Promoting Thinking To Change Behavior

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Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. – Anthony Robbins

What is the difference between a closed-ended question and an open-ended question?

A closed-ended question is a form of question which can normally be answered using a simple “yes” or “no”, a specific simple piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices.

An open-ended question, cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”, or with a specific piece of information, and which give the person answering the question scope to give the information that seems to them to be appropriate. Open-ended questions are sometimes phrased as a statement which requires a response.

Although closed-ended questions allow for memory recall, they are not effective in solving major problems, or in achieving goals. Open-ended questions beg to be solved and don’t have definite answers. In order for each person the answer may be different, yet appropriate for that purpose.

One thing is certain and that is if you think about something the same way for a long time, and ask and the questions about it in the same way, it will lead you to the same behaviors every time. If these behaviors are unproductive or destructive it is time to change them.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

So what do you do to get out of this circular pattern of unproductive, self-destructive thinking? The answer is to of course ask better questions, which includes asking a variety of different questions.

Benjamin Bloom is known for developing the taxonomy of higher level thinking questions. Although this formula is developed for educators you may also use it to develop questions to improve your thinking process and increase your options. The steps of this taxonomy are as follows: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. For more about this process check out the following URL: http://specialed.about.com/od/teacherchecklists/a/bloom.htm and get started on using the technique today.

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