Dichotomous Thinking

[The Hammer]

'Dichotomous thinking is the propensity to think of things in terms of binary opposition, such as “black or white”, “good or bad”, or “all or nothing”. This thinking style can be viewed as the tendency to get stuck in either the thesis or the antithesis... (Linehan, 1993).'

Why do people get caught up in extremes, such as binary thinking? Most debates, disagreements and arguments come from an inability to see things from anything other than black or white.

It's the basis for tribalism, the two party State, acts of violence. Even the phrase "there are two sides to every story" falls I to the same trap.

Something I have kept with me all these years from my time as a Satanist, is the idea that dichotomy is not the appropriate response. There are 3 sides to every problem: black side, white side, and compromise/synthesize aka the gray option.

Do you fall into binary thinking?

I sometimes do, although I try not to. Like thinking all MAGA supporters are idiots (they aren't obviously).

It seems inherent in our species, a feature not a bug in the software so to speak, and I wonder why.

Are there 3 sides to every problem as I suggest? Is two sides the better option for solution finding?

 

[JustGeorge]

I'm sure there's more than three sides, even...

 

[ChristineM]

Are there 3 sides to every problem as I suggest? Is two sides the better option for solution finding?

Depends on the problem. Shall i go out? Where shall i go?

A binary answer compared to an almost infinite choice

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I'm sure there's more than three sides, even...

Yup!! This + 1

The 'risk' of thinking there are three sides is that the third side becomes a compromise between sides 1 and 2. That is (generally) an option, but there are lots of other positions too.

If binary thinking is wrong (it is!) Then letting ourselves be defined by the binary...even in finding alternative positions...isn't ideal.

 

[Bthoth]

'Dichotomous thinking is the propensity to think of things in terms of binary opposition, such as “black or white”, “good or bad”, or “all or nothing”. This thinking style can be viewed as the tendency to get stuck in either the thesis or the antithesis... (Linehan, 1993).'

Why do people get caught up in extremes, such as binary thinking? Most debates, disagreements and arguments come from an inability to see things from anything other than black or white.

It's the basis for tribalism, the two party State, acts of violence. Even the phrase "there are two sides to every story" falls I to the same trap.

Something I have kept with me all these years from my time as a Satanist, is the idea that dichotomy is not the appropriate response. There are 3 sides to every problem: black side, white side, and compromise/synthesize aka the gray option.

Do you fall into binary thinking?

I sometimes do, although I try not to. Like thinking all MAGA supporters are idiots (they aren't obviously).

It seems inherent in our species, a feature not a bug in the software so to speak, and I wonder why.

Are there 3 sides to every problem as I suggest? Is two sides the better option for solution finding?

So by applying that to the war in israel. Would the middle ground be to just 'remove the leadership of both sides and start over'?

Maybe I should consider that type of rational for a while.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

So by applying that to the war in israel. Would the middle ground be to just 'remove the leadership of both sides and start over'?

Maybe I should consider that type of rational for a while.

That's an alternative.
But there are lots of alternatives.

In that particular scenario, lots of complicated, dangerous and hard to implement alternatives, sadly.

 

[The Hammer]

So by applying that to the war in israel. Would the middle ground be to just 'remove the leadership of both sides and start over'?

Maybe I should consider that type of rational for a while.

No, imo the middle position between two warring states is diplomacy.

 

[The Hammer]

If binary thinking is wrong (it is!) Then letting ourselves be defined by the binary...even in finding alternative positions...isn't ideal.

That's true. And no it's not always just a third side. I used that as an analogy, that whatever the competing sides are, there is usually some sort of solution no one has noticed yet. And that's what we should be focusing on.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That's true. And no it's not always just a third side. I used that as an analogy, that whatever the competing sides are, there is usually some sort of solution no one has noticed yet. And that's what we should be focusing on.

Yup, I was figuring that.
One thing that is a little related to this in some ways is the concept of Po, that Edward DeBono coined and wrote about.

Po (lateral thinking) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That is somewhat tangential, in so far as it was largely more related to finding solutions for problems. The basic concept is that instead of trying to find 'the' solution, you find as many solutions as you can, not stopping to judge them too much, or consider the practicalities.
Once you have found as many solutions as you can, you move on to evaluate and tweak them based on more critical and pragmatic considerations.

This has served me really well in my professional life, and is a good way to not confuse the first credible solution found to a problem with the best solution. Or, to tie it back to the OP, to fall into the trap of deciding between 2 solutions, when there are really infinite solutions (many of which are unworkable, of course).

 

[1137]

I think the key is that sometimes things are black and white, sometimes they are not. Mutual exclusives exist, but they aren't the only thing that exists.

 

[mangalavara]

Why do people get caught up in extremes, such as binary thinking?

I figure that binary thinking is a result of our familiarity with our pairs of body parts. Right hand and left hand, right foot and left foot, right arm and left arm, right leg and left leg. We know right limb and left limb, so we naturally make situations binary. It is like how the base 10 counting system is natural to us perhaps due to having 10 fingers on two hands.

Do you fall into binary thinking?

There are likely moments when I do, but I normally reject binary thinking as limitative and not reflective of all that there really is.

 

[Heyo]

'Dichotomous thinking is the propensity to think of things in terms of binary opposition, such as “black or white”, “good or bad”, or “all or nothing”. This thinking style can be viewed as the tendency to get stuck in either the thesis or the antithesis... (Linehan, 1993).'

Why do people get caught up in extremes, such as binary thinking? Most debates, disagreements and arguments come from an inability to see things from anything other than black or white.

It's the basis for tribalism, the two party State, acts of violence. Even the phrase "there are two sides to every story" falls I to the same trap.

Something I have kept with me all these years from my time as a Satanist, is the idea that dichotomy is not the appropriate response. There are 3 sides to every problem: black side, white side, and compromise/synthesize aka the gray option.

Do you fall into binary thinking?

I sometimes do, although I try not to. Like thinking all MAGA supporters are idiots (they aren't obviously).

It seems inherent in our species, a feature not a bug in the software so to speak, and I wonder why.

Are there 3 sides to every problem as I suggest? Is two sides the better option for solution finding?

Posing the question if dichotomous thinking is right or wrong (which, admittedly you didn't literally) would be dichotomous thinking. As @ChristineM and @1137 already said, there are true dichotomies and there are false dichotomies (and probably undecidable cases in between).
Why we like dichotomies is probably because we are lazy (tend to save energy). Thinking on gradients uses more brain power.

 

[McBell]

'Dichotomous thinking is the propensity to think of things in terms of binary opposition, such as “black or white”, “good or bad”, or “all or nothing”. This thinking style can be viewed as the tendency to get stuck in either the thesis or the antithesis... (Linehan, 1993).'

Why do people get caught up in extremes, such as binary thinking? Most debates, disagreements and arguments come from an inability to see things from anything other than black or white.

It's the basis for tribalism, the two party State, acts of violence. Even the phrase "there are two sides to every story" falls I to the same trap.

Something I have kept with me all these years from my time as a Satanist, is the idea that dichotomy is not the appropriate response. There are 3 sides to every problem: black side, white side, and compromise/synthesize aka the gray option.

Do you fall into binary thinking?

I sometimes do, although I try not to. Like thinking all MAGA supporters are idiots (they aren't obviously).

It seems inherent in our species, a feature not a bug in the software so to speak, and I wonder why.

Are there 3 sides to every problem as I suggest? Is two sides the better option for solution finding?

Is it not ingrained from the start?
How many of us were taught right from wrong?
In the beginning of said teaching, it is black or white.
It isn't until later in life that grey areas are explained.
Assuming the grey is ever explained.