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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Sometimes just asking yourself whether a belief is true or not helps. You must ask in a genuinely curious way, the way you'd ask a favorite professor whom you respect and expect to occasionally surprise you. If the answer comes out in less than a second, you can be sure it is your deceptive robotic part of the mind talking.

Your feelings have a sphere of usefulness in decision making or else they wouldn't be there. After you've verbalized the belief to be questioned, test how it feels to fully believe it vs how it feels to be convinced that the opposite is true. This will not determine whether the objective truth of the statement but it will certainly give you insight on which choice will be easier to live with.

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Sweetgum's avatar

Do I need to mention that "First and foremost wanting to believe the truth" is exactly the type of socially desirable character trait that your subconscious liar would be motivated to lie about?

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