Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Think Like a Scientist”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of Grant’s concept of Thinking Like a Scientist by revising a misinformed belief using Grant’s ideas.

In Think Again, Grant advocates for thinking like a scientist. Show that you understand this concept by choosing a misinformed belief and revising it using the steps Grant outlines.

Update a Misinformed Belief

1. Choose a misinformed belief: Search online for a brief written expression of someone’s misinformed opinion or belief. Copy/paste the misinformed belief at the top of your page, making sure to cite its original source.

2. Write a few sentences explaining why you are skeptical about this belief.

3. List at least 3 pieces of reliable evidence that contradict this belief.

4. Write an updated version of the opinion that is based on accurate information.

Reflect on the Experience 

1. Write a paragraph exploring the possible origins of this person’s misinformed belief. Consider possible explanations related to epistemological categories, metacognitive abilities, the Dunning-Kruger effect, and other key ideas.

2. Write a paragraph defending the evidence you used to refute this person’s belief, explaining why it is more accurate and reliable than the thinking behind the original belief.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can be completed individually, with a partner, or in a small group. Students will need access to the internet in order to complete this activity. If this is not practical for your classroom, you might prepare in advance a few examples of misinformed beliefs from which students may choose. If students will be searching for misinformed beliefs on their own, they may benefit from a preparatory discussion regarding appropriate topics—e.g., vaccines, the causes of poverty, conspiracy theories—and the kinds of topics that will not work—e.g., religious beliefs, personal preferences or evaluations, and topics that might be too controversial for your particular teaching situation.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who benefit from strategies regarding abstractions or theory of mind may benefit from working with a partner or small group to generate ideas regarding another person’s thought process as they complete the “Reflect” section of this activity. Students with reading fluency or attentional learning differences may benefit from support in locating relevant ideas to use in the “Reflect” section. For example, a chart or other graphic organizer that reveals the location or chapter number of the book’s most relevant ideas may be helpful.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. One of Grant’s central arguments is that it is important to learn to separate our identities from our ideas.

• Does Grant make a persuasive case for Separating Identities From Ideas? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss at least 3 pieces of evidence to support your evaluation of his argument.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how easy or difficult you believe this process would be for most people.

2. Grant advocates for Thinking Like a Scientist, saying that in many situations, this is more successful than the preacher mode, prosecutor mode, or politician mode. Think of a time when you were thinking in one of these latter modes and were unsatisfied with the outcome.

• In which mode were you thinking, and how did that contribute to the unsatisfactory outcome? (topic sentence)
• Explain how your thinking might have been different in scientific mode, backing up your explanation with at least 3 pieces of evidence from Grant’s book.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the outcome might have changed by Thinking Like a Scientist.

3. Part 3 of Grant’s book is largely concerned with the relationship between individual people’s thinking and the larger community of which they are a part.

• What responsibility does Grant believe society has to improve the thinking of individuals? (topic sentence)
• Give at least 3 pieces of evidence that support your interpretation. Analyze and discuss each point to substantiate your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, briefly comment on the pros and cons of Grant’s position on The Individual and the Community.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Grant’s argument is chiefly constructed by laying out general principles and then illustrating them with salient anecdotes. Is this the most convincing structure for an argument? How well does Grant use ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the audience to accept his ideas? How would you define his intended audience? Because of the needs of this particular audience, does Grant have additional purposes in mind beyond persuasion? Write an essay analyzing and evaluating Grant’s choice to use anecdotes to support his arguments. Comment on whether this choice supports or undermines Grant’s thematic interest in Thinking Like a Scientist. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Throughout the text, Grant offers many illustrations, graphs, and charts. What are the rhetorical purposes of these visual elements? How are they meant to appeal to the book’s audience? How do they impact the book’s tone? Examine the graphs and charts closely. Do they have the characteristics of honest, accurate graphic information? (For assistance in evaluating this, see this source.) Given the rhetorical purposes of these visual elements, to what extent does accuracy matter? Write an essay analyzing and evaluating the book’s visual elements. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Grant’s argument centers on metacognition about epistemology—that is, he offers specific ideas about how we might develop skills that will let us think critically about our own thinking and more effectively assess how we know what we know. How do his ideas about promoting rethinking and unlearning at the personal, group, and societal levels target both similar and different epistemological categories? Write an essay assessing how broadly applicable Grant’s ideas are across different categories of epistemology. Support your ideas with text evidence, making sure to cite any quoted material and all material drawn from outside sources.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What does Grant suggest results from “confident humility,” taking pleasure in being proven wrong, and productive navigation of conflict?

