#the deductionist

[halloawhatisthis]

[hellenlens]

Elementary 114 The Deductionist

She just accepted his choice of clothes for her.

[studies-in-the-art-of-deduction]

Deduction Tips #16

The size of a bag is indicative of how much a person needs to carry, and usually we prefer to carry less things. When you see someone with a bag (be it a backpack, a purse, or anything else) think about why this person needs a bigger one rather than a smaller one, and what that says about the contents of the bag and the situation of the person carrying it

[thescienceofdeductionn]

Stoic Perspective

This post will be some kind of addition to mindset, but also very important part. You might be wondering how it is related to deduction and Sherlock Holmes but even though we don't see Sherlock talking about Stoicism, he follows it in most cases. (Mixed with Cynicism which started around the time Diogenes lived.) So, let's see how Sherlock uses and how we can use it in our daily life.

Remember this episode? Season 1 Episode 3. Sherlock solves 5 cases in a row with some time constraints, stress factors, etc. In one scene, Watson asks, "There are lives at stake Sherlock! Actual human lives. Just so I know, do you care about that all?" and Sherlock answers with a brilliant answer: "Will caring about them help save them?" and Watson says "Nope." and then Sherlock says "Then I will continue not to make that mistake." Obviously, they show it like Sherlock doesn't care about anyone and is an egocentric narcissistic robot but that is certainly not the case. If you watch other adaptations(Granada, Elementary or even the books)Sherlock cares about other people, but not in a way normal people do. I am pointing out this scene because it shows us the attitude and mindset of Sherlock. Let's see how we can apply this in real life:

1-Caring without Emotions

"Emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning." -Sherlock Holmes

After watching Sherlock we shouldn't try to be like Sherlock, especially if we don't understand how he thinks. When he says, caring won't save them it doesn't mean he doesn't care. It just means it is not relevant and emotions won't help them in any way because it will cloud his thinking and deductions. So, what can you do in situations where stress is high and your emotions come to the surface?

1-Recognize them: Don't suppress or act like you don't have them. Just realize they are there and act accordingly. If you say "There is nothing wrong with me. I don't feel any emotions right now..." then you won't be aware of the affect they have on you.

2-Think Clearly: It is easy to say but hard to do. How can we think clearly? What does it mean? It means you have to use the relevant data and eliminate what is not. If you want to think clearly, you have to recognize your feelings, emotions etc. You have to be aware of them at every step so that when they are affecting your reasoning, you can overcome them and keep going.

3-Follow Your Logic

Sherlock doesn't call Moriarty after he solves the case because he wants to use time advantage. He wants to work on other cases and because of that, he doesn't call Moriarty. Watson is reacting with emotions and says this woman was covered with bombs all this time. Although Sherlock cares about the woman, he follows the logic. If he uses the time to his advantage, he can save more than one life but if he reacts with emotions, he will just save one. So, use your logic and act accordingly.

2-Perspective For Problems "External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now." -Marcus Aurelius

This can change a lot of things about how you see your problems. Let's say you have a lot of work to do and after a long day you are going home. When you arrive there, you realize your house is on fire? How would you react?

I believe, most of us would be full of emotions. Why did this happen to me? Why is life not fair? My life is over. What will I do now?

But if we just can change our perspective and practice it in our daily life we would have a very different and constructive response to the situation. Now, here is the perspective I am talking about:

Now think about the same scenario. You see that your house is on fire. You think "Can I do something about it?"->"Yes. I can call the fire department." or "No. It is too late. Everything is turned to ash." In both cases, you don't have to worry because it is already done. You can't travel back in time so you have to create your plans for the future. You can't waste time thinking about the past because it will limit your capacity to act on the future.

If you use this perspective in every situation, eventually it will become automatic and your emotional reactions will not be as strong as it is now. This way, you will be able to use your logic more easily and solve the problem you have.(Or you will stop worrying if you don't have a problem.) This is probably the fundamental perspective of Stoicism.

3-Expressing Emotions

I won't go deep into the Jungian Shadow or deep psychology of the emotions and suppressing etc but we have to be aware of this fact: The fact that if you don't express your emotions in some way, it will come out later bigger than it was.(Also, you won't be in control.)

