TFY - Chapter 5

Summary

Assumptions are what take for granted. We make more assumptions than we are aware of. I personally often make assumptions about stranger’s characters based on their appearances and demeanors. I can see how this is a survival mechanism from my earlier life in a high-crime area. This of course can be unfair. Assumptions can be either conscious and warranted or unconscious and unwarranted. A conscious (working) assumption is a major reason why I am at this university. I assume that I will be employed as an ultrasound technologist when I graduate. Hidden assumptions are unconscious such as stereotypes that we have. When we allow unconscious assumptions to rule our thinking we are not in control, being open to manipulation and faulty conclusions. Hitler exploited unconscious assumptions and stereotypes for his own purposes. If the German people did not carry assumptions such as German superiority and Jewish treachery the history of the twentieth century would likely have been very different. Value assumptions are rarely questioned according to the book, but are well worth revisiting. I personally am more attached to other people than material goods, a value I adopted over time. This insulated me from despair when my IT job was outsourced to India. By not attaching my entire worth as a person to my job and status I was able to continue with my life in a positive way. We become uncomfortable when our assumptions come into question (incongruity and disequilibrium). A good example was America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Few people believed it could happen here.

Exercises

1. When we articulate hidden assumptions, we simply read what we find in print before us.

False

2. A good argument invariably contains a few hidden assumptions.

False

3. A value assumption is a belief assumed to be true and shared by everyone.

False

4. “Can you believe it? She is twenty-three years old and not even thinking about getting married.” This statement, made by a Puerto Rican mother contains no value assumption.

False

5. Assumptions are often recognized only in retrospect because of the problems they cause.

True

6. In mathematics, conscious assumptions are called axioms.

True

7. A conscious assumption can be used as a strategy to lead us to new information. If a child does not come from school at the usual time, we might decide to call the homes of the child’s friends; if that turns up no information, we might call the police.

True

8. Stereotypes contain no assumptions.

False

9. To be uncomfortable is to be in disequilibrium. Thinking through a problem restores our comfort.

True

10. Incongruities can provoke us into thinking in order to resolve their conflict with assumptions and expectations.

True