Of course, there is the opposite fallacy of thinking others are too different, as it prevents empathic thinking that is actually pretty useful. I mean it is a fairly central aspect of human interactions to, for example, if you worry what you are about to say may be perceived as offensive then consider if you in a similar situation would consider it so. This does not always work but works often enough well enough to make it fairly difficult to live life if you don’t do this.
For what it worths, my typical mistake when I was young was precisely this opposite, atypical mind fallacy, I was unable to think empathically because it did not occur to me to predict how others feel based on how I would feel. A bit schizoid I guess.
The point is both typical mind and atypical mind are heuristics that work in some situations and blow up spectularly in some others.
Of course, there is the opposite fallacy of thinking others are too different, as it prevents empathic thinking that is actually pretty useful. I mean it is a fairly central aspect of human interactions to, for example, if you worry what you are about to say may be perceived as offensive then consider if you in a similar situation would consider it so. This does not always work but works often enough well enough to make it fairly difficult to live life if you don’t do this.
For what it worths, my typical mistake when I was young was precisely this opposite, atypical mind fallacy, I was unable to think empathically because it did not occur to me to predict how others feel based on how I would feel. A bit schizoid I guess.
The point is both typical mind and atypical mind are heuristics that work in some situations and blow up spectularly in some others.