Near/Far Thinking

Created by Jim Babcock at

  • NEAR: All of these bring each other more to mind

mind: here, now, me, us; trend-deviating likely real local events; concrete, context-dependent, unstructured, detailed, goal-irrelevant incidental features; feasible safe acts; secondary local concerns; socially close folks with unstable traits.

  • FAR: AllConversely, all these bring each other more to mind

Here

There

Now

Then

Me

Them

Trend-Deviating Likely Real Local Events

Trend-Following Unlikely Hypothetical Global Events

Concrete

Abstract

Context-Dependent

Context-Freerer

Unstructured

Schematic

Detailed

Course

Goal-Irrelevant Incidental Features

Goal-Related Features

Feasible Safe Acts

Desirable Risk-Taking Acts

Secondary Local Concerns

Central Global Symbolic Concerns

Socially Close Folksmind: there, then, them; trend-following unlikely hypothetical global events; abstract, schematic, context-freer, core, coarse, goal-related features; desirable risk-taking acts, central global symbolic concerns, confident predictions, polarized evaluations, socially distant people with Unstable Traits

Socially Distant People with Stable Traits

Confident Predictions

Polarized Evaluations

NEAR: All of these bring each other more to mind

FAR: All these bring each other more to mind

Here

There

Now

Then

Me

Them

Trend-Deviating Likely Real Local Events

Trend-Following Unlikely Hypothetical Global Events

Concrete

Abstract

Context-Dependent

Context-Freerer

Unstructured

Schematic

CourseDetailed

DetailedCourse

Goal-Irrelevant Incidental Features

Goal-Related Features

Feasible Safe Acts

Desirable Risk-Taking Acts

Secondary Local Concerns

Central Global Symbolic Concerns

Socially Close Folks with Unstable Traits

Socially Distant People with Stable Traits

Confident Predictions

Polarized Evaluations

  • NEAR: All of these bring each other more to mind: here, now, me, us; trend-deviating likely real local events; concrete, context-dependent, unstructured, detailed, goal-irrelevant incidental features; feasible safe acts; secondary local concerns; socially close folks with unstable traits.

    • mind

    FAR: Conversely, allAll these bring each other more to mind: there, then, them; trend-following unlikely hypothetical global events; abstract, schematic, context-freer, core, coarse, goal-related features; desirable risk-taking acts, central global symbolic concerns, confident predictions, polarized evaluations, socially distant peoplemind

    Here

    There

    Now

    Then

    Me

    Them

    Trend-Deviating Likely Real Local Events

    Trend-Following Unlikely Hypothetical Global Events

    Concrete

    Abstract

    Context-Dependent

    Context-Freerer

    Unstructured

    Schematic

    Course

    Detailed

    Goal-Irrelevant Incidental Features

    Goal-Related Features

    Feasible Safe Acts

    Desirable Risk-Taking Acts

    Secondary Local Concerns

    Central Global Symbolic Concerns

    Socially Close Folks with stable traits.Unstable Traits

    Socially Distant People with Stable Traits

    Confident Predictions

    Polarized Evaluations

    Blog posts

    By Robin Hanson

    External links

    See also

Near and far are two modes (or a spectrum of modes) in which we can think about things. We choose which mode to think about something in based on its distance from us, or on the level of detail we need. This theoryproperty of human mind is also known asstudied in construal level theory.

Related concepts

External links

See also

Near and far are two modes (or a spectrum of modes) in which we can think about things. We choose which mode to think about something in based on its distance from us, or on the level of detail we need. This theory is also known as construal level theory.

Summary

ReferencesRelated concepts

Overcoming Bias Articles

Blog posts

Near and far are two modes (or a spectrum of modes) in which we can think about things. We choose which mode to think about something in based on its distance from us, or on the level of detail we need.

  • NEAR: All of these bring each other more to mind: here, now, me, us; trend-deviating likely real local events; concrete, context-dependent, unstructured, detailed, goal-irrelevant incidental features; feasible safe acts; secondary local concerns; socially close folks with unstable traits.
  • FAR: Conversely, all these bring each other more to mind: there, then, them; trend-following unlikely hypothetical global events; abstract, schematic, context-freer, core, coarse, goal-related features; desirable risk-taking acts, central global symbolic concerns, confident predictions, polarized evaluations, socially distant people with stable traits.

References

Overcoming Bias Articles