Skepticism can Counter Gullibility  

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Skepticism from its original Greek (σκέπτομαι) skeptomai means “to search, to think about or look for.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines skepticism as “an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object” which involves “suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism.”

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These forms of skepticism—i.e., suspended judgment, systematic doubt, and criticism—can be effectively employed to counter the natural human tendency to be gullible. Gullible, from the verb gull, meaning “to deceive or take advantage of,” means “easily duped or cheated.”

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Thus, to avoid being deceived or taken advantage of by other people who would exploit and manipulate this gullibility, the person should develop a healthy attitude of skepticism.

    

Suspending Judgement

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Snap judgments come naturally for most people. The brain must constantly make quick “off the cuff” judgments related to various ongoing events and incoming stimuli. When a person must complete multiple tasks at once, these snap judgments can increase efficiency of mental processing. In this sense, they can be beneficial. However, these snap judgments can also cause great harm.

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In situations where decisions could have serious consequences to one’s life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness, making snap judgments can be detrimental to that person. Thus, to avoid making poor decisions that could have permanently damaging consequences, the skeptical person must suspend judgment until they have examined every aspect of the decision-making process to ensure that any decision they make is informed and won’t detrimentally affect their life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.

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For example, in situations where someone is asking for another person’s opinion or feelings on some hot button issue, the skeptical person must refrain from forming an opinion until they’ve taken time to examine the issue in more depth and from a more informed perspective. Merely seeking perspective gives the skeptical person more information with which to make such an informed decision, and the process of gaining this perspective allows that person to rationally process this information.  

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Making snap judgments is associated with impulsivity and emotionally reactivity. Impulsivity and reactivity may come naturally but they also produce negative and counterproductive consequences because they are emotion-based as opposed to rational processes. Suspending judgment helps to counter the natural tendency to be impulsive and reactive which allows the space and time necessary to examine the issue more thoroughly before prematurely attaching judgment to it. Thus, suspending judgment for even a small amount of time can lead to significantly better decisions because the decision-making process is less emotional and more rational.  

 

This is invaluable because people with nefarious intentions depend on uninformed opinions to further their malicious agendas. These people seek to influence others through persuasion and deception to elicit compliance that suits their goals. And they almost always use tactics that play on peoples’ impulsive and reactive tendencies to this end.

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Unsuspecting people who make uninformed snap judgments will always play right into whatever trap these malicious actors have set for them unless they become more informed. Suspending judgment makes becoming more informed possible.  

 

Systematic Doubt   

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Systematic doubt involves an ongoing attitude of doubting the truth of one’s beliefs. As Socrates is purported to have said: “I know that I know nothing.” This paradox reflects a doubtful approach to life where the ultimate goal is to sort out the true from the false—a feat that requires doubting a belief on its face until that belief has been tested further for validity.  

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This approach is observed in the scientific method where the falsifiability of something is tested and attempts are made to prove a hypothesis wrong. If after trying to disprove a hypothesis the hypothesis is shown to be supported by the evidence, then there is truth to the hypothesis.

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This is an especially useful strategy to counteract the tendency to be gullible because gullibility makes a person an easy target of deception. Believing anything and everything someone says or claims at face value doesn’t make a person “good” because they’re agreeable, it makes them foolish because they’re opening themselves up to be easily duped and manipulated.

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Systematically doubting what people say until their statements have been tested against objective evidence can help the skeptical person avoid being duped or cheated by those who seek to exploit gullible people. In this sense, systematically doubting makes the skeptical person a hard target versus being a soft target like the gullible person.     

Criticism

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Criticism infers an evaluative or analytical investigation of something to determine its character, qualities, merits, and faults. Criticism is a process of discernment that leads to more informed judgments because the skeptical person doesn’t stop at the mere perception of a thing but looks further at its qualities.

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This keen perception is effective at seeing what is otherwise obscure to the gullible person. This perception goes beyond the obvious and superficial to the substance of a thing (to its truth).

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Criticism enables a skeptical person to determine the character, motives, and intentions of others which enables better judgments. Gullible people are easy targets because gullible people believe other people at face value. There’s no further evaluation or discernment beyond this. In contrast, the skeptical person never stops at the surface but always goes beyond the surface to see what lies below.

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Be Skeptical by Default   

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Each of the forms of skepticism, whether suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism, or a combination of all three, are protective against becoming an easy target. But being skeptical may not be easy for everyone.

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Some people are characteristically skeptical whereas others are characteristically gullible. Thus, some people may have to work harder to maintain a healthy degree of skepticism. For these people, it may be more effective to practice being skeptical by default. This will require work. But by developing an attitude of skepticism, albeit not to the point where the person is unable to make a decision at all (i.e., analysis paralysis), the skeptical person is better off than the gullible person.  

 

There will always be people who seek to exploit and manipulate other people. Being nice or agreeable won’t make these people stop exploiting or manipulating others. But it will put the gullible person at a disadvantage that is detrimental to that person.

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To stop being an easy target be more skeptical, not gullible.