Au Contraire

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Demonstrate hindsight bias by eliciting rapid justifications for contradictory statements.

Use it when: Use during critical thinking, persuasion, or post-mortem review sessions to illustrate how readily people rationalize assumptions.

Skip it when: Skip when a group is experiencing active conflict or mistrust that makes playful provocations feel dismissive.

Group arrangement: Individual reflection followed by whole-room debrief

Timing: Source specifies 6 minutes (3 for activity, 3 for debrief); 8 minutes gives sufficient room for orderly card distribution and multiple shares.

Materials and tools

• One index card per person, each printed with one proverb from a chosen contradictory pair
• A countdown timer
• Scratch paper and pens for optional note-taking

Before participants arrive

1. Select one contradictory proverb pair from the participant materials.
2. Write or print each proverb onto cards so roughly half the group receives statement A and half receives statement B. For an odd participant count, prepare one extra card for either statement.

Say this to open

I am placing a card face down in front of each person. Please keep it turned over until I say begin. When the timer starts, read your statement and jot down reasons or real-life examples why it is an obvious truth.

How to run it

1. Distribute cards 1 minutes

   Hand one card face down to each person, balancing assignments across the room. Announce the task using the opening script and instruct everyone to keep their text private until told to flip.

2. Draft justifications 2 minutes

   Start a 2-minute timer. Participants silently write one or two real-world examples showing why their proverb represents plain common sense. Example: for 'Look before you leap', someone might cite reading a vendor contract carefully before signing.

3. Reveal opposing views 2 minutes

   Read Proverb A aloud. Invite two or three volunteers who held Proverb A to read their reasons. Next, read Proverb B aloud, reveal that the remaining participants received it, and ask two or three Proverb B holders for their defenses. Highlight the direct contradiction between both statements.

4. Debrief hindsight bias 3 minutes

   Guide a whole-room debrief using the debrief questions. Take two to three responses on how quickly the mind invents justifications, then close on situational validity.

Debrief questions

• Why was it so easy to defend the proverb on your card before you knew the other statement existed?
• How does this automatic defense mechanism distort how teams evaluate past decisions or failures?
• Under what exact business or life conditions is each statement actually correct?

Finished output: Personal observation of how quickly subjective claims feel like obvious truths, recorded in personal notes or recognized during whole-room debrief.

Remote

Distribute proverbs privately via direct message to individual participants before the clock starts. During the reveal, announce Proverb A, invite two volunteers to unmute or post defenses in chat, then share your screen displaying both contradictory statements together before inviting Proverb B defenders to respond.

Hybrid

Distribute digital cards via private direct messages to remote attendees while handing physical cards face down to in-person attendees. Project both proverb statements onto a shared room screen and video feed simultaneously during the reveal so neither subgroup has an information advantage.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may capture notes silently on scratch paper rather than speaking aloud.
• Volunteers may decline to speak without explanation when the room shares reasons.

If the session gets stuck

A participant peeks at a neighbor's card and notices the discrepancy early.

Remind the room to keep cards flat on the table and focus entirely on generating evidence for their own assigned line.

A participant argues aggressively that their proverb is objectively right and the opposite is nonsense.

Acknowledge their logic, then ask the room to describe a concrete situation where following the opposite proverb prevents an outright disaster.

Terms used here

• Hindsight bias: The tendency to view past events or presented statements as having been predictable or obviously true all along.
• Jolt: A brief experiential training exercise meant to provide an immediate cognitive insight through surprise.