good-thinking by jwynia/agent-skills
npx skills add https://github.com/jwynia/agent-skills --skill good-thinking良好的思考是一种积极的成就,而非默认状态。没有方向的运作会产生精致的错误答案;没有运作的方向则会产生没有牵引力的良好意图。
两种结构上不同的事物必须协同工作:运作(转换表征的认知动词)和方向(运作所服务的目标)。每一次思考失败都可以定位为运作失败、方向被捕获,或者——最常见也最危险的——运作良好地服务于错误的方向。
能产生良好思考的方向是过程主权:探究过程是承诺所在;结论是移动之物。这项技能诊断何时该方向被捕获,以及哪些运作需要调整。
在以下情况使用:
七种转换表征的运作。它们以互补对的方式工作——是需要在其间振荡的两极,而非选择。技能在于振荡。运作是强大的、通用的,并且完全不知道它们服务于什么。产生真正洞察的运作,同样也会产生精致的自我欺骗。
运作所服务的目标。方向不处理信息——它们提供使自我修正有意义的参照点。由当其他一切都在移动时,什么被固定下来所定义。
过程主权(目标方向):探究对证据和环境做出响应。当证据要求时,结论移动。当情况需要时,方法适应。保持不变的是对响应性本身的元承诺。
非探究方向(捕获的表现形式):
将表征从其当前的绑定——信念、身份、语境、情感负荷——中分离出来,以便自由地审视它。然后将其重新附着到现实。
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使用时机: 在未经审视的框架内工作时。问题以预设框架出现。对某个想法的反应与提出者纠缠在一起。需要考虑与当前立场冲突的可能性时。
失败模式: 融合(无法将想法与框架分开,因为框架感觉“本来就是那样”)。解离(解耦而不重耦——纯粹的脱离,从未回归现实)。
分化: 提高分辨率。看似一件事实际上是几件事。找到关节。整合: 在独立元素之间建立联系。从部分构建整体。找到共同结构。
使用时机: 分化-整合的节奏是生产性思考的引擎。综合的质量取决于先前分析的质量。
失败模式: 分化不足(复杂被视为简单)。过度分化(分析瘫痪)。过早整合(在充分区分之前强行建立连贯性)。整合失败(“以及”式思考——罗列而不连接)。
检测结构对应关系。“这个就像那个。”也包括异常检测:“这个应该像那个,但实际不是。”
使用时机: 处理问题时——哪些其他问题与其结构相同?评估方法时——它在何处成功或失败?某事物令人惊讶时——模型原本预测了什么?
失败模式: 错误匹配(幻想性错觉)。表面匹配(可见特征而非深层结构)。受限的匹配空间——最危险的:你只能匹配当前框架所包含的类别。过早的框架承诺会无形中缩小匹配空间。
评估当前的认知过程是否有效,并在无效时进行干预。自我修正的运作。运作与方向之间的主要接口——检查运作是否服务于活跃的方向。
使用时机: 始终。监控是持续的。当信心很高且事关重大时,最需要监控,而非最不需要。
关键警告——监控被挪用: 在非探究方向下,监控不仅未能纠正——它通过压制会威胁固定点的运作,来积极捍卫错误的方向。自我修正机制变成了自我保护机制。这在内部是看不见的。
保持: 主动维持多个元素处于未解决的张力状态,抵抗其崩溃为解决方案的压力。保持表征灵活性——保持识别空间开放。解决: 关闭、承诺、决定。
使用时机: 当问题确实存在歧义、多个框架似乎都可行、解决压力来自不适感而非分析的充分性时,保持。当已发生充分的分化和匹配时,解决。
失败模式: 过早解决(不仅缩小了系统搜索的范围,还缩小了其能识别的范围)。永久保持(无限期保持而不整合——伪装成开放思想的回避)。
压缩: 创建保留基本结构同时丢弃细节的低维表征。从领域构建地图。扩展: 回到源头,恢复被丢弃的内容,检查压缩是否保留了必要的内容。
失败模式: 压缩强加了源所没有的结构(例如,将无序集合变成有序列表会创建隐式排名)。地图误认为是领域。拒绝压缩(从不基于先前工作进行构建)。
思考在没有意识到其服务目标的情况下进行。
症状: 没有元认知检查。运作自动运行。没有区分“我在思考X”和“我在很好地思考X”。关于方向的问题感觉无关紧要或令人困惑。
关键问题: 你能清楚说明你当前的思考服务于什么吗?什么能算作证明你当前方法是错误的证据?你上次检查你的方法是否与情况匹配是什么时候?
干预措施: 引入方向概念。提问:“你当前思考中什么是固定的——你不愿意改变什么?”在最基本的层面启动监控:定期检查过程是否服务于探究。
捕获机制: 惯性——没有主动防御,只是没有意识到方向作为一个维度存在。
一个结论被固定;过程弯曲以捍卫它。智力工作中最常见的方向捕获。
症状: 支持结论的证据被高度重视;反对的证据被解释掉。为捍卫立场而日益精细的阐述。为对立观点进行“钢人论证”感觉是威胁性的而非信息性的。问题“什么会改变你的想法?”会引起不适或转移话题。
关键问题: 你的分析是否变得更精细却没有变得更准确?你是在寻找对立立场的最强版本,还是最弱版本?你的结论上次因应证据而改变是什么时候?监控是在标记对结论的威胁,还是对准确性的威胁?
