by Brian Remer
(Reprinted from the February 2010 issue of Firefly News Flash)
The function of an arm or leg muscle is to move your body. Muscles grow by doing what they do best: moving. The function of your brain is to think. It grows by doing what it does best: thinking.
Here's a game to grow your brain by challenging culturally wired assumptions. Can You Explain It? is based on assumptions, judgements, and our tendency to hold onto our first conclusion about a situation rather than testing for alternative explanations.
This is how we'll play. I'll give you an observation in the form of a statement. You think of an explanation for it. Then click to get the answer and your score. As you play, see if you can stretch your synaptic connections to invent answers that are more varied and inventive while staying within generally accepted standards of reality (no Klingons or paranormal phenomena, please!)
Observation Statements
Observation #1: A married woman goes to a single man's apartment two nights of every week for three hours. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #2: Two police officers visit your next-door neighbor's house. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #3: A person smelling of stale liquor is buying aspirin at 6 a.m. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #4: When you get home you find your brother's car is dented in on the right side. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #5: You see a man chasing a woman down an alley. What is your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #6: A teenager carrying a heavy backpack runs out the door of a convenience store. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #7: Two clean-cut young men wearing dark slacks and white shirts ring your doorbell. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #8: It's dinnertime and the phone rings. A pleasant person on the line asks for you but mispronounces your name. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #9: Last week a mechanic fixed the vibration in your car's front end. Now you feel the vibration again. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #10: Your boss and the director of personnel are moving boxes out of your friend's office. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #11: You are driving down the street when a car in a side driveway suddenly cuts in front of you. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Observation #12: You're sitting in the airport waiting for a flight. When you reach for your newspaper, the person next to you is reading it. What's your explanation? Click for your score.
Your Score
How well did you score, and more importantly, what did you learn?
- How does this activity challenge our common assumptions?
- What is the basis of some of the worst assumptions you made in this game?
- To what extent did your explanations for the observations become more creative and less stereotyped as you played the game?
- Describe some strategies for overcoming the shortfalls of holding onto assumptions.
- What are the factors that make us vulnerable to making wrong conclusions?
- What types of real life situations might make us especially susceptible to this type of thinking error?
- What are the implications of what you have learned for scientists, law enforcement officers, news reporters, managers, and school teachers who rely upon observable data for making conclusions?