In mind reading, your automatic thoughts assume the worst about what other people think about you and your work. It is often combined with other cognitive distortions. We may use a mental filter to exclude other people's positive reactions to us and then read a whole set of negative reactions into what's left. Students often do this with teachers. Sadly, teachers sometimes do it with students, too.
Mind reading is one of the cognitive distortions that can directly affect your writing. If you assume that your readers already have their minds made up concerning the topic you are writing about, then your writing becomes a rather silly academic exercise, trivial and pointless. But that is exactly what many students do assume. One of the responses that I have heard most often from students "defending" their essays against criticism is this: "What's the difference whether I find better evidence/write more clearly/use more interesting examples? I'm not going to change anybody's mind." Interestingly enough, this claim is hardly ever based on any evidence about what readers really do think--such as asking them. It is a feat of mind reading. Not only is this automatic thought without any foundation in the real world, it is insulting to your readers. A reasonable person will be willing to change, or at least question, his or her beliefs if presented with persuasive evidence. The form of mind reading that tells us that our readers' opinions are set in concrete is telling us that our readers are fundamentally unreasonable.
Your readers have automatic thoughts, too. And their opinions on any question are subject to cognitive distortions, just like yours and mine are. One of your goals as a writer will be to break down your readers' automatic thoughts and get them to examine your claims reasonably. But the only way you can find out what your readers' automatic thoughts (or reasoned conclusions) are is to look at the evidence--ask them, or examine how they behave, or study the statements of popular spokesmen. You can't read their minds.
© 1996 John Tagg
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