One thing that has worked for me lately is the following: whenever I do something and don’t really know why I did it (or am uncomfortable with the validity of my rationalizations), I try and think of the action in Outside View terms. I think of (or better, write out) a short external description of what I did, in its most basic form, and its probable consequences. Then I ask what goal this action looks optimized for; it’s usually something pretty simple, but which I might not be happy consciously acknowledging (more selfish than usual, etc).
That being said, even more helpful than this has been discussing my actions with a fairly rational friend who has my permission to analyze it and hypothesize freely. When they come up with a hypothesis that I don’t like, but which I have no good counterarguments against, we’ve usually hit paydirt.
well, clearly something has gone horribly wrong with your brain, and you should figure out the problem and fix it.
I don’t think of this as something wrong with my brain, so much as it functioning properly in maintaining a conscious/unconscious firewall, even though this isn’t as adaptive in today’s world as it once was. It’s really helped me in introspection to not judge myself, to not get angry with my revealed preferences.
One thing that has worked for me lately is the following: whenever I do something and don’t really know why I did it (or am uncomfortable with the validity of my rationalizations), I try and think of the action in Outside View terms. I think of (or better, write out) a short external description of what I did, in its most basic form, and its probable consequences. Then I ask what goal this action looks optimized for; it’s usually something pretty simple, but which I might not be happy consciously acknowledging (more selfish than usual, etc).
That being said, even more helpful than this has been discussing my actions with a fairly rational friend who has my permission to analyze it and hypothesize freely. When they come up with a hypothesis that I don’t like, but which I have no good counterarguments against, we’ve usually hit paydirt.
I don’t think of this as something wrong with my brain, so much as it functioning properly in maintaining a conscious/unconscious firewall, even though this isn’t as adaptive in today’s world as it once was. It’s really helped me in introspection to not judge myself, to not get angry with my revealed preferences.