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AFTER CERTAINTY

book

Ross, Lee, and Richard Nisbett — The Person and the Situation

Ross, Lee, and Richard Nisbett. *The Person and the Situation*. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.

Related concepts

Concept

Interpretation

localized reconstruction of meaning

Concept

Thinking

active interruption of automaticity

Concept

Uncertainty

unresolved/revisable coordination state

Related patterns

Pattern

Contact Keeps the Read Open

People return to a difficult exchange with more context and lower reactivity. Early interpretation may be useful but still too rough. - Additional context widens what people can see - Lower emotional charge improves tolerance for ambiguity - Restraint keeps meaning revisable Additional context can sharpen understanding without fully resolving it. Contact keeps the read open when understanding tightens without the story having to close.

Pattern

Meaning Gets Distorted

A provisional interpretation is repeated without re-exposure to source context. Coherence is preserved at the expense of accuracy. - Confirmation bias filters incoming data - Social reinforcement rewards consistency - Identity defense resists revision Interpretation can harden in ways that no longer track reality. Meaning gets distorted when certainty outlives contact with what was actually said.

Related books

Book

How Meaning Moves

Signal, Compression, Restraint, and the Pace of Understanding

A concise tour of how meaning travels through language, systems, and relationships, and why restraint is often the difference between noise and connection.