Get into a simulated argument about the issue with someone taking the opposite side from the one you care about.
I think it is important to integrate this with searching for a third alternative.
1) Establish, on paper and before doing anything else, what you think alternative positions are.
2) Have a third party who does not look at your list identify third alternatives.
3) Determine which good ideas you didn’t think of. This can only be an approximation, as you and the other person have used different words to describe alternatives. Notice the emotional urge to rationalize and conclude you didn’t leave out important third alternatives, and the urge to rationalize that the alternatives you didn’t think of aren’t compelling. (This is an artificial hot-button issue, but that is only a side-benefit of this step.)
4) The list that you have constructed probably avoids your belief’s real weak points. Alternatives identified by the other person, but not you, are best for pitting against your cherished idea, as in exercise C above.
5) Notice the relative strength of the best arguments not on your list as against the ones on your list. If they are strong, consider whether you have been failing to consider third alternatives for intellectual reasons, such as not holding off on proposing solutions, or avoiding your belief’s weak points for emotional reasons.
I think it is important to integrate this with searching for a third alternative.
1) Establish, on paper and before doing anything else, what you think alternative positions are.
2) Have a third party who does not look at your list identify third alternatives.
3) Determine which good ideas you didn’t think of. This can only be an approximation, as you and the other person have used different words to describe alternatives. Notice the emotional urge to rationalize and conclude you didn’t leave out important third alternatives, and the urge to rationalize that the alternatives you didn’t think of aren’t compelling. (This is an artificial hot-button issue, but that is only a side-benefit of this step.)
4) The list that you have constructed probably avoids your belief’s real weak points. Alternatives identified by the other person, but not you, are best for pitting against your cherished idea, as in exercise C above.
5) Notice the relative strength of the best arguments not on your list as against the ones on your list. If they are strong, consider whether you have been failing to consider third alternatives for intellectual reasons, such as not holding off on proposing solutions, or avoiding your belief’s weak points for emotional reasons.