4. The Thinking Process

What is thinking? | The mental apparatus | The apparatus in action | Assumptions | The changing nature of knowledge | Critical thinking | Steps in critical thinking | Applied critical thinking | Facts and opinions | One final thought

Assumptions

The starting point for a new (new for you) thought process is not necessarily incoming sense data. Old sense data may have prepared the way. Before the new sense data reach the brain, there has existed a back­ground of readiness or "set" upon which the impulse, caused by the stimulus, lands. This total background we can call an "established array of assumptions." An assumption is our supposition of a state of affairs be­lieved to exist as representative of reality. It may or may not truly repre­sent reality, but we suppose that it does. Thus, an assumption that ghosts exist is sufficiently convincing to those who have this belief to allow them to explain mysterious noises and happenings as attributed to ghosts. A per­son not having this assumption finds some other explanation for noises or misplaced objects in a "haunted" house.

An assumption that one is gifted with "luck" leads him to play slot machines and numbers games where the odds are highly unfavorable. People who comprehend arithmetic have other assumptions, and therefore rarely, if ever, play at such games. Some students have an assumption that it is safer not to speak up in class; this can be changed by a wise teacher (rewarding discussion or encouraging it in some way) with benefit to the student. One's most basic assumptions (to play safe, to play daringly, to conform, to be an individualist) have all the effect in the world upon conduct. That these assumptions can be changed, with gains for the indi­vidual and society, is one of the assumptions of educators. To what they should be changed is viewed variably. The conclusion about what these assumptions should be seems to be a product of the national or regional social group. Perhaps this brief description of assumptions can make you give closer attention to them in your own case, to see whether changing them will benefit you in the long run.

At high school and college age we possess a large set of all sorts of assumptions, acquired all along the road of life. Many of these have been steadily supported by innumerable incidents, and have thus been strength­ened. Others we cling to, in spite of evidence to the contrary, possibly in the hope that the evidence against them will soon subside. For example, not to accept the assumption that Fig. 2 illustrating the redistribution of grades in college is true leads to later trouble and disappointment, if not minor tragedy. We may cling to partly false assumptions by playing up evidence which supports them and playing down what does not.

It is generally not realized by the average person how fundamental our assumptions can be in the thinking process. When assumptions have been established, new sense data may actually be ignored — purposely over­looked — as a kind of "set" against seeing or hearing what one does not care to pay attention to. This is the mental basis of prejudice. This is what seems to happen in concentration, also. One top-notch student frequently can study in a room filled with people, apparently guided by the assump­tion that the conversation and noise will reveal nothing of interest to her during that time. On the other hand, an assumption that someone is hostile to you may result in picking up and interpreting a gesture or re­mark which has no hostility in it, and focusing the attention upon it un­reasonably. (To you, it is reasonable enough, because of your "set.")

The same thing is true of an assumption that someone likes you, since all his acts are interpreted in the light of that assumption. Incidentally, we change our "sets," according to our surroundings, and act and even think differently as a result. To see that this is true, one has only to recall the changes in our choice of words and the level of our thinking when we are in different company — with gentle, elderly people, with our own crowd, in the gym during a close game, and so forth. A specific "set" is illustrated while looking for a brown bottle of aspirin in a medicine chest. Our radar "sees" but ignores other objects, and only reacts to bottles of the approxi­mate size and shape and color of the one we want.

An assumption that you are "not good at math" may actually prevent acceptance of sense data that could modify your assumption and make you better at math. The same is true when we assume that we are not good at remembering names.

Since assumptions are at the very foundation of thought processes, we should be interested in how they originate. Such fundamental things as these may have to be better understood if you expect to become educated at a higher level than you are.

No one knows when the most fundamental or basic assumptions — the ones on which we build the lesser ones — become part of our developing personality. If we try to retrace our personal history, we soon go back to a time we can remember nothing. Yet our parents can tell us of things we did which often clearly indicate we had already acquired basic assump­tions in infancy. Fears and preferences, attitudes towards others, strong likes and dislikes, unexplainable reactions to situations such as standing before an audience — these have deep roots going far, far back into the hidden recesses of our formative years.

Some who specialize in this kind of study believe they detect ancestral patterns of behavior, as if we create our assumptions within us — the very basic ones, that is. These authorities say they detect the roots of be­havior in stages that represent the long, slow climb of the human race from its dim awareness of the world and self to the highly integrated society of today. Each stage that makes its appearance, they claim, was at one time of survival value. We "go through" some of these stages, according to this theory, but "outgrow" them by advancing to higher levels. This kind of explanation of behavior is very questionable, although it may be partially true.

The intense selfishness of a child for attention at certain stages, in ac­quiring things to call his own and in being combative may be stages of activity traceable to assumptions of the past which served well to bring the human race through times of stress and peril.

