Distinguish between Facts and Inferences
Distinguish between Facts and Inferences
My wife does it all the time. She will make an assumption based on an inference. Last week, we were going to my brother’s house for our annual Christmas party, we do that in the month of January, and a car happened to pass us in a quick hurry, she said to the person driving, “do not get mad at me, I did not set the speed limit at 55 miles per hour.” I then, asked her, “how do you know that person is mad at you,” because she said, “he revved up his engine when he went around us.” I told her, “that just because he gunned it when he went around us that is no sign that he is mad at us.” I went on to explain to her all the possible reasons of why he went around us so fast. I told her, “he might just be in a hurry,” or maybe, I said, “he is mad, but not at us.” We could come up with 101 reasons why, he went past us so fast. So, instead of saying something as if it were fact, it might be better to use words and phrases that would say, “I am not sure of it, but he might be mad at us. Words and phrases like, “he acts like, he appears to be, I feel as if he is, and he came across like he was.” Using phrases like those gives a disclosure that I am not an expert, but he might be mad at us for driving the speed limit; that way if we are wrong, we can say well, “I was not sure, but I thought he was.” Since, I have been paying attention, I find that we all do it, some of us are accurate and some are not. Like in the case of my youngest son, he will draw to a conclusion on something, based on an inference that is not back by facts, and 9 times out of 10 he is wrong. Example, he will see a person in an older rusty car, and he will infer that this person must be on drugs and cannot afford a better car. This is a good example of how age and life experiences, or the lack thereof, can affect the accuracy of an inference and therefore a faulty assumption. Most, but not all, people of age would know better
My wife does it all the time. She will make an assumption based on an inference. Last week, we were going to my brother’s house for our annual Christmas party, we do that in the month of January, and a car happened to pass us in a quick hurry, she said to the person driving, “do not get mad at me, I did not set the speed limit at 55 miles per hour.” I then, asked her, “how do you know that person is mad at you,” because she said, “he revved up his engine when he went around us.” I told her, “that just because he gunned it when he went around us that is no sign that he is mad at us.” I went on to explain to her all the possible reasons of why he went around us so fast. I told her, “he might just be in a hurry,” or maybe, I said, “he is mad, but not at us.” We could come up with 101 reasons why, he went past us so fast. So, instead of saying something as if it were fact, it might be better to use words and phrases that would say, “I am not sure of it, but he might be mad at us. Words and phrases like, “he acts like, he appears to be, I feel as if he is, and he came across like he was.” Using phrases like those gives a disclosure that I am not an expert, but he might be mad at us for driving the speed limit; that way if we are wrong, we can say well, “I was not sure, but I thought he was.” Since, I have been paying attention, I find that we all do it, some of us are accurate and some are not. Like in the case of my youngest son, he will draw to a conclusion on something, based on an inference that is not back by facts, and 9 times out of 10 he is wrong. Example, he will see a person in an older rusty car, and he will infer that this person must be on drugs and cannot afford a better car. This is a good example of how age and life experiences, or the lack thereof, can affect the accuracy of an inference and therefore a faulty assumption. Most, but not all, people of age would know better