If you watched Elementary, you know that almost in every episode Sherlock express his emotions to Watson.(Or to someone else. Which by the way is a more human adaptation of Sherlock.)He talks with her about what he feels and thinks about the situation because he can't deal with them alone. We can't deal with them alone too so we have to find some ways to express them. Here are some basic ones: 1-Talking to your Watson

If you have someone you are close to, then talk to them. Explain your feelings and emotions as clear as you can be.

2-Keeping a Journal

You won't always have an opportunity to talk with somebody so you need to talk with yourself clearly, which is what journaling does. You use words and getting things out of your head so you can analyze them more clearly. Just write and then read them aloud.

3-Physicality

If you like to work out, run, go to the gym or do any physical activity, do it. It is especially useful for anger and sadness. Try and find whatever works for you.

So, that is a general look at emotions and how to live with them. After you read this, you won't immediately detach from your emotions and act with your logic. This post is not enough, so you have to do your own reading. Some suggestions for reading: Meditations-Marcus Aurelius (Excellent example of journaling in a stoic way.) The Handbook-Epictetus Ryan Holiday's books(All relates to Stoicism)

And one last thing. Always remember these wise words:

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength." -Marcus Aurelius

[sleuth2k7]

Visualizing the Building Theory using BBC Sherlock

@amateur-deductions recently did a post on the Building Theory. In his words:

[The Building Theory] serves as a wonderful way to illustrate how much a deduction is a progressive process, with multiple little steps between observations and conclusions. It's also an amazing tool to analyze other people's deductions and break them down in a way that allows you to map out their trains of thought and learn from them

He provides an excellent explanation of how the theory works: basically, you think of the process of deducing as constructing a building, with observations and subsequent deductions representing bricks that are stacked on top of one another, building up to more complex deductions based on those original observations & deductions.

I’ve always liked this theory because it makes the process of deduction more tangible and visual, which helps me learn, and I know others like to use visuals to learn too.

I’ve mapped out deductions from BBC Sherlock before, so I thought sharing that here would help provide a visual supplement to @amateur-deductions​‘ work.

When Sherlock and John first meet, Sherlock asks: “Afghanistan or Iraq?”

You can watch the scene where he asks that here. And the scene where he explains how he got to that here.

While the show provides a decent verbal breakdown of how Sherlock got to that question, we can also visualize his process like this:

blue: observations // green: deductions made from observations // pink: deductions made from prior deductions & observations (level 1) // yellow: deductions made from prior deductions (level 2)

As you can see, Sherlock uses his initial observations about John to make deductions, and then uses those deductions to make additional deductions. All of this culminates in him asking John “Afghanistan or Iraq?”

Let’s break down this process a bit. We can think of this building as being made up of a bottom floor, and then two supporting sides that work together to build onto that bottom floor and also support the roof placed on top. 

First, the bottom floor:

When John enters the room, Sherlock looks up at him and makes four observations about him, which he uses to make two deductions.

1. stance + haircut = military

** Sherlock knows that these observations = military from knowledge he has about the appearance/behavior of people in the military.

2. looks around the room + says “bit different from my day” = medically trained at Bart’s Hospital

** Here Sherlock uses a combination of knowledge and logic. He knows that Bart’s Hospital is a well-known training hospital and if John is familiar with the lab that the pair are standing in (as opposed to a patient room), he must have been a student there.

Sherlock then takes those two deductions and combines them to create another: military + medically trained = army doctor. That deduction forms the base of the rest of the building.

Next, there are two supporting sides. Let’s call them the “limp” side and “tan” side, as those are the two observations that form the base of each.

First, the limp:

Sherlock begins with several observations: 

1. has a limp and uses a cane.

2. does not ask for a chair to sit in.

** Knowledge: Sherlock knows that people with limps may look for or ask for somewhere to sit.

From this, Sherlock deduces that John:

1. forgets he has the limp.

2. Why? Because the limp is psychosomatic.

** Knowledge: Sherlock knows about psychosomatic injuries.

3. Which means that trauma caused the limp.

Second, the tan:

Again, Sherlock begins with two observations, and each have their own subsequent deduction.

1. has a tan. = was recently in a sunny place.

