Counterfactual Belief
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Counterfactual belief

Micro-Financing is a much lauded subject and movement for “have-not’s with quality financial atmosphere including access to savings and insurance”, but MIT studies and surveys found these institutions (which propagate and are dedicated for the cause) are not making impressing contributions towards per-capita income of the poor. Fact is, those who have done well after receiving micro-financing, would have done well anyway – they had entrepreneurial qualities already.

Harvard students are already brilliant when they are inducted into the premium B-School. Hence, Harvard may have very little to do in their success in life.

And back home, it is a biggest paradox Indian education system have a abysmally low quality of hard and soft skills and still we account for highly successful talents worldwide and in any field we name!

These show that the things would have happened even without the variables under scrutiny in all above cases. Micro-financing (for poverty alleviation), Harvard (for talent building) or Indian education system (for being successful in life) – all are inconsequential. This engrossing thinking pattern or Counterfactual-Thinking applies to a whole lot of topic. Surprisingly we tend to wear this counterfactual-thinking-cap more after failures for the actions-taken in the process or event rather than actions-not-taken.

While all above examples can be proven otherwise (not counterfactual), still I was thinking in this complicated and debatable line since I believe in certain extreme cases, these happen and some successes are only outcomes and no matter what process or institution wants to take the credit, the individual is actually the factor who let’s other bask in glory.

I was thinking it in context of one success news I was texted this morning.
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