Black and white thinking
I don't know if I have black and white thinking. I have been told "it's not black and white" and "things don't need to be black and white" and "everything is black and white for you." I certinally don't argue with people's opinions till they agree with me or give up. If I am right, I will prove it to them. I would tell them to look it up and they will see I am right. But arguing with someone about an opinion that isn't black and white because it's just an opinion not a fact, not right.
That's the closest sounding phrase for how I think.
I'm always looking for the disjunctures, "what's wrong with (or doesn't seem to fit) with this picture?" in a situation, trying to make sense of what doesn't intuitively (for me) add up. Am often told I'm trying to find the rationality behind things that aren't explicable in that way.
I may also see things in black AND white, as in feeling intensely ambivalent, both ways simultaneously-which leaves me stuck, unable to decide (pick this or that). Doesn't mean I don't care, or feel "moderate" about the topic-it means I feel both strongly for & strongly against (or however it's framed, having to choose between polar opposites).
That's how I think also. I can get very black and white if there is a topic with only a right or wrong answer. But with something like religion for example, I'm open to all ideas.
I had to think a long time about this question. When picturing the future, I always imagined that I would either be fabulously rich or poor as a church-mouse, and that the world would either be a utopia or a dystopia, never anything in between. In politics too (both nationally and internationally) I tend to think of a particular faction as either “good” or “bad”. And when steeling myself for a new experience, I usually expect it to be either wonderful or horrible, never so-so. I do think in black or white, to a far bigger extent than I’ve realized.
I have a very annoying tendency of reacting in a dogmatic, black-and-white fashion to something until I have time to think it through. I'm not close-minded or anything, which is why I find the reaction so annoying.
Me too, Zen Mistress!!
Seriously - I don't think any of the options apply, certainly not to me. If I go in any direction it would be extremist - but I only do that in response to extremism (perfect example on this board - anyone who even speculates that vaccines have anything to do with ASD's).
The criteria of "black and white thinking" is best put as "thinking in absolutes" (a la a Sith Warrior if you know your Star Wars). That doesn't guarentee extremism, dogmatics or the fallacy that "you agree with me or else". It may mean that to some, and fair enough, but black and white thinking takes several forms. None of them apply to me. I have had two of them (not dogmatics) planted on me, and I certainly reject the fallacy. I already explained my response to extremism.
To keep it really simple, black and white thinking is a representation of routine. Predictability. Hardly extremist, dogmatic, or "agree with me or else" stuff. Now try and muddle with the routine and make things unpredictable - and THEN you'll get a reaction along those lines.
Hope that helps a few people!
The poll options only consider black-and-white thinking as manifested in socio-political contexts. Black-and-white thinking can carry over to almost any problem domain (e.g., becoming stuck on potential solution to a problem while not considering that there may be solutions other than those presented). I prefer the term dichotomous thinking, which is less idiomatic.
Yeah, me too.
It's so much harder to imagine a moderate, "average" outcome or possible version.
Didn't mean to go off on tangent, but...
Extremes (whether appealing or aversive) are what tend to get a creature or person's attention, make an impression, and stimulate creativity. Trying to picture or describe situation that's "neither here nor there", "somewhat this, a bit of that", or the like-while probably more accurate to life's complexity & subtleties-is also greatly difficult for brain to comprehend & represent.
Thus, humans think in overly simplified symbols (esp. using words), for sake of efficiency. Otherwise, we'd get bogged down in exquisitely detailing (to get things "just right") one decision or scenario and never move forward onto next challenge. See, merely to say these things I had to exaggerate & bluntly generalize even though I know there are exceptions & qualifications which aren't properly summarized in my statements. If I say something that's perfectly moderate, balanced, even, neutral, non-extreme I end up saying nothing at all.
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*"I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't."*
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