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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

This is only a guess, but it seems the first step towards overcoming rote behavior is to recognize it when it happens. I can think of two possibilities, though both have flaws:

The first is to develop the habit of constantly questioning your immediately preceding actions or words. If you do this enough, perhaps it will start to come easily, as this habit will itself become a rote behavior. So if you then catch yourself saying, to use the above example, "I have no idea what you're talking about"---and yes, I admit to having used the phrase insincerely---take the immediate step of correcting yourself. "Wait, that's not true, you're right, I do know. Ya got me." (That assumes, of course, that in hindsight you'll wish you'd been truthful.)

Second, keeping in mind that self-discipline is indeed a limited resource, wait until you're in a more relaxed setting and then review in your mind the instances where you've acted out of thoughtless habit and later regretted it. Recall the situation as vividly as possible, and think to yourself how you would have acted if you had kept an open mind and avoided the cliched response. Then visualize yourself harnessing that mindset the next time you need to react quickly.

I doubt it's possible to eliminate rote behavior completely, but maybe if you do these things, you'll reduce its control over some of your actions.

Of course, part of the problem is that predicting the situations where you'll lapse into rote behavior can't be done. And my guess is that new, unpredictable and therefore uncomfortable settings are those where you're most likely to react without deliberation. Not sure how to overcome this...

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

But then you all would get to see my humiliating rating, and all my cred as a rationalist would go out the window!

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