Others who study the actual sequence of acts of infants think patterns of basic assumptions may run in families, and have recorded an unex­pected "spread" between the times various children crawl, set one block upon another, walk and talk. That this may be "family-connected" is pos­sible, through the inheritance of body-types and the attendant glands of chemical regulation and the greater development of some components of the body. But behavior is so readily modified by environment that con­vincing data to support this view are scarce indeed.

The similarity of early behavior of children with the remembered be­havior of one of the parents when he or she was a child is offered as further evidence that the basic assumptions may be inherited. But the environ­ment has so great an influence in altering the outward aspects of behavior that little progress has been made along these lines. Progress in this inter­esting area has been made largely by studying identical twins in different environments.

There are, without question, certain times in childhood when an event has a more conspicuous and lasting effect than at others. If we understood the critical periods for laying down basic assumptions, we could prepare the way for better adulthood. For example, a child of three or four is excessively troubled (unless great measures are taken to prevent this) by the appearance on the scene of a new brother or sister; the newcomer gets all the attention, and the efforts of the older child to get attention often are sources of long-lasting trouble, even into adulthood. The assumption that the newcomer constitutes a threat persists for many, many years, ob­servable in somewhat veiled but unmistakable ways. Had the older child been only a year old, or eight or nine years of age, the critical stage would have been passed by with relatively little disturbance, in all likelihood.

The point being made is this: We have exceedingly little to go on when we try to explore the personal history of our early lives, yet in those early years, some of our most profound, basic assumptions were laid down. and we are now the bearers of their destiny, almost powerless to compre­hend why we now act as we do. If we can comprehend, we may realize that /'/ is within our power to modify these assumptions, once we see them for what they are. One of the practices of psychoanalysts is to plumb the deep well of our forgotten childhood, to lift up to view the unhappy incidents that caused us to be what we are, and let us focus upon them with the mature outlook usually coming from having lived a long time. Once we can give the incidents our adult-framed evaluation, we can make progress toward revising those assumptions.

How important the above mental activities can be is frequently observed by travelers in a foreign country having a different philosophy from their own. The very same sense data can be brought into the minds of two different people with different cultural backgrounds and mean entirely different things to them! The reason for the difference is almost totally based upon the underlying assumptions of the two people, and these are founded upon deeply-embedded ideas about the nature of the world, some of the most basic assumptions arising in childhood, some in early schooling, and only a few in adult life. Coming away from such a situation makes one wonder how hard it will be to "change their minds" about things that stand in the way of true cooperation. And they are probably wondering the same thing about us!

When new sense data come in on the neuron pathways, one of several things may happen to them:

A. They may be immediately translated into action reflexively, as in pul­ling the hand away from a hot stove. An "information copy," giving meaning, is sent to the brain, along with a vivid picture of a stove! Such a sharp experience would undeniably create a lasting assumption (stoves can burn!) the first time it happened. But the majority of sense data in this class (A) lead to run-of-the-mill incidents like catching a ball or stepping over a mud puddle.

B.   They may be ignored due to concentrating on something else, on the assumption that most outside noises or moving objects are unimpor­tant just now.

C.  They may be held up to the mirror of existing assumptions with which they then may be found to agree. This strengthens (re-inforces) the assumption.

D.  They may be held up to the mirror and found to disagree with exist­ing assumptions, in which case they may be forcibly ignored because of a reluctance to change the basic assumption.

E.   They may disagree with the assumption, but the person may evaluate the new sense data to see whether they seem to be important enough to justify a revision of the assumption. If they are considered moder­ately important, the assumption is revised to a small extent: It remains fairly unchanged, but a "however" is added at the edge of the assump­tion concerned. // enough "howevers" occur, we may find ourselves changing the assumption, as in F.

F.   If they represent sense data just like quite a number of the same kind (many "howevers") coming in recently, or if they are recognized as very important, the assumption may be due for a serious revision.

G.  An entirely new assumption may be formed (created) by incoming
sense data.

The process of thinking involves modifying one's assumptions. People who practice D, above, are likely to make very slow progress in adjusting to their surroundings. They are, in a sense, saying, "Let the conditions around me change — I'll remain unchanged." Nevertheless, a certain amount of personal integrity accompanies being strong and unyielding about one's assumptions. A definite stability is conferred upon society by people who resist the change of their basic assumptions (from choice or from inability to change is not the question here), and it is not hard to imagine the chaos that would occur if large numbers of people allowed themselves to be swayed by the inconstant breezes of opinions and propa­ganda around them.

At the same time, a strong case can be made for those who accept new sense data and evaluate them, observing that a change IS required by the repeated instances of conflict with assumptions they have held for a greater or lesser length of time.

The processes of thinking and self-education take into account these powers of clinging to one's assumptions or of changing them as one gains more experience. Some of both activities — changing some assumptions, and not changing others — is necessitated by our changing world.

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