THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 10

What can an electric fan in a trial jury room teach us about the difference between sound and unsound thinking?

Subject:  False Assumptions - The Jury Room Fan

Event:  The film “Twelve Angry Men” released, 1957

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in. -Alan Alda

There’s an old story about a father who taught his son a costly lesson about making false assumptions.  The father and son were in a restaurant.  As they finished their meal, the father waded up his napkin and proposed a bet:  “Ten dollars says I can get this napkin into that trash can.”  Eying the trash can, 

which was over forty feet away, the son doubted his father’s ability to make the shot, so he took the bet.  The father then stood up, walked across the room, and dropped the napkin into the trash can.

Another place to find lessons about the potential dangers of making false assumptions is the film Twelve Angry Men, which was released on this day in 1957.  All but a few minutes of the film take place in a hot, stuffy jury room where the 12 jurors deliberate the murder case of a young man charged with killing his father.

As the jurors begin their deliberations, they take a vote to determine where they stand as a group.  Eleven jurors vote guilty, and one man, an architect played by Henry Fonda, votes not guilty.  Frustrated with the lone holdout, the jurors ask the architect to explain his not guilty vote.  He explains that he’s not entirely sure whether the young man is guilty or not, but he’s not willing to vote guilty and seal the boy’s fate without taking some time to talk about the case and review the evidence.

It happens to be one of the hottest days of the year, and as the men begin to argue about the case, the temperature in the room rises both literally and 

figuratively.  One of the jurors is sitting near a wall fan; he attempts to turn it on, but when he flips the switch, nothing happens.  He and everyone else in the room assume the fan is broken.  

As the deliberations continue, a few men change their votes to not guilty but progress is slow.  As evening approaches, the jury room darkens, and one of the 

men turns on the lights.  Fanning himself with a newspaper to stay cool, the juror sitting next to the fan decides to attempt to get the “broken fan” working.  Flipping the on-switch, the fan whirls into action.  At that point, the jurors realize their error.  They had assumed the fan was broken when it wasn’t; instead, the power supply to the fan was cut off when the lights to the jury room were off.  If they had spent just a little time questioning their assumptions, the jurors might have got the fan working much sooner.

The fan is a powerful symbol of the kind of poor thinking that led eleven of the jurors to register their initial guilty vote.  During the trial, as they listened to the testimony of two supposed eyewitnesses in the case, the jurors assumed that the testimony was accurate.  Later, however, they realized that their assumptions were wrong.  Forced to scrutinize the testimony and the evidence further because of the architect's insistence, all twelve jurors realized that questioning their assumptions led them to reasonable doubt.  For example, one eyewitness whose bedroom was across the street claimed that she saw the boy murder his father as she looked through their apartment window.  The jurors initially believed this testimony, but as they discussed it further, they realized that when the woman gave her testimony in court, she had indent marks on her nose that revealed that she probably wore eyeglasses.  They also remember the fact the woman had said that she was in bed when she turned to look through the window to witness the murder.  By questioning the assumption that her testimony was accurate, the jurors realized that the woman, since she was in bed, probably would not have had time to put on her glasses.  While it is true that she honestly believed she saw the boy murder his father, the combination of the distance and her poor vision led them to question whether or not she could have truly identified the boy as the murderer.

Twelve Angry Men should be required viewing for anyone who might one day be on a jury.  More importantly, it is a film that should be viewed by anyone who wants to be a better thinker.  Initially, the eleven jurors who voted guilty resisted thinking anymore about the case:  it was a hot day, they were tired, and they didn't like being locked in a room with eleven strangers. The architect, however, 

forced their hand, and as they began to analyze and scrutinize the evidence, they found inconsistencies.  This kind of thinking is not easy.  It’s a lot easier to go with false assumptions and hasty generalizations than to do the hard, tiring work of critical thinking.  But as the film reveals, critical thinking is often worth the extra effort, and in some cases, it can even save a life.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How does the fan in the film “Twelve Angry Men” symbolize the importance of questioning assumptions?

Challenge - Thinking In and Outside the Jury Box:  Lateral thinking puzzles are an excellent way to train your brain to identify and challenge assumptions.  For example, try this one:  What are two things you can never have for breakfast?  The word “breakfast” triggers a whole menu of possible options, but the answer to this question lies in questioning the assumption that we are talking about specific foods.  Instead, the answer lies in the names we give to the meals we eat; the answer, therefore, is “lunch and dinner.”  Research some lateral thinking puzzles, and find one that you like.  Explain the answer and how its answer challenges the solver to question assumptions.