How do you think?

The sign of life in human beings, aside from breathing of course, is expressing an opinion.  From the moment of birth to the last breath, people have something to say, generally with words.  Semantically, the choice of words reflects the basis and strength of our positions.

Some judgments are more intuition or belief- based.  If someone senses or feels that another person is lying, the choice of verbs hints a lack of certainty and a hard-to-prove gut feeling.   If people believe that abortion is wrong, it infers a sense of values, based on deep ingrained values not subject to discussion. By contrast, if an individual considers you a fool, it may be possible to change his/her mind despite that belief.

Other statements are primary derived from logic. If you perceive that improvement is possible, you have seen something to persuade you so. Likewise, a person realizes that his/her behavior has to change on the basis of the consequences of not doing so. To understand that you are wrong requires some analysis.  On a less formal basis, many people reckon that it is time to leave based on the behavior of others and group expectations.  To recognize that screaming at a child is not generally useful requires is logical but unemotional but to admit that it only makes  the situation worse requires backtracking, verbal and emotional.  A person that confesses that s/he made an error admits a wrong judgment.

Some opinions are quite strong on whatever basis. If people are convinced that Hillary should be elected or jailed, they are not likely to change their minds. Even more so, if I know that Trump hasn't paid taxes (despite not having seen his tax returns), I won't vote for him. If a fan is confident that the Bengals (or Cowboys) are going to win the Super Bowl this year, nothing anybody else can say is persuasive, at least in the pre-season.  Vegetarians that insist that eating meat is wrong will not have a hamburger for lunch, regardless of the quality of the meat. Finally, angry teenagers that swear that they will never talk to their parents again really mean it at that moment.

 So, if you have an opinion and write what you think, try using a stronger word than think. I believe and even insist that you will sound more persuasive.