<p>Hello! :)
So what is it - Devil's Advocate?
And how does it help? And does it?</p>
<p>devils advocate is mostly used on CR and when you are stuck between two close ans. choices. you pick the one that you are less sure about and convince yourself why it is wrong… however, sometimes i find that i convince myself that the actual right answer is wrong and go ahead and pick the wrong ans. how do i avoid this CC???</p>
<p>“Advocate” is another word for “lawyer,” so “devil’s advocate” describes the act of taking and arguing a side you don’t actually believe–as if you’re the devil’s defense attorney.</p>
<p>In CR it’s a very important method because it pushes you to be skeptical of your first choice and (ideally) verify why it’s right (or why it’s the distracter).</p>
<p>There’s this theory in psychology (I forget what it’s called…read it in a book somewhere) that basically says, if there are a bunch of crowded supermarket lines and you pick one, you tend to think that all other lines are faster than yours.</p>
<p>The same thing could apply here. One tends to think that the answer they’re leaning to is in fact wrong, so he/she might automatically pick the other choice.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Devil’s advocate is a space deep in your brain occupied by demons who question any answer you choose and provide illogical reasons for why you are wrong. The name “devil” comes from the fact that often your first, instinctive choice is actually correct and it is the devil that made you change it. The phenomenon mentioned above about getting in a line at a place like a supermarket and always falsely thinking that all the other lines are moving faster does not actually exist because all the other lines are in fact moving faster. Devil’s advocate must be distinguished from other “advocates” like a “consumer advocate” who is typically someone who advocates that nothing be consumed.</p>
<p>anyone answer my question, please=) sometimes i find that i convince myself that the actual right answer is wrong and go ahead and pick the wrong ans. how do i avoid this CC???</p>
<p>Dream4Life, I think the trick is to be as critical of your second-choice answer (which you wind up choosing even though it is incorrect) as you are of your initial choice. Sometimes it is possible to identify minor flaws in the best answer, and then pick a sub-par answer without examining it as critically. The fact that you are aware that you might do this is good–now you just need some practice to develop the judgment about when to stick with your original choice and when to shift. One possibility: try to assign a number for the seriousness of the problems with each choice. Other strategies might work for you.</p>
<p>I’ve always found out that answer choices that are very strong (e.g. using “always” or “never”) are usually wrong. Not always the case, but most of the time it is true.</p>
<p>@QuantMech, I like your Hilbert space :)</p>