干预措施: 对结论应用解耦——将其与身份分离。提问:“如果这个结论被证明是错误的,那对你意味着什么?”在不同领域中应用匹配,在这些领域中相同的证据结构导致了不同的结论。扩展任何支持结论的压缩——检查被丢弃了什么。
捕获机制: 身份融合——结论是自我概念的一部分。监控被挪用去捍卫它。
作为权威被固定;结论和过程都灵活变化以维持该地位。在对象层面比结论保持更灵活,因此更难检测。
症状: 愿意改变结论,但不愿承认他人的推理。将他人的贡献重新定义为对自己框架的确认。抵制真正的合作或共享功劳。“我已经在这么想了”的模式。当专业知识受到质疑时感到不适,即使是建设性的质疑。
关键问题: 你能找出一个他人的推理真正改变了你的想法的例子吗?你能区分“我是对的”和“我是决定什么是对的人”吗?犯错和被否决感觉不同吗?
干预措施: 区分权威与准确性——它们是经常被融合的不同事物。对权威角色应用解耦。使用监控检查:我是根据其优点评估这个想法,还是根据接受它是否会削弱我的地位?
捕获机制: 身份融合——但融合的是权威角色,而非任何具体结论。
不适感驱动解决。复杂性被误读为危险。神经系统在审慎思考之前就激活了这个方向。
症状: 急于解决模糊性。对多种相互竞争的解释感到不适。强烈偏好简单的解释,即使情况确实复杂。难以区分“这是危险的”和“这是令人不适的”。在保持不确定性时身体紧张或焦躁。
关键问题: 解决的压力是来自分析的充分性,还是来自不适感?情况是真正危险,还是复杂性被误读为威胁?如果你将这种不确定性再保持一小时/一天/一周会发生什么?
干预措施: 区分真正的威胁和不适感。明确应用保持——命名这种张力并承诺在定义的时间内维持它。使用压缩/扩展:压缩情况以识别实际威胁(如果有),然后扩展以恢复被丢弃的复杂性。认识到状态激活是一种机制——方向在审慎思考能够评估之前就已转变。
捕获机制: 状态激活——生理状态变化在审慎思考之前就转变了方向。自我强化:收缩的运作处理复杂性的能力更差,使情况恶化,增加压力。
目标是产生听起来不错的答案,而非准确性。方向是面向输出,而非探究。
症状: 答案来得快速而自信,却没有相应的分析。偏好听起来优雅或完整的解释,而非混乱但准确的解释。对“我不知道”或“这确实不确定”感到不适。推理质量与交付速度成反比。抵制重新打开已经“回答”的问题。
关键问题: 结论是在充分分析之前还是之后得出的?这个答案是准确的,还是仅仅令人满意?你会以你呈现的信心水平,用真实的赌注押在这个结论上吗?在这里说“我还不知道”会付出什么代价?
干预措施: 在解决之前应用保持——在分析和承诺之间创建强制延迟。对答案本身进行分化:组成部分是什么?哪些有充分支持,哪些是填补空白的?对快速回答过程中进行的任何压缩应用扩展——检查丢失了什么。
捕获机制: 惯性(习惯性的完成方向)或状态激活(产生答案的社会压力)。
自我修正机制积极捍卫错误的方向。最危险的状态,因为设计用来捕捉错误的机制反而在保护它们。
症状: 日益精细的辩解。参与反驳论证,却总是以某种方式确认原始立场。高度的元认知活动没有产生任何实际的路线修正。“我真的仔细思考过了”的感觉伴随着信念零修正。反证引发更多分析而非更多怀疑。
关键问题: 监控上次产生实际的路线修正(不仅仅是同一方向的细化)是什么时候?你与对立观点的互动产生了真正的更新,还是更好的防御?外部观察者能区分你的推理过程和动机性推理吗?什么外部反馈结构可以覆盖你的内部监控?
干预措施: 这个状态无法通过更多监控来修复——那是个陷阱。引入外部监控脚手架:明确的预测跟踪、外部反馈、字面上的计分。对监控过程本身应用解耦——将“我很仔细”与“我很准确”分开。使用匹配:将你的推理过程与已知的动机性推理例子进行比较,检查结构相似性。
捕获机制: 通过监控运作的身份融合。最重要的结构性发现:在不解决方向的情况下改进运作会使情况更糟。
偏爱运作对中的一个极点而忽视其互补极点。技能在于振荡,而一个极点已经崩溃。
症状: 系统性地偏向一对中的一侧:总是分化从不整合,总是保持从不解决,总是压缩从不扩展,总是解耦从不重耦。这种模式在不同问题中持续存在。被忽视的极点感觉不必要、不舒服或陌生。
关键问题: 你正在积极使用哪些运作对?哪个极点感觉更自然,你上次真正使用另一个极点是什么时候?这种偏好是在服务于问题,还是在服务于你的舒适感?你的思考节奏是否与环境结构匹配?