** Knowledge: Sherlock knows that people get a tan from being in the sun, and that tans fade over time.

2. only has a tan on his hands and face. = was in a sunny place while wearing long sleeves, so he was not on vacation or sunbathing, but was on business.

** Knowledge: Sherlock knows that when people go on vacation to a sunny location, it is not typical to wear long sleeves or professional clothing but rather dress casual (shorts and a t-shirt, swimsuits, etc.).

Here is where Sherlock’s process culminates into the question. Relying on the deduction that John is an army doctor, and combining that deduction with these two new deductions (1) has a limp from trauma, and (2) was recently in a sunny place for business/work, Sherlock makes this final deduction: John is an army doctor who was recently in a war zone near the tropics. 

He cannot go further than this though, as there are a few locations that fit that description. So, Sherlock engages in order to get the information he needs: “Afghanistan or Iraq?”

~

I hope this provided a helpful visual example of the Building Theory - if anybody has any questions or wants me to go into more detail on any aspect of this example, please ask!

[amateur-deductions]

When it comes to the observation weeks in the training program. Could you elaborate on why we shouldn’t deduce then? Is it only about the time when we are doing the exercises?

Hello! great question, i gotta say i didn't write that program, but i did follow it, so i can only give you an answer based on my experience with it and with deduction as a whole. Unfortunately L isn't available to give you the original reason, but if i get in contact with them i'll make a post with their answer.

So, there's this quote from Sherlock which sums up the reasoning behind this very clearly:

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

During this stage of the program it is assumed you're coming into deduction as a complete beginner, and therefore that you haven't honed your observation skills yet. This means you'll inevitably be at a point where if you try to deduce you'll be doing so while missing a large amount of information, and fall into the trap of not knowing you're missing information and trying to work with what you have, which leads to often taking big leaps in reasoning to reach conclusions, because you don't have enough data to work with.

This is also why when i teach people i make sure they're at an acceptable level in their observation skills before i move onto other stuff. Later on in the process you learn how to make the most out of a situation where you have little to no information to deduce from. But that's a bit too complicated for a beginner, so it's important that they don't try to deduce until they have a solid grasp on what information they can gather

Aditionally, the training program, as incomplete as it may be, attempts to separate the process of learning deduction into manageable chunks. That program was written during a time where the community was much bigger and everyone attempting to find some way of learning this skill. Everyone was coming up with solutions to their problems and sharing them in the community, and that program is an attempt to solve the overwhelming feeling that comes with trying to learn a massive skill with multiple possible points of entry. It segments it into manageable, organized chunks for people to have a neat way of getting started with deduction, and one of those chunks is just observation, since it's complex enough of a base skill to have its own section

[deducter]

you haven't posted anything in a while, you ok?

I'm alright, just quite busy.

[parrotsplayground]

The presence of mind

In the span of 4, almost 5 months since I started deduction, I haven't seen anyone talk about the presence of mind (PoM).

PoM is important for a good detective in my opinion,

It separates you from all the NPC that do what they are programmed to do, a straight line.

A detective sees nuances in life, something out of place, something missing out.

And these are not something you look for, can't spend all day watching people, watching for clues.

Physically impossible,

Arguably a waste of time.

Presence of mind means you know what's normal, and your "spider sense" tingles when something is wrong.

That's when you start looking for clues.

Seemingly an effortless and effective.

The question now is how.

[studies-in-the-art-of-deduction]

I seem to have a bunch of followers who keep interacting with my posts with a blog that looks like this. Yes you do look like bots, yes i do cleanups of my followers list sometimes, to avoid being blocked follow this advice.

Also the reblogs thing is 100% accurate, please, if given the chance to reblog or like, do reblog it the algorithm is built around it, my post with the most reblogs is the one with most notes in general, so please reblogs on tumblr are the equivalent of likes on instagram or retweets on twitter

new to tumblr?

found yourself getting blocked for seemingly no reason?

does your profile look like this:

you're getting blocked because people think you're a bot

do yourself a favour and change your profile images to literally anything except the defaults. give your blog a name, give yourself a bio even if it simply says "new, figuring this out" or something. please, just do ANYTHING that shows everyone you're a human. then you wont get blocked anymore and you'll have a lot more fun here!

oh and while we're here, another hot tip: reblog things. likes do nothing here, there's no algorithm

okay happy tumblring tumblrinos, tumblrinas and tumblrinehs!

