Each of the following passages suggests an error in thinking. Decide what error each suggests and explain your answer.
a. In 1876, after learning of Alexander Graham Bell’s patent for
the telephone, a Western Union telegraph executive sent the
following in-house memo: “The ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings
to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device
is inherently of no value to us.
b. Many years ago Dr. Wellington Koo, a respected Asian
diplomat, attended a formal dinner and happened to be seated next
to an American man who did not know him. When soup was served, the
stranger said to Dr. Koo in a friendly voice, “Likee soupee?” Dr.
Koo nodded in reply. Later, when the meal was finished, Dr. Koo was
introduced, walked to the podium, and gave an eloquent presentation
in perfect English. When he returned to his seat, he turned to the
stranger and said, with a twinkle in his eye, “Likee
speechee?”
c. Psychological research reveals that human beings have a tendency “to attribute the behavior of others to personality factors and that of ourselves to situational factors.” In other words, if someone else acts offensively, we believe that is the way he or she is, whereas when we act offensively, we say we had no choice under the circumstances.
The wrong/ misleading and distorted ways of thinking are termed as the thinking errors. There's a contradiction between the reality and the patterns of thinking. The strange thing with thinking errors is that the related person does not comprehend why and how something is being thought and done in that specific way.
a- ALL OR NOTHING THINKING
Considering everything with perfection and concluding it on the basis of either purely good or bad is the prime feature here. The extreme views of predicting an object, person or situation leads to failures most of the times as folly is perennial and perfection may always be not a reality.
In the first passage, the Western Union Telegraph Executive is with the extreme view of perfection. The few shortcomings would have been eliminated and and the Graham Bell's patent would have been said to be of utmost utility but it was not so.
b- DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE
In this passage, Dr. Koo has not in a playful manner answered the simple question by the American stranger which was a routine life facet. The same person delivers a fine talk after a few minutes.It simply means that Dr. Koo was with a preconceived notion.
Small pleasure like the taste of the soup was not dealt in a positive manner. Therefore the thinking error here is disqualifying the positive wherein the importance of a said thing does not matter to the concerned person.
c- OVERGENERALISING
The tendency to conclude others' behaviour with a view of their personalities and our own behaviour in relation with the situational factors reflects the broad generalisations to occur in a continuous manner.
The same scale of evaluation is applied to the behaviours of others in order to point out the negativity.
Each of the following passages suggests an error in thinking. Decide what error each suggests and explain your answer. a. In 1876, after learning of Alexander Graham Bell’s patent for the telephone, a...