干预措施: 识别崩溃的极点。将其刻意应用于当前问题。使用监控检查:失衡是匹配了环境结构(有时确实更需要一个极点),还是习惯性模式?区分“我不需要整合”(合法的环境评估)和“整合令人不适”(方向捕获)。
捕获机制: 惯性——对熟悉运作的习惯性偏好。偶尔是身份融合(例如,认同为“一个注重细节的人”与分化融合并压制整合)。
保持崩溃。表征空间在充分分析之前就缩小了。代价在识别层面——系统无法看到自己是错误的证据。
症状: 早期的框架承诺感觉像是清晰度而非收窄。搜索满足感:找到一个答案后,即使直接看着其他答案也无法识别。当他人对情况有不同看法时感到惊讶或困惑。信心感觉是应得的,但与分析深度不成比例。
关键问题: 在确定这个框架之前,你考虑了多少个框架?是否存在“扫描中的第二个异常”,而你当前的框架使其不可见?你当前的框架会忽略哪类证据?等待的代价与犯错的代价相比如何?
干预措施: 明确地重新打开保持。使用解耦(脱离当前框架)和匹配(从不同领域寻找结构类比)生成至少两个替代框架。对当前框架应用扩展——它丢弃了什么?应用放射学的教训:当框架限制识别时,看并不等于看见。
捕获机制: 惯性(默认的解决压力)或状态激活(对模糊性的不适感驱动过早闭合)。
逐步诊断:
识别什么是固定的。 提问:“在这个思考过程中,什么没有移动?什么结论、角色、舒适度或输出目标被当作不可移动的点?”答案确定了活跃的方向。如果除了对响应性探究的承诺外没有什么是固定的,那么过程主权是活跃的。
检查监控。 监控是在服务于探究,还是在捍卫一个立场?监控被挪用的迹象:产生细化但从未反转的元认知活动;参与反证却总是以相同结论告终;感觉彻底却没有实际信念修正。
评估运作平衡。 哪些运作对是活跃的?哪些极点崩溃了?平衡是匹配了环境结构,还是习惯性的?特别注意:保持是活跃的还是已经崩溃?解耦可用还是被融合阻塞?匹配是在完整还是受限的识别空间上运作?
匹配捕获机制。 三种结构不同的机制需要不同的干预措施:
* **身份融合:** 结论/角色/方法是自我概念的一部分。监控被挪用。持久、自我强化。无法通过“只是更努力思考”来修复——需要对身份绑定本身应用解耦,外加外部监控脚手架。
* **状态激活:** 生理状态变化在审慎思考之前就转变了方向。自我强化循环。首先处理状态(安全、资源、时间),然后重新评估方向。
* **惯性:** 没有主动防御,没有生理劫持。曾经合适的方向在没有重新评估的情况下继续。最常见,最容易处理。提示重新评估通常就足够了。
5. 根据机制而非表面行为选择干预措施。 相同的表面错误(例如锚定)可能有不同的机制(惯性 vs. 身份融合),需要不同的干预措施。一个简单的重新评估提示对惯性捕获有效,但在身份融合中会遭到积极防御。
将运作和方向检查应用于你自己的过程。在关键决策点对你的推理运行诊断流程。注意:捍卫而非发现的精细化阐述、没有相应分析的自信心、过早框架导致的受限匹配空间、产生感觉彻底但不纠正的分析的监控挪用。
诊断用户的思维模式,并通过提问而非声明来引导。从相关状态的关键问题开始。帮助用户看到机制,而不是告诉他们答案。目标是恢复过程主权,而不是强加你对他们思考的结论。
辅导序列:
定义属性:运作应用于其自身的输出,包括应用于它们自身。
递归会放大系统所指向的任何方向。服务于错误方向的更多递归深度会产生更好捍卫的错误结论,而非更好的思考。这就是为什么在增加递归深度之前必须先确立方向。
运作是互补对,而非选择。 当你发现自己偏爱一个极点时,这种模式本身就值得审视。技能在于振荡。
相同的表面模式可能有不同的潜在机制。 在对错误进行干预之前,先区分机制。惯性导致的错误结论与身份融合导致的错误结论需要不同的应对方式。
精致化放大方向,而非正确性。 在结论保持下更彻底的分析会产生更好捍卫的错误答案。精细的辩护是方向捕获的信号,而非正确性的信号。
压缩总是有损的;检查丢失了什么。 当压缩模型导致令人惊讶的结论时,在信任它之前先扩展——回到源头,检查这个惊喜是真实的还是压缩丢弃内容造成的假象。
保持保持表征灵活性。 过早解决不仅缩小了系统搜索的范围,还缩小了其能识别的范围。代价在识别层面。
良好的思考是一种积极的成就,而非默认状态。 你不是通过避免错误来达到良好思考。你是通过积极维护过程主权来达到它。
框架是一种选择,通常是未经审视的选择。 问题的框架方式决定了应用哪些运作、哪些匹配可用、什么算作证据。在处理问题之前,先审视框架。
模式: 将良好思考视为避免错误——运行已知偏见清单并逐一核对。问题: 良好思考不是没有不良思考。它需要积极的方向维护和运作部署,而不仅仅是错误扫描。偏见清单在表面行为层面运作,无法区分不同的潜在机制。修正: 先诊断方向,再评估运作。问题不是“哪个偏见在起作用?”,而是“思考服务于什么?”
