Responding to Claims

Goals:

  1. Describe “responding to claims.”
  2. Respond in the best ways to each claim you encounter.

What?

“Responding to a claim” refers to what an actor (person or group) does when they receive a claim from another actor.

Examples:

  1. You receive an advertising message from a company and you take an appropriate action.

  2. You receive a request from your boss and you respond to this request.

  3. You get the daily news and then you respond.

  4. A lawyer listens to the arguments of the opposing counsel and figures our the best ways to respond.

Analysis (Breakdown of main ideas)

Claim

A statement that an actor (person or group) makes that they assert is true.

Response

A response is a reaction (purposeful or automatic) expressed through words, actions, feelings, or thoughts.

Responding to Claims (Rationale)

If you learn how to respond to claims that you encounter in the best ways possible, you will maximize the rewards you get while minimizing the drawbacks in a holistic sense.

Here are examples of rewards: saving time, knowing what is true, saving money, building human connections, getting better results, winning debates, persuading others, and so on.

Here are some examples of drawbacks: conflict, bitter arguments, stress, anxiety, bad financial choices, believing things that are not true, taking suboptimal actions, injury, loss of life, and so on.

Best Response (How To)

Principles

  1. The best response is better than one that is suboptimal.

  2. There is a best response.

  3. The best response can be improved; that is, there is no upper limit on how well you can respond.

Framework

  1. Figure the argument (conclusion and the reasoning) and measure the quality of it scale that ranges from zero to high.

  2. Assess this using a WIFME filter.

  3. If there is not a good reason to respond, move on.

  4. If there there are rewards in it for you, figure out what you want and how get it (that is, figure out your best response). Then craft your plan.

  5. Implement your plan and reap your rewards.

  6. Apply Reflective Thinking (RT) to figure out your next steps and to improve your abilities to respond to claims.