How to Master The Art of Questioning?

How many times have you thought about your ability to question? and do you realize the power of questioning? This is because our present is decided by the questions that we asked ourselves in the past and our future is purely dependent on our present questioning abilities. Yet, there is no course or topic or concept in our traditional education and almost none of us are trained to ask better questions. The problem with the current generation is that, we are very poor at identifying the problem itself. When we are poor at identifying the problem, how can we be sure that we acquire the ability to answer with our regular way of life work, things, people & situations around us? The ability to frame better questions only possible when we are exposed to great intellectuals and knowledgeable people across the world by trying to understand and analyze the way they think and do things.

Did you ever think of the phenomenon of questioning? How it works? What happens when we question? What it means when we can question and don’t. I am so fascinated by this activity, as my life started getting better when I got better at asking better questions. This is because when we ask better questions, we will have better information with which we can make better decisions and act accordingly. According to me this is one of the fundamental questions that at least every educated individual should ask himself or others. Questioning is a very general phenomenon for every one of us. This is a very fundamental activity that anyone has used to acquire information or knowledge. The concept of questioning is very deep and it becomes even more profound depending on depth of the question we ask ourselves or others.

As the famous management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. If you can’t understand and measure the ability of your in-built questioning framework we will not be able to come up with something significant in life. An Inbuilt questioning framework is something that everyone will build based on their social conditioning and the situations around them. Our goals and achievements will actually depend on these inbuilt questioning frameworks as we are social creatures and social learners, most of the questions that we ask every day are so simple and so repetitive. However, very few people can make their inbuilt questioning framework more stronger and powerful by think of new things and explore new areas of knowledge.

The Importance of “Questioning“
The reason why we question can be many things: curiosity to learn, to gather information, to be able to make decisions, thinking about what others say or do, self-criticism or helping others in need. All of these reasons are related to our brains and how they react to certain situations. The whole theory of questioning is not new. There have been many scientists who have done a lot of research in this area. However, they all have concluded that there is still a lot more to learn when it comes to the area of questioning. Leonardo Da Vinci said ‘If we knew all the answers, there wouldn’t be any questions. There is another famous quote by Richard Feynman “I would rather have a questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned“. One more from an unknown source is that “Knowledge is having the Right answers but Intelligence is asking the right Question“.

Why should we know what happens in our brain when we question?

When we know what happens with something, we can use it to our advantage to increase or decrease the intensity or the frequency of the action based on what outcome we are expecting. The reason we need to have a basic understanding of what happens in our brain is that we can have control over it. Coming this aspect of questioning, basically when we learn something new a neural pathway is created in our brains, by asking more questions about any concept or a topic we are revisiting the information that is already stored in our brain and we are using that information as a basis to build to gather more information which in turn creates a new neural path in our brain. These are very important actions, as whenever we revisit the existing information stored in our brain those fresh neural pathways become stronger and stronger based on your regular refresh of the information or usage of information. So, understanding what happens to our brain when we question something will convince us to put more conscious effort into the activity of questioning and learning making us a better learner and decision maker.

What happens in our brains when we are questioning?
Scientists have found out that the part of our brain called ‘temporal lobes’ plays an important role when we are questioning. They have also found out that there is a part of our brain called the Hippocampus which gets activated whenever we are in the process of questioning. They were about to find this fact with the same phenomenon called questioning. It is amazing how our brains function and direct our actions in day-to-day life.

Our whole lives rely on the Hippocampus, and it’s only about the size of a penny. So, back to our brains, the part of the brain called the temporal lobe which is an integral part of the limbic system plays a key role in emotion regulation and shapes the language that we can use when we are questioning. Another part of the brain called the hippocampus’ is responsible for us to remember what we have already learned. These two parts of our brains can be activated separately or at the same time depending on what kind of question we ask ourselves or others. In addition, it depends on how important is the information that we are asking. The more important the information that we are asking for, the more we will activate our Hippocampus. It means, that if we are asking a question related to something that holds very little importance and is not very much related to what we do daily, our brain will be busy with it and won’t be able to activate the temporal lobe and thus we would not be able to remember it properly.

What are the types of Questions?

During learning about the “questioning” and “types of questioning”, I found multiple types of questions one can get exposed to like a simple yes/no question, multiple choice questions, special questions with words and other resources suggesting time type of question in a different type of classification like few other types like Closed questions, Open questions, Probing questions, Leading questions, Loaded questions, Funnel questions, Recall and process questions, Rhetorical questions. There are also a few resources that have classified types of questions in a simpler format like Open-minded questions and closed-minded questions. These forms of classifications will be more useful for academic & professional purposes. However, they will be too complex for any individual to learn remember the types of questions from a question and repeat the practice.

It really had to classify questions and we can relate different types of classification to another type of classification. However, I propose a different way of classification which can give a better perspective of how these questions will help in building our future. As per me, we can classify questions as below

Types of Questions

1) Questions out of Ignorance:

These are the types of questions that children, and sometimes even adults, ask. These questions help in building the thought process based on the answers received. Often, we don’t know what we don’t know, so these questions arise out of ignorance rather than curiosity. Typically, these questions can be answered vaguely, and the questioner will be satisfied with whatever answer is provided. This is common with children; when they ask a question, an adult can give any response they want—right, wrong, or even “I don’t know.” Most of the time, there are no follow-up questions to these kinds of queries.

2) Questions out of Curiosity:

These questions differ from those born out of ignorance. They are deeper and lean more toward the inquisitive nature of the questioner. The person asking wants to understand how things work and is more insistent on obtaining the right answers. For example, if a child asks, “What is time?” the response might be, “It’s what a watch shows us” or “It’s a way to keep track of day-to-day activities.” If the child is not curious, any answer would suffice. But if the child is curious, there will likely be follow-up questions digging deeper into the concept.

3) Questions out of Awareness:

Questions out of awareness stem from a higher level of understanding or knowledge about a particular subject. These questions are usually asked by someone who has a grasp of the topic and is seeking to expand or clarify their understanding. The person is not merely curious but is aware of certain details and wants to connect the dots. For example, someone aware of environmental issues might ask, “How does deforestation impact local ecosystems?” This question reflects an understanding of both deforestation and ecosystems and seeks to explore the relationship between them. These questions often lead to more profound discussions and can open up new perspectives on a subject.

4) Questions that Impact Our Future:

These are the questions we ask ourselves or others that directly affect our decisions, goals, and overall future. These questions are crucial because they guide our actions and help us plan for what lies ahead. For instance, asking, “What career path should I choose?” or “How can I improve my skills for the future?” can significantly shape the direction of our lives. These questions require thoughtful consideration and often involve evaluating our current situation, aspirations, and the potential outcomes of our choices. The answers to these questions can have long-term effects on our personal and professional development.

5) Questions that Impact Others’ Future:

These questions are asked with the awareness that the answers will not only affect the person asking but will also have significant consequences for others. For example, a leader might ask, “How will this decision impact my team?” or a parent might wonder, “What values should I teach my children?” These questions are powerful because they acknowledge the responsibility we have toward others and the broader impact of our decisions. The answers to these questions can influence the lives of those around us, shaping their future as well as our own. Being mindful of the impact of these questions is essential in making ethical and thoughtful choices that contribute positively to the well-being of others.

Practice questions every day and ask yourself how big questions you can ask yourself, and how do I become to be able to solve those problems. Join Upskillshare.com to be able to develop your thinking and creative abilities to as better questions and eventually find answer to them. Read How to find problems like a genius? to learn more.