The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't

by Julia Galef

I try to abide by the rule that when you advocate changing something, you should make sure you understand why it is the way it is in the first place. This rule is known as Chesterton’s fence, after G. K. Chesterton, the

thought experiment the status quo bias test: Imagine your current situation was no longer the status quo. Would you then actively choose it? If not, that’s a sign that your preference for your situation is less about its particular merits and more about a preference for the status quo.*

When you feel the urge to step in and defend a group or belief system against perceived criticism, chances are good that your identity is involved.

Deriving pleasure from news that humiliates some ideological group you disagree with is a sign of an “oppositional identity”—an identity defined by what it opposes.