The Scout Mindset

I saw this book get mentioned on fedi a while back, so got around to reading it. Its goal is to help people "see more clearly". The main metaphor of the book is to that we are often stuck in a "soldier mindset" (motivated reasoning to defend your beliefs, where being wrong feels like a mistake) and that we should try to have more of a "scout mindset" (finding the lay of the land and seeking truth, where being wrong means updating your map and is always a positive).

We use motivated reasoning not because we don't know any better, but because we're trying to protect things that are vitally important to us--our ability to feel good about our lives and ourselves, our motivation to try hard things and stick with them, our ability to look good and persuade, and our acceptance in our communities.

Some of this I'd heard before, but I learned a good bit too; this was a surprisingly practical book and a quick read.

Bits I enjoyed and that stuck with me:

• gives practical strategies for ways to catch yourself in the act of motivated reasoning
• says that knowing about biases (like we all do) is not enough to convince yourself you are not falling prey to them
• dismissing the idea of "filter bubbles", in that if you want to learn from disagreement, it has to be with somebody you like or respect
• gives several tricks for ways to more accurately estimate your level of confidence
• has an analysis of every time Spock made probability claims and how accurate he was

This was a great book and I'd like everyone to read it. The discussion about soldier vs scout mindset is a framing of the world that will stick with me. I need to re-read the various sections on strategies for adopting a more truth-oriented life, as those ideas I'll need to do work to internalize.

The discussion near the end of the book on identity really resonated with me.

Holding an identity (athlete, Democrat, feminist, etc.) is neither bad nor good. Identity can make hard things rewarding (e.g. "I'm the kind of person who keeps promises"). But when making decisions related to our identity we often find ourselves at a crossroad, choosing between an identity-affirming and a more impactful (but non-affirming) action.

A quote that stuck out to me: "You can make the effort to think honestly no matter what community you're embedded in, but your friends, coworkers, and audience can either provide a headwind or a tailwind for your efforts." Julia then goes onto note that this tailwind is why she joined the effective altruism movement.

This type of thinking is very important to me and I suspect I'll be re-reading this book (which is something I do rarely) within the next few years.

If you'd prefer not to read the whole book, I'd recommend any of these interviews about it (I finally read the book because I kept hearing interviews with Julia in various podcasts):

If you want a sample before you read the whole thing, Julia gave a TED talk on this topic years ago and she's done some interviews recently about her book (Clearer Thinking, Vox Conversations, EconTalk, The Weeds).

A masterclass in living more thoughtfully through rationality. The past few years I've had a keen interest in humility, cognitive biases, and nuance, and this read was like a handbook that addressed all of it. I think there's been a bit of a renaissance in listening and changing minds since 2016. Clearly the typical approaches to debate and reason haven't been working, and we're not as unbiased and rational as we all thought either. Information has become more complex, with polarization rising simultaneously. Our biological threat response is sensitive when it comes to our strongly held beliefs. But we're terrible at differentiating between physical and emotional threats, so even discussing these beliefs can feel like an attack. The Scout Mindset tackles all of this in a superb way.

Each chapter covers actionable practices to function more like a scout—basically, to check your current perception of reality, rather than only giving credence to things that confirm your established identity and worldview. Even more basically, to become less reactive to your surroundings. Think of the mindfulness practice of noticing yourself in the 3rd person and saying out loud: "I'm upset right now. Why?" The scout mindset asks: How do you react to personal criticism? Do you ever prove yourself wrong? If other people no longer held this view, would you still hold it? If the evidence supported the other side, how credible would you judge it to be? Followed by thought experiments to really get to know yourself in this manner.

You'll not only resolve conflicts within your own thoughts and feelings, but you'll be so much more effective in communicating with and understanding others. [b:Non Violent Communication A Language of Life|3601593|Non Violent Communication A Language of Life|Marshall B. Rosenberg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627550325l/3601593.SX50.jpg|2766138] comes to mind, where the main component is identifying and specifying each other's underlying needs. Similarly, the scout mindset suggests: "When their behavior confuses you, lean in to that confusion. Treat it as a clue".

How to be wrong, seeing yourself as constantly updating, embracing uncertainty and failure, motivated reasoning, keeping your identity small, judgment, learning from disagreements, changing someone's mind, and understanding without the desire to change are some more of the topics covered.