Compare, correct and differentiate

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Assemble a toolbox for thinking

Albert Rothenberg suggests that the construction of oppositions is the most reliable way to generating new ideas.

Sometimes, we discover that the source given in a text is not the actual source. Sometimes, we discover that the interpretation of a study conflicts with another interpretation, making us realise that the study is so vague that it can be used as proof for two contradicting interpretations. Sometimes, we find two unrelated studies that give proof to the same point, which is not a correction, but an indication that we are on to something. Adding new notes to old notes and being forced to compare them leads not only to a constant improvement of one's own work, but often discloses weaknesses in the texts we read.

The slip-box not only confronts us with dis-confirming information, but also helps with what is known as the feature-positive effect. This is the phenomenon in which we tend to overstate the importance of information that is (mentally) easily available to us and tilts our thinking towards the most recently acquired facts, not necessarily the most relevant ones. Without external help, we would not only take exclusively into account what we know, but what is on top of our heads.