Summary of Julia Galef's The Scout Mindset (Unabridged‪)‬

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A few key insights from chapter one:

1. Directionally motivated reasoning, also known as motivated reasoning, is an aspect of human psychology where our unconscious motives direct us to certain conclusions. It is not objective, and instead involves us framing information to fit whatever conclusions we have already made.

2. One common example of motivated reasoning is how we use news stories to support certain narratives. In most cases, people also ignore any information that proves that narrative wrong. While this phenomenon is easy to notice in other people, it can be difficult to recognize when we do it ourselves.

3. In contrast to motivated reasoning, accuracy motivated reasoning evaluates ideas with the question “Is it true?” in mind. Directionally motivated reasoning typically evaluates ideas with the question “Can I believe it?” in mind.

4. It is possible to clarify our judgment - that is what the scout mindset entails. The scout mindset prompts us to recognize and question our assumptions and avoid distorting our perceptions of a problem or situation. The result is better decisions and better relationships with others.