Thinking Well &amp; Why – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram

Lee Fields:

Web: enneagrammatic.com

IG: @enneagrammatic

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

IG: @_creekmore

Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast

Pod: Delusional Optimism

Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram

Mentioned in this episode:

Awareness to Action Podcast Network

Podcast Network

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Confirmation Bias - Why You Keep Finding What You Already Believe

Saison 1 · Épisode 9

vendredi 2 octobre 2026 • Durée 49:43

You're not being thoughtful when confirmation bias hits—you're being filtered. Mario, Creek, and Lee trace why the brain locks onto information that confirms what you already believe, how this wrecks your ability to see the same data differently than someone who disagrees with you, and why intellectual self-defense isn't about winning arguments. It's about surviving dinner without losing your family.

Confirmation bias doesn't feel like bias; it feels like paying attention. Mario, Creek, and Lee map the progression: motivated reasoning (we reason toward what we want to believe), cognitive dissonance (the stress when evidence threatens our beliefs), and confirmation bias (the mechanism that resolves that stress by filtering what comes in). The brain is wired for pattern recognition—an evolutionary survival tool—but that same wiring misfires in complex modern information environments. The conversation moves from individual pattern-seeking to tribal information ecosystems: how we reinforce group-think by choosing preferred news sources, social media feeds, and communities that reflect back what we already believe. Three operational points surface: what we actively search for, how we interpret incoming information, and what we store away. A critical tension: in an age of information overflow, misinformation, propaganda, and artificial noise, how do people distinguish signal from truth without burning out? The hosts pivot toward intellectual self-defense not as argumentation or combat, but as a capacity for compassion—understanding how someone arrived at a conclusion you disagree with, and being able to function in society without assuming everyone is a threat. A mother choosing kindness in the grocery store faces a different cost-benefit analysis than a consultant advising business leaders.

Chapters

00:00 Peter Wasson and the Confirmation Machine

03:00 Motivated Reasoning, Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias—The Progression

05:32 Why Your Brain Hunts for Deer Tracks

13:10 Tribal Information Ecosystems and Group Think

27:20 Three Ways Confirmation Bias Operates

36:43 From Self-Defense to Compassion—The Martial Arts Progression

Resources mentioned in this episodeRelated resources

Why You Can't See Your Own Cognitive Dissonance

Épisode 8

vendredi 18 septembre 2026 • Durée 51:45

In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek examine cognitive dissonance and why the brain filters out uncomfortable truths. The brain protects your self-image by filtering it out and the hosts show how this breaks Enneagram work through mistyping, over-identification and using type as cover story instead of clarity. They discuss how they personally handle being wrong without the ego collapsing. Dissonance itself is neutral. Growth depends on whether you rationalize, investigate, or actually sit with it.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
The Prisoners of Hate by Aaron Beck
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Six Degrees of Separation

Connect with us:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

How We Lie to Ourselves (And Why It Works)

Épisode 7

vendredi 4 septembre 2026 • Durée 42:37

In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek examine motivated reasoning — the tendency to argue toward what we already believe rather than toward truth – by examining Robert Trivers' evolutionary biology of self-deception, Harry Frankfurt's “On Bullshit,” and why tribal loyalty makes us all motivated reasoners. They discuss how this shows up in Enneagram work. People hold type identifications for years, then resist changing their mind because admitting error threatens their identity. The answer isn't eliminating self-deception. It’s recognizing when it causes friction, seeking outside feedback, and practicing intellectual humility.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life by Robert Trivers
On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
How to Think Well, and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking by Mario Sikora

Connect with us:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

When You Confuse Your Tools With Your Task

Saison 1 · Épisode 6

vendredi 21 août 2026 • Durée 58:44

Most people own every tool in the box but reach for the same one every time. Mario, Creek, and Lee examine why confusing subjective experience with objective fact—especially in Enneagram spaces—undermines credibility and clear thinking. Match the right epistemic tool to the right question.

Mario, Lee, and Creek start with Gary Klein's work on expert intuition in high-risk environments—firefighters, jet pilots—to separate mature intuition from guessing. They map epistemic categories: objective facts (true whether you believe them or not) versus subjective experience (valid for you, not universally). The reliability hierarchy runs from mathematics and logic at the top, through empiricism and observation, down to myth and tradition. Why do social sciences shift faster than physics? Because people and culture move faster than natural laws. The real problem: when Enneagram teachers deploy pseudoscience or treat metaphor as fact to legitimize the system, they wreck the model's credibility. Mario calls out revisionist history, sloppy claims about the Enneagram's origins, and using "other ways of knowing" to dodge rigorous evidence. The practical move: identify what kind of question you're actually facing (fact-based or emotion-based), separate opinion from fact claim, and learn to read your gut feeling without mistaking it for proof.

Chapters

00:00 Gary Klein on Expert Intuition

03:05 Objective Facts vs. Subjective Experience

09:58 Mathematics, Science, and Reliability

22:32 Logic, Empiricism, and Other Objective Tools

30:58 How Enneagram Spaces Privilege Feeling Over Thought

50:17 How to Match Your Tools to Your Question

Resources mentioned in this episode

Sources of Power — Gary Klein — Klein's landmark study of intuition and expertise in high-risk environments (firefighters, jet pilots), contrasting naive and mature expert intuition.
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman — Cited in discussion of Klein and Kahneman's dialogue on intuition, reasoning, and cognitive biases; relevant to understanding mature versus immature intuition.

Ways of Knowing

Saison 1 · Épisode 5

vendredi 7 août 2026 • Durée 38:23

In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek talk about other ways to make a decision and when to use each tool. They examine why you need logic for some questions and feelings for others—and what happens when you mix them up.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio
How to Think Well, and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking by Mario Sikora
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Alabama by John Coltrane
The Trolley Problem by Philippa Foot & Judith Thomson

Connect with us:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora