Jumping to conclusions in conversation

In conversation with my friend Philippe, he spoke about a rigorous interviewing process that he uses and trains others to use. The trouble is, he explained, that people supposedly using the process have already made up their mind within a minute of the starting the process and they waste an hour going through the motions, just to arrive at the conclusion they had already reached an hour earlier.

There are times when coming ot a conclusion quickly is vital - for example in A&E admissions in a hospital.

However, there are many occasions and circumstanstances where jumping to conclusions - or paying too much heed to the impulse to jump to conclusions - is counterproductive. Sometimes it's important to open oneself to more information, more deeply, for longer and allow the brain/mind to work on it.

One area where people often try to force things is language learning. From my early years teaching English to foreign students (through the 1970s, on and off) it was so clear to see when students were stopping incoming words in their ears and - metaphorically speaking - trying to force a direct translation out of them, or worse, refusing to believe that the word could exist. What works with foreign languages, and many other things, is to allow information in and to trust the mind/brain to do its work.

All too often we apply "technische afhandeling" (technical processing) as a lazy, self-confirming shortcut.