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Rules and exceptions
A surprisingly large portion of our behaviour is guided by rules (some made for us, others made by us) … but it is the exceptions that truly can help us understand others — and verify whether our own choices are quite up to scratch
Whether you are a native speaker or not, you will have noticed that English orthography is, well, idiosyncratic. You may have come across ghoti as an alternative way to render what sounds like ‘fish’, or maybe even seen ‘potato’ spelled as ghoughpteighbteau. Yet, surprisingly, English does have rules of orthography — a popular (yet frequently broken) rule of thumb is “i before e, except after c”. We write field and tier, but receive and ceiling. Perhaps even more surprising is that this model — pairing a general rule with an exception — is deeply ingrained in our own cognition. A shop may be closed on Mondays, except on Bank Holidays, or car parking may be restricted, except for vehicles displaying a permit. However, ubiquitous as rules and exceptions are, their use is not without pitfalls.
Rules rule our world…
Simple rules are invaluable as cognitive shortcuts which, based on scant information, predict what is likely to be the case, and indicate the best course…