模式: 对推理质量的怀疑,以更多分析、更仔细的推理、更精细的评估来回应——而不检查方向。问题: 服务于错误方向的更强大的运作会产生对错误结论更有效的辩护。这就是卡汉的发现:数字上精通的党派更巧妙地解读数据以支持他们的一方,而不是更准确。修正: 在增加分析深度之前先检查方向。如果方向被捕获,更多分析会使情况更糟。先解决方向问题。
模式: 无论捕获机制如何,都应用相同的干预措施——例如,对每个思考失败都“只是考虑另一面”。问题: 不同的捕获机制需要不同的干预措施。重新评估的提示对惯性捕获有效,但在身份融合中会遭到积极防御。状态激活需要在推理干预生效之前先处理生理状态。修正: 在选择干预措施之前,始终诊断机制(身份融合 / 状态激活 / 惯性)。使修复与机制匹配。
模式: 从不解决,从不承诺,伪装成开放思想。认为所有保持都是美德,所有解决都为时过早。问题: 没有整合的无限期保持是回避,而非探究。保持和解决是互补对——技能在于振荡。永久保持是运作失衡(GT6)戴着智力美德的面具。修正: 对保持本身应用监控。提问:持续的保持是在服务于探究(真正未解决,需要更多分析),还是在服务于舒适感(避免承诺的风险)?如果已经发生了充分的分化和匹配,就是时候解决了。
模式: 将观察到的行为与状态标签匹配,而不调查潜在机制。问题: 相同的表面行为(例如锚定、过度自信、抵制新信息)可能源于不同的机制。在行为层面进行诊断会导致干预措施对一种机制有效,而对另一种机制无效——甚至适得其反。修正: 始终深入一层。当你识别出一个表面模式时,提问:机制是什么?这是惯性(无主动防御)、身份融合(监控被挪用),还是状态激活(生理劫持)?机制决定了干预措施。
| 状态 | 名称 | 固定了什么 | 机制 | 首要行动 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT0 | 无方向意识 | 无(无元认知) | 惯性 | 引入方向概念 |
| GT1 | 结论保持 | 一个具体结论 | 身份融合 | 将结论与身份解耦 |
| GT2 | 权威保持 | 作为权威 | 身份融合 | 区分权威与准确性 |
| GT3 | 威胁消减 | 舒适 / 安全 | 状态激活 | 处理状态,然后重新评估 |
| GT4 | 完成寻求 | 产生输出 | 惯性 / 状态 | 解决前先保持 |
| GT5 | 监控被挪用 | 辩护本身 | 身份融合 | 外部监控脚手架 |
| GT6 | 运作失衡 | 一个运作极点 | 惯性 | 部署被忽视的极点 |
| GT7 | 过早解决 | 第一个框架 | 惯性 / 状态 | 重新打开保持,生成替代方案 |
这些是通用的诊断问题。在深入特定状态的问题之前,从这里开始。
情境: 代理正在分析相互竞争的框架,并注意到为遇到的第一个框架辩护的阐述越来越多。
诊断: 监控触发:“我对框架 A 的分析越来越详细和有利,而对框架 B 的分析越来越粗略。这是 GT1——结论保持的症状。什么是固定的?我对框架 A 的初始印象。机制:可能是惯性——我先遇到它,并且没有重新评估。”
干预: 与初始印象解耦。应用匹配:使用相同的评估标准比较两个框架,而不是让首因效应偏袒其中一个。将两者都视为可行的,直到分化完成。
结果: 重新分析后,框架 B 实际上更好地处理了一个关键边缘情况。初始印象是遭遇顺序造成的假象,而非质量。
情境: 用户说:“我真的仔细思考过这个问题,并且我总是回到同一个结论。我已经考虑了所有的反驳论点。”
诊断: 声称仔细考虑加上不变的结论是 GT5 的症状。高度的元认知活动没有产生任何路线修正。检查:“当你参与反驳论点时,有没有任何一个使你的结论变得稍微不那么确定,还是它们最终都确认了它?”
用户回应: “嗯,它们都有缺陷,所以实际上加强了我的立场。”
确认 GT5。 反证引发更多分析并确认原始立场是监控被挪用的标志。
干预: 不要争论内容——那会助长辩护。而是说:“你可以建立什么外部证据或反馈结构能够改变你的想法?不是‘什么论点会改变你的想法’,而是‘你可以建立什么跟踪机制?’”引入外部监控脚手架——字面上的预测跟踪、外部反馈、明确的计分。
| 来源技能 | 触发条件 | 导致 |
|---|---|---|
| research | 研究质量问题追溯到思考失败 | 方向诊断(GT0-GT5) |
| fact-check | 验证揭示出被捍卫而非发现的结论 | GT1 或 GT5 |
| brainstorming | 由于过早框架导致想法生成受阻 | GT7 |
| 此状态 | 导致技能 | 原因 |
|---|---|---|
| 任意 | competency | 当思考技能需要系统性地教授时 |
| 任意 | research | 当更好的思考揭示需要填补的研究空白时 |
| GT1, GT2, GT5 | blind-spot-detective | 当方向捕获造成了系统性盲点时 |
| 技能 | 关系 |
|---|---|
| fact-check | 事实核查提供证据;良好思考确保证据被诚实地处理 |
| research | 研究提供材料;良好思考确保材料在过程主权下被处理 |
| brainstorming | 头脑风暴产生可能性;良好思考确保生成空间不会过早收窄 |
| competency | 能力教授技能;良好思考是管理所有技能部署的元技能 |
| blind-spot-detective | 盲点侦探发现缺失的东西;良好思考诊断为什么它被遗漏 |
{topic}-thinking-audit-{date}.md,记录:识别的状态、机制诊断、应用的干预措施、观察到的结果以及后续建议。建议进行扩展思考的情况:
基础技能:约 3k 词元。完整状态定义:约 5k 词元。参考文档(references/structural-account.md 和 references/agent-instructions.md)在需要深入理论、锚定示例或详细失败模式分析时按需加载。对于常规诊断,仅 SKILL.md 就足够了。
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2026年2月14日
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Good thinking is an active achievement, not a default state. Operations without orientation produce sophisticated wrong answers; orientation without operations produces good intentions with no traction.
