The Ladder of Inference Avoiding "Jumping to Conclusions"

Have you ever been accused of "putting 2 and 2 together and making 5," meaning that the other person thinks you have jumped to the wrong conclusion?

Tip 1:

Use the Ladder of Inference at any of stage of your thinking process. If you're asking any of the following questions, the model may prove a useful aid:

• Is this the "right" conclusion?
• Why am I making these assumptions?
• Why do I think this is the "right" thing to do?
• Is this really based on all the facts?
• Why does he believe that?

Use the following steps to challenge thinking using the Ladder of Inference:

1. Stop! It's time to consider your reasoning.
2. Identify where on the ladder you are. Are you:
   • Selecting your data or reality?
   • Interpreting what it means?
   • Making or testing assumptions?
   • Forming or testing conclusions?
   • Deciding what to do and why?