[thedixonsteele]

Wake Up: The First Step to Becoming a Mentalist is Noticing Everything

Most people drift through life in a haze, unconsciously ignoring the intricate details of the world around them. They live in a trance, their minds locked into routines, their senses dulled by the constant barrage of stimuli that modern life throws their way. It’s a passive existence, one where they are reactive rather than proactive, and much of life’s richness passes by unnoticed.

But for a mentalist, this passive approach to life simply won’t do. To be truly effective, the first and most critical step in becoming a mentalist is to notice everything. I mean everything—people’s gestures, the tone of their voice, the way they position their body, even the most minute shifts in their facial expressions. It’s all information, and as a mentalist, that information is your currency.

Most of us are trained from an early age to filter out the “noise” around us. We are told to focus on what is essential and disregard the rest. This approach may make sense in a classroom or corporate setting, but it blinds us to the subtleties of human behavior. The world is full of signals that we routinely ignore—signals that can give us insights into the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of the people around us. And these insights are the lifeblood of the mentalist.

Breaking the Trance: Awareness Is Key

Before you can start interpreting the world like a mentalist, you have to wake up. Most people live in what could be called a waking trance, going through their day-to-day lives without really seeing what’s in front of them. They���re on autopilot. This trance state is encouraged by society—after all, people who are easily distracted are easier to manage. Schools, workplaces, even social media, train us to be cogs in a machine rather than free-thinking individuals. The first step in becoming a mentalist is breaking out of this trance.

How do you do that? It’s deceptively simple: start by paying attention. Become aware of the present moment. Instead of walking through a crowded room while glued to your phone, look around. Watch how people move. Notice how they interact with one another. Observe their facial expressions, the way they hold themselves, the small, unconscious gestures they make when they think no one is looking. This is where you’ll find the gold.

Pay attention to patterns. Humans are creatures of habit, and much of our behavior is predictable if you know what to look for. When you start noticing these patterns, you’ll begin to understand how people’s minds work—not just on a superficial level, but deeply. You’ll see how their emotions drive their behavior, and how that behavior fits into the larger pattern of their life. This is how a mentalist gains an advantage—by observing the details that everyone else misses.

The Power of Observation

Observation isn’t just about seeing—it’s about processing what you see and making connections. The great mentalists of history didn’t have superhuman powers; they simply trained themselves to notice things that other people overlooked. Sherlock Holmes, though a fictional character, is often held up as the archetypal mentalist. He had no supernatural abilities—just an extraordinary capacity for observation. Holmes would walk into a room and instantly catalog every detail, from the dust on a mantelpiece to the scuff marks on a pair of shoes. These observations, when pieced together, allowed him to make deductions that seemed almost magical to those around him.

In real life, we can develop similar skills. The key is to train your mind to see more than just the surface. For example, when you look at someone, don’t just see a face—see their micro-expressions, the tiny muscle movements that reveal their true emotions, often for just a split second before they are hidden. Watch how their pupils dilate when they’re excited or contract when they’re uncomfortable. Notice how they stand—are they leaning forward, indicating interest, or pulling back, signaling discomfort or disinterest?

Body language speaks volumes. Most people are not consciously aware of the signals they’re sending, and this is to your advantage as a mentalist. Learn to read these signals, and you’ll be able to understand people on a level they don’t even understand themselves.

Active Listening: Hear What They Don’t Say

In addition to observing, the mentalist is also an expert in listening. But this is no ordinary listening—it’s active, focused, and analytical. Most people listen just enough to respond, but a mentalist listens to uncover deeper meaning. When someone speaks, there’s often a difference between what they say and what they mean. Your job as a mentalist is to hear both.

Listen to the pauses, the hesitations, the shifts in tone. Is their voice steady, or does it waver? Are they speaking quickly, perhaps trying to rush through a lie, or slowly, as if carefully choosing their words? Notice what they don’t say, too. Sometimes, the most important information is in the gaps—the things people avoid talking about or gloss over.

By listening with this kind of focus, you’ll start to pick up on the hidden layers in every conversation. You’ll hear the subtext, the unspoken truths, and the emotions that linger just beneath the surface. This is where you’ll find the information that most people miss.