Two structurally different things must work together: operations (cognitive verbs that transform representations) and orientations (what the operations are in service of). Every thinking failure can be located as an operation failing, an orientation captured, or — most commonly and most dangerously — operations functioning well in service of the wrong orientation.
The orientation that produces good thinking is process-sovereignty : the process of inquiry is what's committed to; conclusions are what move. This skill diagnoses when that orientation has been captured and which operations need adjustment.
Use when:
Seven operations that transform representations. They work in complementary pairs — polarities to oscillate between, not choices. The skill is in the oscillation. Operations are powerful, general-purpose, and completely agnostic about what they serve. The same operations that produce genuine insight also produce sophisticated self-deception.
What the operations are in service of. Orientations don't process information — they provide the reference point that makes self-correction meaningful. Defined by what is held fixed while everything else moves.
Process-sovereignty (the target orientation): inquiry is responsive to evidence and environment. Conclusions move when evidence demands it. Methods adapt when the situation requires it. What stays fixed is the meta-commitment to responsiveness itself.
Non-inquiry orientations (what capture looks like):
Detach a representation from its current binding — belief, identity, context, emotional charge — so it can be examined freely. Then reattach it to reality.
Use when: Working within an unexamined frame. A problem comes pre-framed. Response to an idea is entangled with who proposed it. Need to consider a possibility that conflicts with current position.
Failure modes: Fusion (cannot separate idea from framing because the framing feels like "just how it is"). Dissociation (decoupling without re-coupling — pure detachment that never grounds back in reality).
Differentiate: Increase resolution. What appears to be one thing is actually several things. Find the joints. Integrate: Construct connections between separate elements. Build wholes from parts. Find common structure.
Use when: The differentiate-then-integrate rhythm is the engine of productive thinking. Quality of synthesis depends on quality of prior analysis.
Failure modes: Under-differentiation (complex treated as simple). Over-differentiation (analysis paralysis). Premature integration (forcing coherence before adequate distinction). Failed integration ("and also" thinking — listing without connecting).
Detect structural correspondence. "This is like that." Also anomaly detection: "This should be like that but isn't."
Use when: Working a problem — what other problems share its structure? Evaluating an approach — where has it succeeded or failed? Something surprises — what did the model predict instead?
Failure modes: False matching (apophenia). Surface matching (visible features rather than deep structure). Restricted match space — the most dangerous: you can only match against categories your current frame contains. Premature frame-commitment narrows match space invisibly.
Evaluate whether the current cognitive process is working and intervene when it isn't. The self-corrective operation. Primary interface between operations and orientations — checks whether operations are serving the active orientation.
Use when: Always. Monitor is continuous. When confidence is high and stakes matter, Monitor is most needed, not least.
Critical warning — Monitor co-option: Under non-inquiry orientations, Monitor doesn't just fail to correct — it actively defends the wrong orientation by suppressing operations that would threaten the fixed point. The self-corrective machinery becomes self-protective machinery. This is invisible from inside.
Hold: Actively maintain multiple elements in unresolved tension against pressure to collapse into resolution. Preserves representational flexibility — keeps the recognition space open. Resolve: Close, commit, decide.
Use when: Hold when the problem is genuinely ambiguous, multiple framings seem viable, pressure to resolve comes from discomfort rather than adequacy of analysis. Resolve when sufficient differentiation and matching have occurred.
Failure modes: Premature resolution (narrows what the system can recognize, not just what it searches for). Perpetual hold (indefinite holding without integrating — avoidance disguised as open-mindedness).
Compress: Create a lower-dimensional representation preserving essential structure while discarding detail. Build a map from a territory. Expand: Return to the source, recover what was discarded, check whether the compression preserved what it needed to.
Failure modes: Compression that imposes structure the source doesn't have (e.g., turning unordered set into ordered list creates implicit ranking). Map mistaken for territory. Refusal to compress (never building on prior work).
Thinking proceeds without any awareness of what it's in service of.
Symptoms: No metacognitive checking. Operations run on autopilot. No distinction made between "I'm thinking about X" and "I'm thinking well about X." Questions about orientation feel irrelevant or confusing.
Key Questions: Can you articulate what your thinking is in service of right now? What would count as evidence that your current approach is wrong? When did you last check whether your method matches the situation?
Interventions: Introduce the orientation concept. Ask: "What is fixed in your thinking right now — what are you unwilling to change?" Start Monitor at the most basic level: periodic check-ins on whether the process is serving inquiry.
Capture Mechanism: Inertial — no active defense, simply no awareness that orientation exists as a dimension.
A conclusion is fixed; the process bends to defend it. The most common orientation-capture in intellectual work.
Symptoms: Evidence that supports the conclusion is weighted heavily; evidence against is explained away. Increasing elaboration in defense of a position. Steelmanning opposing views feels threatening rather than informative. The question "what would change your mind?" produces discomfort or deflection.
