people are somewhere in the middle. Real life is messy.
People with black and white thinking tend to completely discredit something once they've decided it's "bad", and then refuse to change their mind based on new evidence. If somebody wrongs you once, they are terrible forever, no matter how many times they try to make it right. Or if you have decided that somebody is perfect, inevitably they will fuck up because everybody does, and then you cast them down because they have completely betrayed you with that one act since you had believed them perfect.
Learning to change this method of thinking doesn't mean to stop thinking. It means that there's going to be fuckups and mistakes and people are only human. Nobody is perfect, and nobody is perfectly anything. People who do wrong can reform and make it right, and people who are usually kind and considerate can do bad or stupid things.
>>17244525
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/we-dont-update-our-biases-even-after-they-lead-us-astray/
You're not a computer, you cannot just change your logic. Enjoy your biases, they make up who you are.
>>17244525
Because black and white are two extremes on a very large spectrum of numerous amounts of gray.
There is never one clear cut answer to any problem no matter how much you think there may be. When someone says you have black and white thinking what they're saying is you automatically separate everything into two categories, right/wrong, good/evil, right/left, democrat/republican, etc. This ends up creating false dichotomies in a lot of situations where making such a distinction makes no sense.
It displays a distinct lack of empathy and inability to consider the alternative viewpoints, because you've arbitrarily placed them on the "wrong side" of the argument, and everything you argue will be resorting back to that fact. This line of thinking is also very succeptible to relying on and being led astray by strawmen arguments for that reason.
>>17244525
>So what's so bad about black & white thinking
Because it's horribly wrong most of the time. You're just a typical idiot who believes that he's intelligent.
>>17244756
>>17244717
>>17244540
This, basically.
>>17244607
Actually, you can. Your thoughts and beliefs don't "just happen" you actually do have control over them if you choose to exercise that control. You can choose what to believe. For example, I used to have very black and white thinking as well, until I realized that it's usually dead wrong, and lead to making a lot of decisions that weren't ideal for me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy
http://www.apsu.edu/sites/apsu.edu/files/counseling/COGNITIVE_0.pdf
http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf
