Not too long ago, I took a few minutes of my weekend evening to do something that many of us often choose not to do but are in need of. What could it be, you might ask? I took a little time to understand myself better. For real! To be more specific, I took a test (or quiz, some may call it) to see my current natural tendencies when I think or perceive. In shorter and hopefully simpler term, I took a test of rationality.
The one that I took was created and analysed by clearerthinking.org.
This organisation identifies your mind's strengths and weaknesses based on your impulsive answers on 21 of their scenario-based questions.
Background of the Test
This test is based on a variety of studies from cognitive science and behavioral economics, with a particular emphasis on cognitive biases. Fortunately, you can learn to make better decisions by honing your skills. Please note: rationality and IQ are not the same. Even people of exceptionally high IQ are routinely affected by cognitive biases, and fall for common decision-making traps.
My Result Summary
Your reasoning style is skeptic.
Skeptics are just that — skeptical. Not only do they question new information that they receive from others, but they also tend to treat their own thoughts and ideas with some suspision. They tend to focus this critical perspective on the present, allowing their views to develop as they come across more information. Approximately 5% of the populace are skeptics.
You treat new information and ideas with caution and skepticism. Spurious arguments rarely fool or confuse you, and your beliefs are based on foundations of hard logic. You possess a fine-tuned BS detector.
You are reflective.
You dislike jumping to conclusions quickly. You’re adept at reflecting on your own thoughts. When it looks like your intuitions might be leading you astray, you don’t have a problem overriding them — instead, you take the time to re-evaluate the situation and figure out the wisest course of action.
You are subjective.
People and stories interest you more than facts and figures do; you focus on the essence of ideas over the details. Your mind is more qualitative than quantitative. This trait lets you focus on the big picture over the nitty-gritty.
You are carefree.
You tend to live in the moment. You don’t waste a lot of emotional energy fretting about the future. Instead, you focus on getting the most out of life right now.
Onto my reasoning strengths and weaknesses, it was concluded that I particularly have three strong reasoning skills, three normal-level reasoning skills, and one weak reasoning skill.
My Strong Reasoning Skills: -
(i) I am not especially susceptible to the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
This means that I do not find it too difficult to decide whether something is worth pursuing or continuing.
(ii) I rarely repeat my mistakes more than once.
I am relatively comfortable with frankly reflecting how and why I make the mistakes that I do.
(iii) I can see through tricky or deceptive arguments.
This trait makes someone a good debater, writer, or thinker.
My Normal-Level Reasoning Skills: -
(i) I can generate multiple explanations for uncertain situations.
(ii) I understand how evidence should affect how confident I am of my theory.
(iii) I can normally estimate the monetary value of my time.
My Weak Reasoning Skill: -
(i) I have a sharp tendency to underestimate the time and resources my projects require.
This is also known as the Planning Fallacy, one of the most common and best-documented cognitive biases. This means that, thankfully, cognitive scientists have developed tactics to overcome this!
So, now I'm pretty sure that since I know my mind better, I can more confidently utilise my brain power for great outcomes.
Tests like this one do not ultimately decide what kind of a person you will become. They are, however, useful peer-reviewed tools for us to have an idea on how we naturally think, and eventually, how we act.
With this, my brain and I are ready to
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