Chapter 10: How We Judge

Overview

Like forest rangers on the lookout for fires, we continually monitor ourselves for whether we have a problem. Our meta-level thought is always assessing how things are going at the object-level and motivating us to make changes based on its judgments. The judgments we make are meant to protect us.

• In the case of worriers , their meta-level judgments are detecting from the array of facts in front of them that it s time to become tightly focused on anticipating and avoiding what might happen.

• The meta-level judgments of controllers deem things to be out of control and indicate it s time to take charge.

• Fakes are motivated by their meta-level thoughts to project a certain image ”to cover up their real self-image.

• The meta-level awareness of attention-seekers tells them that things don t quite feel secure and looks for the right opportunity to fill the gap.

• The meta-level thoughts of victims stand on guard to protect them from attacks.

• Prisoners take meta-level indications of vague, hard-to-pin-down threats as a signal to check back into the ˜ ˜safety of their prisons.