I'm a big fan of breaking things down to the finest grain thoughts possible, but it still surprises me how quickly this gets complicated when trying to actually write it down.

http://lesswrong.com/lw/2l6/taking_ideas_seriously/

Example: Bob is overweight and an acquaintance mentions some "shangri-la" diet that helps people lose weight through some "flavor/calorie association". Instead of dismissing it immediately, he looks into it, adopts the diet, and comfortably achieves his desired weight.

1) Notice the feeling of surprise when encountering a claim that runs counter to your expectations.

2) Check in far mode the importance of the claim if it were true by running through a short list of concrete implications (eg "I can use this diet and as a result, I can enjoy exercise more, I can feel better about my body, etc")

• If any thoughts along the lines of "but it's not true!" come up, remind yourself that you need to be able to clearly understand the implications of the statement and its importance separately from deciding its truth value, and that this is good practice even if this example is obviously false.

3) Imagine reaping the benefits in near mode to help build appropriate motivation.

• Ask yourself "What would the world look like if this were true?", and if no glaring contradictions come up, mentally explore this world.

• If necessary, imagine a reversal test to help the situation feel normal, even if flagged with uncertainty.

• Cultivate and keep this mindset and feeling of "this is really important!" for things that are really important.

4) Using this calculation (ie NOT the 'gut feel' calculation) and econ101 based heuristics to determine how much effort to put into verifying/analyzing implications of the statement.

Done thoroughly and sequentially, this will take much more than 5 seconds, but a crude nonverbal run through can be done quickly, and the process can be repeated in increasing detail once the ball is rolling.

To train people, start by having them run though an example of taking things seriously in an obvious case (eg "What? I was supposed to drive south!?"). Do this in as much imaginative detail as possible to help bring to mind the associated mindset and feelings as strongly as possible.

Encourage them to 'try out' this new habit by having them imagine increasingly non obvious examples with the mindset of "this is how I really think and it's crazy to not have this habit" until it can be done quickly, 'automatically', and in a way that feels natural. Keep going until they have a sense of what it would feel like for some important and confidently held beliefs to be wrong.

This "imagine it as if it were real" part is really really important, and I have personally had success with that method in general.