Suppressing Doubt Is Lying to Ourselves

"In polarized times, we tend to think in terms of negative labels applied to those who disagree with us. Like all characterizations, labels are heavily biased. Most often based on superficial analysis, or none at all, they're used more as slurs than attempts to understand or communicate. They cast decent people and bad actors alike as "enemies." Negative labels and characterizations give us an illusion of conviction."

"But the illusion is little more than suppression and denial of doubt. Genuine conviction is the resolution of known doubt, while remaining open to conflicting evidence. Doubt leads us to deeper thinking, grounded in probabilities rather than biased assumptions and generalizations. These days, the adversarial tone of dialogue makes even people without opinions sound opinionated. It used to be that folks were afraid of sounding dumb."

Doubt motivates meaningful learning by prompting the resolution of uncertainty. Labels compress complex people into biased stereotypes and create an illusion of conviction that suppresses genuine doubt. Genuine conviction emerges from resolving known doubts while remaining open to conflicting evidence. Doubt fosters probabilistic, deeper thinking rather than reliance on assumptions and generalizations. Polarization and an adversarial tone encourage certainty, make people sound opinionated, and shift fear from sounding unintelligent to offending one's group. Science and inquiry require doubt, and acknowledging limitations and uncertainty expands knowledge rather than diminishing it.

Read at Psychology Today