Twelve Angry Thinkers
Spoiler alert. Twelve Angry Men is a great film. This article will make more sense if you have seen it, and it also contains a spoiler regarding the plot.
The classic film Twelve Angry men, directed by Sidney Lumet, gives an excellent example of the kind of situation where Edward de Bono’s thinking tools are supremely relevant. In fact, had the gentlemen of the jury been equipped with some of these tools, they would very likely have reached the same conclusion that it took a whole film to reach in the first few minutes of the trial which provides the main context of the film.
The nature of cognitive biases is that they are unrecognised, and hence there is no perceived need to counter them. According to de Bono, one of the grand, all-pervading cognitive biases, or perceptual shortcomings, of our culture and biology, is our habit of making instant evaluations based on (probably unconscious) emotion, and then using our intelligence to retrospectively justify our initial conclusion. That is one of the reasons why in the film the initial verdict of all twelve men was “guilty,” since it fitted with their associations and feelings around Latin Americans in general. (There were other reasons as well, such as wishing to be elsewhere, and wanting the trial over as quickly as possible.)
If what de Bono says is true, then the importance of what he says, and his teachings on how to overcome this habitual error, can’t be overemphasised.
The fact that de Bono’s thinking tools are used by executives of top international companies, as well as having been taught to hundreds of thousands of children throughout the world, suggests that these tools are not just some faddish gimmick, but actually have real transformative power. We only need to recognize the need to use them.
There are many techniques, and information about them can be found all over the internet. As a starting point, I recommend the “PMI” (Plus, Minus, Interesting), which is very effective in itself and also contains the essence of the radically different approach to thinking which de Bono encourages. It is a very simple tool indeed, but don’t be deceived by its simplicity — there have been many studies done to show that application of this tool can radically impact perception. Also, be aware of beginner’s bias — a term I’ve coined myself for the phenomenon whereby people evaluate a new method without sufficient experience of it for the evaluation to be a fair one.
One place to read more about the PMI is here: http://sourcesofinsight.com/avoid-the-intelligence-trap/
The aim of this short article is to pique interest into cognitive biases and ways to improve out thinking. In today’s complex world, complacency regarding the quality of our thinking can often be anti-evolutionary.
