Humans are born early. Our heads are so big that we get thrust into the world before we are ready but soon enough not to kill the mother. That is why we are so helpless compared to other mammals who are up and moving within minutes.
The reason why we have been successful is because of this big head which holds a big brain. Chimpanzees, our closest living relative, have a brain one-third the size of ours, although their bodies are a similar size to ours.
Our brain is big and very hungry. It might be the most energy-hungry organ in the body, using around 20 % of our energy each day. To save energy, we have developed Heuristics. Mental shortcuts help us make decisions.
Heuristics help us in the short term to figure out complex things simply but they can create long-term issues by generating cognitive biases in our thinking processes.
Thinking too Quickly
Heuristics can be very helpful, but the challenge is when the assumptions around the outcome are incorrect and you apply that thought process to the next problem.
Picture playing Poker, you have a great hand, you think the other person is bluffing, they rub their nose, and you call their bluff. You get it right. You win the money.
A few hands later, they rub their nose again, and you think they are bluffing again, you go all in and push all your money into the middle. This time, however, they weren’t bluffing. You lose everything.
In an effort to oversimplify, you connected the touching of the nose with a bluff when it could have just been the opposing playing scratching their itchy nose.
Confirmation bias is one of the most common heuristics created. We believe we are smart and interesting and so we seek information to confirm our position rather than balancing all of the available evidence that we might not be as amazing as our mothers have told us.
Creating cause and effect where there are none will lead you astray.
Challenge Yourself
If our brains are inbuilt to create heuristics what are we to do?
Have strategies to help evaluate your thought process.
Get a friend to fight your idea. Have someone you trust and respect be critical of your thinking, not of your outcome, but of how you are getting to your outcome.
This can help reveal the blind spots in your thinking or show where you have assumptions when you thought you had facts.
Create “what if” scenarios. What if this was true, then what would you do? What if this thing was true and this constraint was added, what would you do then?
Your initial idea is automatic so play with the scenario in interesting ways to see if a new idea emerges that is better than your first one.
Test a few things. You can still try more than one thing. Have your initial idea, have a control group, and have another idea. Test to see how they work out.
Update your thinking. It is normal to have a heuristic response but you shouldn’t end there. Keep updating your thinking with new evidence and be open to the idea that you might have been less right than you thought.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 