From the course: Critical Thinking for More Effective Communication

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Jumping to conclusions

Jumping to conclusions

From the course: Critical Thinking for More Effective Communication

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Jumping to conclusions

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- You're just about to ask a question or offer an explanation and someone jumps in and says, "I know what you're going to say." Or you're halfway through explaining a problem and they interrupt, "I know what you're doing wrong." I'm not thrilled to admit that I've caught myself jumping to conclusions like this. When we're overwhelmed or emotional in a conversation, our default might be to skip asking curious questions, ignore our own assumptions, and jump right to a conclusion that may be faulty. Brad was a brilliant engineer, but his new boss, Rosa, rejected him for a major award because she knew Brad didn't respect her. Rosa had experienced this disrespect before. Brad had skipped Rosa's welcome party, avoided eye contact, and didn't seem to care about Rosa's equity initiative. Rosa never took the time to learn that Brad happened to have Asperger's syndrome, his mom was extremely sick, and he was under intense pressure on a…

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