We should be careful in our use of words, but we aren’t. Thinking
about our thinking is hard work, so instead we use abstract
judgment words as part of our thinking process. Humans really
like using abstract and judgmental language: It rewards our sense of
competent self. We sound clear, deดรnite, and sure of ourselves—and we get
other people’s attention with these kinds of assertions. But when we talk like
this, things can go very wrong, very quickly. Poor word choices, spoken in
inappropriate contexts, can get us into trouble because we can’t know for
sure how others will understand our judgments.
life experience. We effortlessly create first impressions of people and
things in our environment and then interact using low effort, automatic
forms of thought. But the more automatic and low-effort our thinking
processes, the more vulnerable we are to mistakes that can interfere
with good communication.