Whether or not you follow Franklin’s moral algebra to the letter, psychologists have found that deliberately taking time to ‘consider the opposite’ viewpoint can reduce a range of reasoning errors,25 such as anchoring,26 and over-confidence,27 and, of course, the myside bias. The benefits appear to be robust across many different decisions – from helping people to critique dubious health claims28 to forming an opinion on capital punishment and reducing sexist prejudice.29 In each case, the aim was to actively argue against yourself, and consider why your initial judgement may be wrong.