Sharpening Your Intuition

As you practice noticing everything, something incredible happens: your intuition sharpens. You’ll start to develop a sense for what people are feeling or thinking, often before they say a word. This isn’t magic or psychic ability—it’s the result of countless small observations stacking up in your subconscious mind, giving you an almost instinctive understanding of what’s going on around you.

Mentalists rely on this heightened intuition to read situations and people with precision. They can walk into a room and, within moments, know who’s in charge, who’s nervous, who’s hiding something. This isn’t guesswork; it’s the culmination of years of practice in noticing, listening, and understanding human behavior.

Start Noticing Now

If you want to become an excellent mentalist, the first step is simple but powerful: notice everything. Start today. Break free from the waking trance that dulls your senses and numbs your awareness. Pay attention to the world around you—the people, their behaviors, their movements, and the patterns in their lives. Listen deeply. Observe carefully. Over time, you’ll find yourself seeing the world in a completely new way. And once you start seeing what others miss, you’ll be well on your way to mastering the art of mentalism.

[jesterleaforre]

me when something puzzles me about a sequence of events in a media so i think so hard about it that not only it makes sense but also i have 3 hours worth of bonus footage that only exists in my brain. thats usually when i write fanfiction

[preacherboyd]

Elementary | 1x14 The Deductionist

[studies-in-the-art-of-deduction]

Hi!!! How can deductions be used in day to day life, or like, usefully? And how have you made useful deductions? Sorry if that made little sense

Hi! I see you sent this question in the past two days, i'll gladly answer it, but in case you send any other questions in the future and i don't answer them as quickly i'll inform you that usually all the questions of the week are collected in my inbox and you'd get your answer on a Monday (this week i had some scheduling problems so i pushed it to Wednesday), so if you don't get as quick an answer next time just wait for Monday!

Now, regarding your question! There's many ways deduction can be used in daily life, sometimes it even depends on what you do for a living. For example i know psychologists and other healthcare profesionals have to rely on non verbal communication and information they gather from observation, along with what they're told, since patients can't be relied upon to be transparent and honest all the time, or even know what information is releant to share. In this case deduction can be massively useful.

On a more general note, it depends a lot on the type of relationships you have, i know people who use deduction to interact with their friends, it allows them to know when they're feeling upset or worried, and about what, and act accordingly, all without needing to do more than just glance at them. I know people who use deduction to navigate social situations because they're not good at interacting with people and having the extra information deduction provides helps. Personally i'm someone that introduces deduction into everything i do, from acquiring helpful knowledge when talking to superiors, to knowing what waiter is best to call over at my table cause they've gotten more hours of sleep.

I recommend you watch Sherlock, House M.D., The Mentalist, and all of these deduction heavy shows that sometimes showcase how these characters use their skills casually, it's really not much different than what you see there. If you want a blog that really goes into casual uses of dedduction i'd check out @froogboi 's blog, it's full of everyday life uses of deduction

[thescienceofdeductionn]

Observation 101

So, here we are. If you practiced your Mindset and Intuition, observation will be more useful for you. Obviously, in 1 post we can only discuss what is observation and how to observe better. In the future, we will go deeper and analyze scenes. For now, let's get started.

Some people think that observation is just looking around. But here is the difference: Looking around is passive, observation is active. There is something called "Passive Observation" but it is not the same as looking around.

Passive Observation: It is an automatic habit you develop. You don't actively look for details but you observe. For example, you shake someone's hand and later you can say it was a firm grip and he wore a watch even though you weren't paying attention. Obviously, details come with attention so you won't observe a lot passively.

Active Observation: You have a purpose and you channel your observation with this purpose. You want to observe as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. So, when you shake hands you don't just shake, you are trying to get a feel of his skin, you are looking for the brand of the watch etc. When you become active, more details are available to you.

Let's analyze this scene in a very superficial way. Sherlock listens to the victim's parents and while he turns his head, he notices something. He realizes that an object is not where it is supposed to be. It is just an instant intuition and passive observation. It appears he wasn't actively looking but still noticed it because he practiced observation for a long time and he can observe even when he doesn't give attention.

