Outrospection: Don't Be A Rock

J Bostock
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:45:44 GMT

Introspection is when you think really deeply about how your mind is organized, what kinds of thoughts you've got bopping around your little brainbox, and how it all comes together to explain your behaviour. It has its uses, but also its downsides. It generally always seems to be possible to come up with an ever-more-complex story of your life, to the point where some people have said that the brain is like a minecraft world: the more you explore, the more stuff gets procedurally generated. This is very time consuming and can also lead to self-absorption.

Instead of introspection, I recommend outrospection. Take an entirely outside-view attitude towards your behaviours. Ask not "what's the complicated reason for me doing this?" but "what's the simplest model which explains my behaviour."

The aim of outrospection is to notice when you're becoming a rock with "Do X" painted on it.

Examples

We all know someone like this. They make a minor screwup (like showing up a little late to an event, mildly burning a cake they cooked) and turn it into a ten-minute apology, bawling about how sorry they are and how useless they're feeling. You tell them to please stop apologising (because the apology has become far more of an imposition than the problem!) and they tearfully start apologising for apologising.

The person has a brain state (shame) which is causing a specific output (apologising) automatically. The person needs to stop that output, but the reason to stop doing it (it's annoying) just further triggers the brain state (shame). There is no way out from inside.

There are other cases like this. Belief polarisation is one: you're in a state of trusting group A and distrusting group B. You make an aggressive stand for group A takes everywhere you can find group B members, and they keep getting annoyed. That makes them seem even meaner and less trustworthy!

Also, cult members' friends and family can often tell something is up long before the actual cultist can, just by observing their behaviour. How can that be? The cultist has access to all of the same information they do, yet they can't figure it out. The inside-view model of their own behaviour is leading them astray.

Pull Yourself Together, Man!

What you want to say to these people is "Pull yourself together!" which roughly means "Get yourself out of that stuck emotional state." People tend to be quite bad at this. There's a very specific mental motion which makes it possible, and it depends on outrospection.

First step: notice that your behaviour is predicted by an extremely simple heuristic.

Second step: do literally anything else other than what the heuristic predicts.

The annoying apologiser might notice that their behaviour is entirely predicted by a rock labelled "apologise". Then they can simply do the one thing the rock doesn't predict: stop apologising.

Likewise, a politically polarised person might notice that their behaviour is well-predicted by a rock that says "Say the yellow tribe position on this issue".

Sometimes, being well-modelled by a rock is fine. Some of the best pieces of advice can be solved with a rock. I have a rock on my desk which says "Do the right thing."[1] The question is, if you knew what was on your rock, would you be happy with it? If not, you must spite the rock.

How to Spite the Rock

"But Bostock!" I hear you ask. "From where do I draw the mental strength to go against the rock which models my behaviour? How can I beat all petrifying forces within me?"

And I say to you: "Being a rock is cringe and lame."

It's not very cool to have opinions which are well-predicted by a rock. It's boring. Your friends will give you a mean-spirited nickname based on what your rock says. Op-eds will refer to you as "local rock".

Take a moment to think about what your rock says. Is that what you want your rock to say?

This post was written as part of Doublehaven

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1. ^

I really actually do have this!

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