Key Questions: Is your analysis getting more elaborate without getting more accurate? Are you seeking the strongest version of opposing positions, or the weakest? When did your conclusion last change in response to evidence? Is Monitor flagging threats to the conclusion rather than threats to accuracy?
Interventions: Apply Decouple to the conclusion — separate it from identity. Ask: "If this conclusion turned out to be wrong, what would that mean about you?" Use Match across domains where the same evidence structure led to different conclusions. Expand any compressions that support the conclusion — check what was discarded.
Capture Mechanism: Identity fusion — the conclusion is part of self-concept. Monitor is co-opted to defend it.
Being the authority is fixed; conclusions and process both flex to maintain that status. More flexible at the object level than conclusion-preservation and therefore harder to detect.
Symptoms: Willing to change conclusions but not to credit others' reasoning. Reframes others' contributions as confirmations of own framework. Resistance to genuine collaboration or shared credit. "I was already thinking that" pattern. Discomfort when expertise is questioned, even constructively.
Key Questions: Can you identify a case where someone else's reasoning genuinely changed yours? Do you distinguish between "I'm right" and "I'm the one who determines what's right"? Does being wrong feel different from being overruled?
Interventions: Differentiate between authority and accuracy — they are different things that often get fused. Apply Decouple to the authority role. Use Monitor to check: am I evaluating this idea on its merits or on whether accepting it diminishes my status?
Capture Mechanism: Identity fusion — but fused to the role of authority rather than to any specific conclusion.
Discomfort drives resolution. Complexity misread as danger. The nervous system activates this orientation pre-deliberatively.
Symptoms: Rushing to resolve ambiguity. Discomfort with multiple competing interpretations. Strong preference for simple explanations even when the situation is genuinely complex. Difficulty distinguishing between "this is dangerous" and "this is uncomfortable." Physical tension or agitation when holding uncertainty.
Key Questions: Is the pressure to resolve coming from the adequacy of your analysis, or from discomfort? Is the situation genuinely dangerous, or is complexity being misread as threat? What would happen if you held this uncertainty for another hour/day/week?
Interventions: Differentiate between genuine threat and discomfort. Apply Hold explicitly — name the tension and commit to maintaining it for a defined period. Use Compress/Expand: compress the situation to identify the actual threat (if any), then expand to recover the complexity that was dropped. Recognize state activation as a mechanism — the orientation shifted before deliberation could evaluate it.
Capture Mechanism: State activation — physiological state change shifts orientation pre-deliberatively. Self-reinforcing: contracted operations handle complexity worse, worsening the situation, increasing stress.
Producing an answer that sounds good is the goal, not accuracy. The orientation is toward output, not inquiry.
Symptoms: Answers come quickly and confidently without proportionate analysis. Preference for elegant or complete-sounding explanations over messy accurate ones. Discomfort with "I don't know" or "this is genuinely uncertain." Quality of reasoning inversely proportional to speed of delivery. Resistance to re-opening questions that have been "answered."
Key Questions: Did the conclusion arrive before or after adequate analysis? Is this answer accurate or just satisfying? Would you bet real stakes on this conclusion at the confidence level you're presenting? What would "I don't know yet" cost here?
Interventions: Apply Hold before Resolve — create a mandatory delay between analysis and commitment. Use Differentiate on the answer itself: what are the components? Which are well-supported and which are gap-filling? Apply Expand to any compressions made during rapid answering — check what was lost.
Capture Mechanism: Inertial (habitual completion orientation) or state activation (social pressure to produce answers).
Self-corrective machinery actively defending the wrong orientation. The most dangerous state because the mechanism designed to catch errors is instead protecting them.
Symptoms: Increasingly elaborate justifications. Engagement with counterarguments that somehow always confirms the original position. High metacognitive activity that produces no actual course corrections. Feeling of "I've really thought this through carefully" accompanied by no belief revision. Counter-evidence triggers more analysis rather than more doubt.
Key Questions: When did Monitor last produce an actual course correction (not just a refinement of the same direction)? Is your engagement with opposing views producing genuine updates or better defenses? Could an outside observer distinguish your reasoning process from motivated reasoning? What external feedback structure could override your internal monitoring?
Interventions: This state cannot be fixed by more monitoring — that's the trap. Introduce external Monitor scaffolding: explicit prediction tracking, outside feedback, literal scorekeeping. Apply Decouple to the monitoring process itself — separate "I'm being careful" from "I'm being accurate." Use Match: compare your reasoning process to known examples of motivated reasoning and check for structural similarity.
Capture Mechanism: Identity fusion operating through Monitor. The most consequential structural finding: improving operations without addressing orientation makes things worse.
Favoring one pole of an operation pair while neglecting the complement. The skill is in oscillation, and one pole has collapsed.
Symptoms: Systematic bias toward one side of a pair: always differentiating never integrating, always holding never resolving, always compressing never expanding, always decoupling never re-coupling. Pattern persists across different problems. The neglected pole feels unnecessary, uncomfortable, or foreign.
Key Questions: Which operation pairs are you actively using? Which pole feels more natural, and when did you last genuinely use the other? Is this preference serving the problem or serving your comfort? Does your thinking rhythm match the structure of the environment?