Obviously, we have a lot of examples of active observation so I won't go deep on that.(Basically, every scene where Sherlock makes a deduction is almost an active observation. Though, we will go deeper in the next posts.)We can't do anything about passive observation because it will come with practice. For now, let's focus on active observation.

How to Observe?

Even if you know what to look for, if you don't know how to look, it won't matter. (You will look for a watch on a man's wrist but miss the detail that it is a woman's watch. )

So, for the last 3 years, I did research about how to observe and still @amateur-deductions program is one of the best programs. 2 basic questions will increase your observation skills immensely. Those are: 1-What is missing? This question is important because like the example above(Sherlock notices what is missing, which is bust)you need to see what is not there but should be. Almost everyone buys dumbells as a pair. So, if you see a 5 kg dumbell on the ground, you should question where is the other one.(If there is another one.) If you ask yourself "What is missing?" you will see it easier.

2-What seems out of place?

You see a soldier but he is not shaved. Why? Maybe he left the military or he is lying. Whatever the case, there is something out of place and by asking "What seems out of place?" you will look for odd details. These 2 questions are not enough but very important for the foundation. In addition, never forget: “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” Never take anything for granted.

Your brain will trick you when there is an obvious fact like that:

Wrong: This person wears a watch. A lot of people wear a watch so it is not important. I don't have to observe it.

True: I wonder what can I observe about this watch? What time does it show?

What to look for?

The answer to that question is simple: Everything. You can't take the risk of missing any details so you have to observe everything. After you observe everything, your observations will draw you a path and you will go deeper into some of them. So, observe everything.

This is a long introduction but a necessary one. In the future, we will go deeper. So, if you have any questions about observation, send them. For now, that's all. See you later.

[sleuth2k7]

using all 5 senses in observing and deducing is a pretty well known tip I think

for one, sometimes there are sounds with a source we can't see, so we only know about them through sound

we also can't *see* how things taste or feel (though we can get a vague idea through sight)

a less obvious part of this is that multiple senses can be used at the same time - deducing is sometimes visualized as a step-by-step process where each step happens in succession, and that's mainly to help beginners learn - eventually, the thought process goes faster and can overlap *because* we overlap our senses in everyday life

for example, the other day i was walking through my neighborhood

i was focused on the sky, and to the right, not to the left - i was watching the sky for a few things, and then dragging my hand across the stone wall to the right, so that's already using multiple senses at once

im walking and i realize i smell honeysuckle, so i look around and realize to my left is a line of honeysuckle bushes

had I been looking All Around, I'd have seen the honeysuckle and not even needed to smell it (since I know what honeysuckle looks like), but my eyes were preoccupied elsewhere, and I'd have missed the bushes if I hadn't been able to smell them in place of seeing them

so, point here is yes sight is probably what you're focused on when deducing, but while you're looking around using your eyes, stay aware of any noises or tastes or textures that pop up in your periphery

[amateur-deductions]

Greetings @amateur-deductions

What are your Go-to advice for for those who start becoming a deductionist and just finished learning body language?

Appreciate Your reply

Bless you all and have a good day.

Hello! Sorry for the delay, i've been on a hiatus since Christmas.

So if you're coming from having learned body language already you have a bit of a head start compared to people that are starting fresh, since you probably have already learned to be more observant, to be constantly aware of things like body movements and facial expressions, and to intepret these things and process them as you take them in. I would say this means you can put a bit less time into the observation practices beginners usually have to go through, and you can dedicate more time to practicing reasoning and logical thinking

I would also say you have the option to approach deduction using your body language background. Something you start to realize as you get better at deduction is that everyone has cultivated different skills they use to extract information, some people use raw logic reasoning, some use extensive psychology knowledge, and some use extensive knowledge in body language and facial expressions, and there's nothing wrong with any of these methods, they're simply what you could understand as different "specialties".

So i would advice that you don't try to learn deduction as a separate discipline than body language, but rather use your body language knowledge, coupled with anything you learn in the field of deduction, to enhance your conclusions

This does come with a disclaimer though. Make sure that you're not leaning into your body language knowledge so much that you're avoiding doing the exercises and learning the methods that are core to deduction simply because body language provides an easier path, since you're well versed in that already