A) Influential listening

B) Counterfactual thinking

C) Effective rethinking

D) The Dunning-Kruger effect

2. Which of the following is most clearly supported by Grant’s text?

A) Acknowledging others’ perspectives indicates weakly held beliefs and strengthens the opposition’s determination.

B) People are most persuasive when they acknowledge the strengths of others’ ideas and find common ground with the opposition.

C) Softening up the opposition by stressing common ground is a frequently used tactic for advancing spurious arguments.

D) Persuasion is most effective when it uses appeals to authority, emotion, and logic to attack the opposition’s perspective.

3. Which is the most accurate description of how Parts 1, 2, and 3 are organized?

A) 1: Thinking, 2: Unlearning, 3: Rethinking

B) 1: The self, 2: Small groups, 3: The larger society

C) 1: Cognitive biases, 2: Perceptual biases, 3: Social biases

D) 1: Gaps in knowledge, 2: Motivating change, 3: Educational systems

4. Where does Grant himself display evidence of rethinking?

A) His commentary on exposing people to opposing views

B) His description of Dodge’s escape from the fire

C) His analysis of the Icelandic election

D) His discussion of Murray’s research into difficult interactions

5. What do Anton’s syndrome and the Dunning-Kruger effect have in common?

A) Both contribute to the social media “echo chamber.”

B) Both support Grant’s contentions about “unlearning.”

C) Both demonstrate flaws in our current educational system.

D) Both involve obliviousness to an area of disability or weakness.

6. Which of the following is most clearly supported by Grant’s text?

A) Even when rethinking is explicitly taught, most people fail to learn it.

B) Rethinking is a skill that most intelligent people already display.

C) People tend to avoid rethinking because they see it as an identity threat.

D) Resistance to rethinking is largely a cultural phenomenon.

7. What do confirmation bias and desirability bias have in common?

A) They tend to occur in tandem with the Dunning-Kruger effect.

B) They are almost exclusively used in forming political beliefs.

C) They explain why “unlearning” is such a difficult skill to master.

D) They influence us to interpret data according to our own personal beliefs.

8. Which of the following does Grant not advocate for as a method of increasing our ability to rethink?

A) Binary thinking

B) “Complexifying”

C) Challenge networks

D) Counterfactual thinking

9. What do escalation of commitment and identity foreclosure have in common?

A) They help explain why some forecasters are more accurate than others.

B) They can prevent people from pivoting toward new possibilities.

C) They interfere with the formation of “confident humility.”

D) They are significant causes of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

10. Which of the following ideas is most clearly supported by Grant’s text?

A) Single-mindedness and persistence are important factors in achieving goals.

B) It is important to have a network of people around us who consistently challenge us to reach our goals.

C) Because of the complex, ever-changing nature of life, goal setting is unrealistic.

D) We should be open to both multiple ways to reach our goals and multiple possible goals.

11. Which phenomena does Grant say are two sides of the same coin?

A) Logic bullying and influential listening

B) Preacher mode and prosecutor mode

C) Imposter syndrome and armchair quarterback syndrome

D) Relationship conflict and task conflict

12. What do Grant’s examples related to racism and vaccine hesitancy have in common?

A) Both illustrate complex social problems that empathetic conversation can improve.

B) Both refute the idea that “information bubbles” are the main cause of polarization.

C) Both demonstrate the power of counterfactual thinking to resolve conflicts in core beliefs.

D) Both provide support for the idea that logic bullying is counterproductive.

13. What is Grant’s position on collaboration and finding common ground?

A) Both are doomed to failure when arguing against a person’s core beliefs.

B) These forms of discussion are most likely to result in a change of beliefs.

C) People generally avoid these because they constitute an identity threat.

D) Intelligent people overlook these techniques because they are overconfident.

14. How do Grant’s ideas about identity foreclosure relate to his ideas about separating identity from beliefs?

A) Separating identity from beliefs can accelerate identity foreclosure.

B) Separating identity from beliefs can only happen after identity foreclosure.

C) Separating identity from beliefs is more likely in the absence of identity foreclosure.

D) Separating identity from beliefs can prevent identity foreclosure.

15. Which tool does Grant advocate for to help understand others’ perspectives, negotiate successfully, and persuade people who feel persecuted?

A) Presenting empirical evidence

B) Expressing sympathy

C) Offering fewer but stronger arguments

D) Asking questions

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What relationship does Grant propose between the four modes of thinking he describes throughout the book?

2. How do Grant’s Chapter 10 comments about “best practices” relate to his earlier discussion of rethinking and his later discussion of tunnel vision?