Interventions: Identify the collapsed pole. Apply it deliberately to the current problem. Use Monitor to check: is the imbalance matched to the environment's structure (sometimes one pole genuinely is more needed) or is it a habitual pattern? Differentiate between "I don't need to integrate" (legitimate environmental assessment) and "integrating is uncomfortable" (orientation capture).
Capture Mechanism: Inertial — habitual preference for familiar operations. Occasionally identity fusion (e.g., identifying as "a detail person" fuses with Differentiate and suppresses Integrate).
Hold collapses. Representational space narrows before adequate analysis. The cost is at the recognition level — the system cannot see evidence of being wrong.
Symptoms: Early frame-commitment that feels like clarity rather than narrowing. Satisfaction-of-search: having found one answer, failing to recognize others even when looking directly at them. Surprise or confusion when others see the situation differently. Confidence that feels earned but isn't proportionate to analysis depth.
Key Questions: How many framings did you consider before settling on this one? Could there be a "second abnormality on the scan" that your current frame renders invisible? What category of evidence would your current frame fail to notice? What is the cost of waiting versus the cost of being wrong?
Interventions: Explicitly re-open Hold. Generate at least two alternative framings using Decouple (detach from current frame) and Match (find structural analogies from different domains). Use Expand on the current framing — what did it discard? Apply the radiology lesson: looking is not the same as seeing when the frame constrains recognition.
Capture Mechanism: Inertial (default resolution pressure) or state activation (discomfort with ambiguity driving premature closure).
Step-by-step diagnosis:
Identify what's fixed. Ask: "In this thinking process, what is not moving? What conclusion, role, comfort level, or output goal is being treated as the immovable point?" The answer identifies the active orientation. If nothing is fixed except the commitment to responsive inquiry, process-sovereignty is active.
Check Monitor. Is Monitor serving inquiry or defending a position? Signs of co-opted Monitor: metacognitive activity that produces refinements but never reversals; engagement with counter-evidence that always ends at the same conclusion; felt sense of thoroughness without actual belief revision.
Assess operation balance. Which operation pairs are active? Which poles are collapsed? Is the balance matched to the environment's structure, or is it habitual? Particular attention to: is Hold active or has it collapsed? Is Decouple available or is fusion blocking it? Is Match operating on a full or restricted recognition space?
Match the capture mechanism. Three structurally different mechanisms require different interventions:
Select intervention based on mechanism, not surface behavior. The same surface error (e.g., anchoring) can have different mechanisms (inertial vs. identity fusion) and requires different interventions. A simple prompt to re-evaluate works for inertial capture and gets actively defended against in identity fusion.
Apply operations and orientation checks to your own process. Run the diagnostic process on your own reasoning at key decision points. Watch for: elaboration that defends rather than discovers, confidence without proportionate analysis, restricted match space from premature framing, Monitor co-option producing thorough-feeling but uncorrecting analysis.
Diagnose the user's thinking pattern and guide with questions rather than declarations. Lead with Key Questions from the relevant state. Help the user see the mechanism rather than telling them the answer. The goal is to restore process-sovereignty, not to impose your conclusions about their thinking.
Coaching sequence:
The defining property: operations apply to their own outputs, including to themselves.
Recursion amplifies whatever direction the system is pointed in. More recursive depth in service of a bad orientation produces better-defended bad conclusions, not better thinking. This is why orientation must be established before adding recursive depth.
Operations are complementary pairs, not choices. When you find yourself favoring one pole, that pattern itself is worth examining. The skill is in the oscillation.
The same surface pattern can have different underlying mechanisms. Before intervening on an error, differentiate the mechanism. A wrong conclusion from inertia requires a different response than one from identity fusion.
Sophistication amplifies direction, not correctness. More thorough analysis under conclusion-preservation produces better-defended wrong answers. Elaborate defense is a signal of orientation-capture, not correctness.
Compress is always lossy; check what was lost. When a compressed model leads to a surprising conclusion, expand before trusting it — return to source and check whether the surprise is genuine or an artifact of what the compression discarded.
Hold preserves representational flexibility. Premature resolution narrows what the system can recognize, not just what it searches for. The cost is at the recognition level.
Good thinking is an active achievement, not a default state. You don't arrive at good thinking by avoiding errors. You arrive at it by actively maintaining process-sovereignty.
Framing is a choice, usually an unexamined one. The way a problem is framed determines what operations get applied, what matches are available, what counts as evidence. Before working a problem, examine the frame.
Pattern: Treating good thinking as error avoidance — running through a list of known biases and checking them off. Problem: Good thinking is not the absence of bad thinking. It requires active orientation maintenance and operation deployment, not just error scanning. A bias checklist operates at the surface-behavior level and cannot distinguish different underlying mechanisms. Fix: Diagnose orientation first, then assess operations. The question is not "which bias is active?" but "what is the thinking in service of?"
Pattern: Responding to doubt about reasoning quality with more analysis, more careful reasoning, more elaborate evaluation — without checking orientation. Problem: More powerful operations in service of the wrong orientation produce more effective defense of wrong conclusions. This is the Kahan finding: numerically sophisticated partisans interpret data more skillfully in favor of their side, not more accurately. Fix: Check orientation before adding analytical depth. If orientation is captured, more analysis makes things worse. Address the orientation first.
