In many ways it’s not hard to develop awareness of the contexts where we are ourselves successful, and the contexts where we struggle. The hard part is to think about other people’s if-then signatures. Essentialist thinking still pervades every aspect of our social lives, and it is hard to resist the pull of false certainty. That’s the challenge for all of us—and where the context principle may offer its biggest benefits. Each time we find ourselves thinking someone is neurotic, aggressive, or aloof we should remember that we are only seeing them in one particular context.
