Nonsense summary

It’s common to want to influence people around you. You probably know someone whose opinions you’ve wanted to change, whether it was your right-wing uncle or hippie aunt who never got over the sixties.

Ambiguity can be a useful tool here. Studies have shown that when ambiguity isn’t consciously resolved, it creates anxiety and can influence your beliefs.

Imagine you see a white crow in the distance. You’d feel unsettled by it, prompting your brain to try to make sense of the situation. Did you mistake the color? Is it really a dove? The uncertainty would unnerve you and you’d most likely settle for a simple explanation, missing out on the chance to discover an albino corvid.

Adults have a hard time processing that kind of ambiguity. Children are different, however.

When George W. Bush addressed the nation after the 9/11 attacks, he famously proclaimed, “I don’t do nuance.” His popularity skyrocketed. In times of uncertainty and anxiety, people want straightforward answers. Straightforward answers aren’t always the best ones, however.

An inability to weigh new or different options is usually a hindrance in politics. It’s a big part of the reason that dissenting minority voices are often silenced.

If you start packing a week before a trip, you have a lot of time to weigh the importance of your dental floss or makeup kit. If there’s an earthquake, it’s easier to make up your mind. You just want to get out of there.

People make drastic decisions during and after natural disasters because they’re faced with an ambiguous future. This is especially true when it comes to romance.

Did you ever have a language teacher who made a student panic by asking them a question they didn’t understand in front of the class? When faced with an ambiguous question, we can only guess what it means.

Fortunately, some language teachers take a different approach. The legendary linguist Michel Thomas became one of the most respected language teachers in the world after he developed a new teaching method in the 1990s.

What would you do if someone put a gun to your mother’s head and said they would kill her if you didn’t give them your money? In profoundly stressful situations like that, it’s critical to stay calm.

Military strategists, for instance, have to cope with a lot of high-pressure ambiguity. For a long time, they traditionally preferred more straightforward tactics, but this has been changing in recent decades.