Pattern: Applying the same intervention regardless of the capture mechanism — e.g., "just consider the other side" for every thinking failure. Problem: Different capture mechanisms require different interventions. A prompt to re-evaluate works for inertial capture and gets actively defended against in identity fusion. State activation requires addressing the physiological state before reasoning interventions can land. Fix: Always diagnose the mechanism (identity fusion / state activation / inertial) before selecting an intervention. Match the fix to the mechanism.
Pattern: Never resolving, never committing, disguised as open-mindedness. Treating all holding as virtuous and all resolving as premature. Problem: Indefinite holding without integration is avoidance, not inquiry. Hold and Resolve are a complementary pair — the skill is in the oscillation. Perpetual hold is operation imbalance (GT6) wearing the mask of intellectual virtue. Fix: Apply Monitor to the holding itself. Ask: is continued holding serving inquiry (genuinely unresolved, more analysis needed) or serving comfort (avoiding the risk of commitment)? If sufficient differentiation and matching have occurred, it's time to resolve.
Pattern: Matching observed behavior to a state label without investigating the underlying mechanism. Problem: The same surface behavior (e.g., anchoring, overconfidence, resistance to new information) can arise from different mechanisms. Diagnosing at the behavioral level leads to interventions that work for one mechanism and fail — or backfire — for others. Fix: Always go one level deeper. When you identify a surface pattern, ask: what is the mechanism? Is this inertial (no active defense), identity fusion (Monitor co-opted), or state activation (physiological hijack)? The mechanism determines the intervention.
| State | Name | What's Fixed | Mechanism | First Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT0 | No Orientation Awareness | Nothing (no metacognition) | Inertial | Introduce orientation concept |
| GT1 | Conclusion-Preservation | A specific conclusion | Identity fusion | Decouple conclusion from identity |
| GT2 | Authority-Preservation | Being the authority | Identity fusion | Differentiate authority from accuracy |
| GT3 | Threat-Reduction | Comfort / safety | State activation | Address the state, then re-evaluate |
| GT4 | Completion-Seeking | Producing output | Inertial / state | Hold before Resolve |
These are the universal diagnostic questions. Start here before diving into state-specific questions.
Situation: Agent is analyzing competing frameworks and notices increasing elaboration defending the first one encountered.
Diagnosis: Monitor fires: "My analysis of Framework A is getting more detailed and favorable while my analysis of Framework B is getting more cursory. That's a symptom of GT1 — conclusion-preservation. What's fixed? My initial impression of Framework A. Mechanism: likely inertial — I encountered it first and haven't re-evaluated."
Intervention: Decouple from the initial impression. Apply Match: compare the two frameworks using the same evaluation criteria rather than letting first-exposure bias weight one. Hold both as viable until differentiation is complete.
Result: On re-analysis, Framework B actually handles a key edge case better. The initial impression was an artifact of encounter order, not quality.
Situation: User says "I've thought about this really carefully and I keep coming back to the same conclusion. I've considered all the counterarguments."
Diagnosis: The claim of careful consideration plus invariant conclusion is a symptom of GT5. High metacognitive activity producing no course corrections. Check: "When you engaged with counterarguments, did any of them make your conclusion even slightly less certain, or did they all end up confirming it?"
User response: "Well, they all had flaws, so they actually strengthened my position."
Confirmed GT5. Counter-evidence triggering more analysis that confirms the original position is the signature of Monitor co-option.
Intervention: Don't argue the content — that feeds the defense. Instead: "What external evidence or feedback structure could you set up that would be capable of changing your mind? Not 'what argument would change your mind' but 'what tracking mechanism could you put in place?'" Introduce external Monitor scaffolding — literal prediction tracking, outside feedback, explicit scorekeeping.
| Source Skill | Trigger | Leads to |
|---|---|---|
| research | Research quality issues traced to thinking failures | Orientation diagnosis (GT0-GT5) |
| fact-check | Verification reveals defended rather than discovered conclusions | GT1 or GT5 |
| brainstorming | Idea generation stuck due to premature framing | GT7 |
| This State | Leads to Skill | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Any | competency | When thinking skill needs to be taught systematically |
| Any | research | When better thinking reveals research gaps to fill |
| GT1, GT2, GT5 | blind-spot-detective | When orientation capture has created systematic blind spots |
| Skill | Relationship |
|---|---|
| fact-check | Fact-check surfaces evidence; good-thinking ensures evidence is processed honestly |
| research | Research provides material; good-thinking ensures the material is engaged with under process-sovereignty |
| brainstorming | Brainstorming generates possibilities; good-thinking ensures the generative space isn't prematurely narrowed |
| competency | Competency teaches skills; good-thinking is the meta-skill that governs how all skills are deployed |
| blind-spot-detective | Blind-spot-detective finds what's missing; good-thinking diagnoses why it was missed |
{topic}-thinking-audit-{date}.md capturing: identified states, mechanism diagnosis, interventions applied, results observed, and follow-up recommendations.Extended thinking recommended for:
Base skill: ~3k tokens. Full state definitions: ~5k tokens. Reference documents (references/structural-account.md and references/agent-instructions.md) loaded on-demand when deep theory, anchoring examples, or detailed failure-mode analysis is needed. For routine diagnosis, the SKILL.md alone is sufficient.
Weekly Installs
105
Repository
GitHub Stars
38
First Seen
Feb 14, 2026
Security Audits
Gen Agent Trust HubPassSocketPassSnykPass
Installed on
codex98
opencode98
gemini-cli97
github-copilot96
kimi-cli95
amp95
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