As a person with contrarian tendencies who has occasionally been accused of "implicitly believing" I'm the smartest guy in the room, I think it's important to recognize there's a difference between trusting your own reasoning and thinking you're smarter than everybody else. You can mostly avoid the latter by learning strategies that help you estimate the confidence level you should have in your beliefs. A couple of "am I wrong?" mnemonics I've learned to apply include:
- What kind of evidence are my ideas based on? Is it observation, hearsay, case studies, or something more substantial?
- How many silly/unrealistic counterexamples can I think of? Often these will contain hints of a more complicated, realistic objection.
- (if you have time to use the Web) Are there any professional researchers whose conclusion resembles my argument? What can I learn from/about them?
- Am I at risk of wishful thinking, availability/selection bias, or defending a position I previously implicitly committed to? If so, try to apply the same reasoning to a similar situation where the fallacy won't apply.