TB: The Thinking Course (de Bono)
Core Thesis
Perception is far more important than logic; almost all errors of thinking are errors of perception, not logical errors. Intelligence is not the same as good thinking — intelligent people are often worse thinkers because they can construct powerful defenses of poor ideas. De Bono's tools are attention-directing devices designed to expand perception before judgment sets in.
Key Takeaways
The intelligence trap
- A highly intelligent person can take on a view and then use intelligence to defend it; many smart minds are trapped in poor ideas because they can defend them so well.
- Being constructive is much less rewarding than proving someone else wrong; being critical is more appealing, but lacks the generative and design aspects that make thinking valuable.
- If you practice poor thinking for years, you will become an extremely skilled poor thinker.
- The most dangerous fallacy in education: the belief that intelligent people are good thinkers.
Perception over logic
- Perception is by far the most important part of thinking. Almost all errors of thinking are errors of perception; logical errors in real life are quite rare.
- Logic is not a way of generating information; it is a way of extracting more information from what is available.
Attention-directing tools
- PMI (Plus-Minus-Interesting): deliberately direct attention first to Plus points, then Minus, then Interesting — before emotions set in. Emotions should come after exploration, not before.
- Use PMI most especially when you've already instantly decided you like or dislike something.
- APC (Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices): contentment with an "adequate" solution is the biggest block to finding a better alternative.
- Very often difficulty making a decision stems from failure to produce sufficient alternatives.
Operacy and action
- The skill of action — operacy — should rank alongside literacy and numeracy as a major aim of education.
- Education tells us that building an information base makes action easy; it does not. The skills of action are every bit as important as the skills of knowledge.
- Good thinking is concerned with wisdom and robust common sense, not intellectual nit-picking.
- Plans are almost always wrong because they're based on the present state; planning for flexibility is essential.
On decisions
- The size of a decision is always proportional to the inadequacy of the reason for making it — we only need to decide when information alone is insufficient.
- In the end, all decisions are emotional.
Mental Models
- Inversion — instead of improving logic (which is rarely the problem), improve perception (which almost always is)
- Generator Filter — being critical is more rewarding than being constructive; judgment thinking lacks the generative aspect of real thinking