Pros & Cons List (Ben Franklin Method)
Weigh a decision by listing its pros and cons, then compare the importance of each to find a balanced decision.
What is Pros & Cons List (Ben Franklin Method)?
The Pros & Cons list is a straightforward way to do a **reality check** on your choices. It externalizes your reasoning so you can examine it more objectively. By seeing all the positives and negatives laid out, you often realize which factors matter most to you. Sometimes a single pro can outweigh five cons, or vice versa – the exercise isn’t about sheer numbers, but about illuminating trade-offs and priorities. It also can reduce anxiety; a swirling mental debate becomes a concrete comparison you can actually address. The outcome is often greater confidence in your decision: you either see that one side clearly has more weight, or you discover a way to re-frame the decision (e.g., find alternatives or mitigating strategies for cons). Even if the decision remains hard, you’ll understand exactly why – which in itself is comforting.
This classic framework dates back to Benjamin Franklin, who called it “Moral Algebra.” You draw a line down the center of a page, label one column PROS (or Benefits) and the other CONS (Costs/downsides). Then you honestly brainstorm all the positive aspects or advantages of the decision on the left, and all the negative aspects or disadvantages on the right. The key is not just counting them but weighing them. Franklin would pair off pros and cons of roughly equal weight and strike them out, to see where the balance lies. In modern use, you might also assign a score (e.g. 1–5) to each pro and con based on importance. After laying everything out, you step back and consider which side outweighs the other, taking into account the relative significance of each point. This structured comparison helps counteract bias and emotion by getting all considerations on paper.
How It Works
What decision am I considering? (State the two sides, e.g., “Take the job offer in a new city vs. stay in my current city.”)
Helps with: Clarifying the choice to be made and defining the options.
What are all the possible benefits or advantages of Option A? (List each pro in concrete terms.)
Helps with: Articulating the positive factors for one option.
What are all the downsides or risks of Option A? (List each con specifically.)
Helps with: Laying out the negatives for that option.
Which factors on each side are most significant to me, and why? Would I weight some of these more heavily than others?
Helps with: Acknowledging that not all pros/cons are equal – identifying which ones really impact the decision.
If I compare the most important pro against the most important con, where does that leave me feeling?
Helps with: Imagining a head-to-head comparison of critical factors to gauge your leanings.
Am I tempted to ignore any items on the list because of bias or fear? (If so, those might need extra attention.)
Helps with: Ensuring you address hard truths – this keeps the process honest.
Considering the whole picture now, what does the balance suggest? Is there a way to mitigate the biggest con if I choose that option?
Helps with: Evaluating the overall outcome of the list and thinking creatively about reducing negatives of the preferred option.
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Download AppBest Used For
You have a significant decision or dilemma and feel torn or indecisive. It’s useful when your mind is ping-ponging between options, or when emotions and rational thoughts are entangled. It can be applied to personal decisions (like career moves, purchases, whether to say yes or no to commitments) or even evaluating arguments for both sides of an issue. If you suspect you might be biased toward one side, doing this exercise forces you to acknowledge the other side’s points too.
Not Recommended For
If your decision involves deeply personal values or emotions that can’t be quantified (e.g., matters of the heart, moral choices), a pros/cons list might oversimplify things. Also, when there are many alternatives (more than a yes/no choice), you may need a more complex decision matrix – a simple two-column list works best for binary or either/or decisions.
In Practice
"Benjamin Franklin famously described this method in a 1772 letter: he’d list all the reasons for and against a choice, *“estimate their respective weights,”* strike out reasons of equal weight on each side, and after a few days of reflection find *“where the balance lies”*. He used this to make tough decisions and believed it led to more rational outcomes."
"Historical figures have used similar decision grids – for instance, Charles Darwin in 1838 made a pros-and-cons list about marriage (pros: *“constant companion… better than a dog anyhow”*; cons: *“less money for books,”* *“terrible loss of time”*). This helped him think through that life choice logically. In modern times, psychologists note that writing down options *“brings you out of your mind and onto the page,”* giving clarity and easing decision fatigue."
Scientific Foundation
Benjamin Franklin (1772 letter)
Franklin outlined this pros-and-cons “moral algebra” process: list all reasons for and against, *“estimate their respective weights,”* strike off equally strong pros and cons, and after further reflection, *“come to a determination accordingly.”* He believed this systematic approach revealed *“where the balance lies.”*
BetterUp (Cooks-Campbell, 2023)
Explains that writing a pros and cons list is *“one of the most effective ways to make an informed decision”*, because *“bringing you out of your mind and onto the page”* reduces overwhelm and helps you see the trade-offs clearly. It notes this method objectively organizes benefits vs. consequences, easing decision fatigue.
Annie Duke (2023)
Cautions that while pros-and-cons lists are useful, be mindful of bias. Duke calls a basic pros/cons list a *“bias amplifier,”* since people can unconsciously stack it to favor what they already want. To combat this, she suggests adding a clear *“What would make me change my mind?”* criterion. (In other words, use pros/cons as a guide, not a mathematical rule.)
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