BACKWARD INFERENCE

The principle of direct effect has a useful by-product-a technique that can help us identify motivators which we hadn’t previously recognized. It is especially good for identifying paranoid acts, and has general use. Once we discover that a particular attitude,, which we consider undesirable, has been entering as a motivation of our actions, and that we have been unwittingly increasing its strength, we can use the knowledge to stop ourselves from intensifying it further. The technique of backward inference can help us identify our own rationalizations in retrospect. If, for instance, we’ve told ourselves we did something out of kindness, when our real motive was either the feeling that we were undeserving or the fear of offending someone, we can use the technique of backward inference to discover the truth. If the main motive for our act had been kindness, the act would have intensified our warm feelings for our beneficiary.