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What characteristics exist within the self-confidant thinker, egotistical thinker, arrogant thinker, egocentric thinker, and sociocentric thinker?
This thinker believes absolute truth is outside of himself or his group. It must be discovered and continually rediscovered. He knows that as more is learned a new truth may be discovered, requiring him to change his mind or view.
He knows that his thinking can be wrong. He actively checks to see if it is, because he is interested in actually doing or believing the correct thing, and not in just appearing to be correct.
This is the goal towards which each of us should work.
The self-confident person has carefully thought through the question at hand, and has applied good thinking techniques to come to his conclusion. He understands what hypotheses are, their uses, their limitations, and how to test them.
The self-confident thinker is not hurt or ashamed if it turns out that he is wrong. He knows he is not perfect and not all knowing! He knows that is not possible. This allows him to question and challenge his own thinking. It allows him to look carefully at the arguments other people have against his own thinking.
He has made a meaningful effort to be sure he is correct. He does this first by trying to prove himself WRONG! He LOOKS for ways he could have made a mistake! Then he looks for evidence that he is right. If the evidence is convincing, then he assumes he is correct, and takes whatever action his thinking calls for.
Even after doing everything he can think of, the confident thinker does not rule out that he is wrong. He knows that is a possibility. In fact, he is always looking for errors in his thinking. But he does not let that prevent him from acting. He is confident that he has done his BEST with the knowledge he then has.
The
rest of the thinking styles in this essay are
NOT
good ones!
This style is about how the thinker views himself.
The egotistical thinker is
overconfident.
He views himself in very high regard, even if his actions do not
support that high opinion. He believes he is correct even if he has
not put much effort into the thinking task, nor has he made an
attempt to prove his thinking. He believes he is correct, simply
because of whom he is.
The
Arrogant Thinker
This style is about how the thinker views himself.
This person believes he is a vastly superior human compared to the people he is talking to. He is likely to put others down as stupid or ignorant, simply because they disagree with his "vastly superior" thinking. He may not be superior at all! Usually he isn't.
This style is about where the thinker believes absolute truth is. He believes it is within himself.
This person is absolutely convinced that his understanding of things is the absolute truth. This means he will not listen to argument or other viewpoints. This does not mean that he is egotistical or arrogant, although those could be true, and often are. He could have a very low opinion of himself, and retain that view regardless of any arguments presented. He can hold this view even after winning some prestigious award.
This person will go through strange mental maneuvers to avoid changing his view. He must maintain his "view of the world and the way that it "is" at all costs!
Egocentric thinking is common in small children. They tend to accept their first understanding of something as the absolute truth, and will not budge from that belief.
Some people stay in the egocentric mode all of their lives. They are difficult to deal with.
This style is about where the thinker believes absolute truth is. He believes it is within his group.