This article is after reading Gary Marcus' "Weird Brain Science: Self-Control Techniques to Overcome Anxiety, Chaos, and Procrastination". It borrows 13 suggestions from the author and shares with you based on your own understanding.
Our bodies are far more sophisticated than machines, and brain neurons are far more complex than any existing machine in the world, but we do not have the most accurate calculations and accurate storage as the simplest machine.
Our memory will deviate in the direction we want. For example, many suspects think that their mistakes are forgivable. We occasionally break a piece or forget a little thing we just put down, so we forget to bring the key, can't find the phone, or forget to lock the door.
This will not happen to the machine. As long as it is stored data, it will never change without modification. As long as it is a set program, it will definitely produce the same and consistent results as expected. Irrational thinking is the "culprit" that produces this situation, and it is also an important reason why we are different from machines.
German chemist Ernst Fischer once fell into this meditation: "As machines become more and more perfect and efficient, it becomes clear that the greatness of human beings lies in There are imperfections in them." A creature designed by an engineer may never understand love, never learn to appreciate art or understand poetry. From the perspective of animal rationality, it is better to spend time on creating and appreciating art than to collect nuts and prepare for the winter. From a human perspective, art is part of the joy of life.
Although we have advantages that machines or animals do not have, the irrational parts of our brains make us stubborn, paranoid, and have a series of bad factors such as cognitive biases, which hinder the development of our individuals and our entire human race. , So in any case, we should do better. Each of the 13 suggestions given by Gary Marcus is based on prudent empirical research. At the same time, they are also some good habits that we can learn, which may change all kinds of things in our lives. Unhappy.
1. As far as possible, consider whether there are other feasible options
"Walking all the way to black", "Don't hit the south wall, don't look back, don't die until the Yellow River," sometimes these behaviors cannot prove how firm we are, but only show that we are more impulsive. Even if we go to the end without hesitation, we may not be able to get the results we expect, and we will even get lost in the "underworld", hit the "South Wall" with bloodshed, and sink in the whirlpool of the "Yellow River". bottom.
It is a good thing for us to focus on one thing, but the bad thing is that we only focus on this thing. This is what we often say.
We need to pay more attention to other ideas and possibilities beyond what we are most concerned about. Before making the right choice, we often need to consider both the approach we will not take and the approach we ultimately choose.
It is possible that we still have to go this way in the end, but because we have considered other situations, we may find a flashlight from other situations, and this way will be clearer.
2. Redefine the problem
We are often misled by others in our lives.
In a word, different statements may have completely different effects, such as "we still have 10% of the problems unsolved" and "we have solved 90% of the problems", or "minus 20 for every 100" and "Hit 8-fold".
For one thing, from different angles, there will be different ideas. For example, "the death penalty is to punish all criminals who have committed serious faults" and "the death penalty is to warn those who may have committed serious faults."
So, when someone tells you a problem, see if you can change the angle and redefine the problem. From a different perspective, the world may be different.
3. Always remember: Correlation does not equal causation
One thing happens, another thing happens immediately, but there may be no causal relationship between the two things.
"Stupid Goose Pi Duni" is a picture book. Pi Duni initially believed that "He who has books and loves books has wisdom." So she brought the books she picked up every day and became more and more proud to give to the animals on the farm. It caused all kinds of troubles, and it was not until the end that a big mistake was made that she realized that although she carried and cherished the books every day, she could not be wise without reading the books.
Diving athletes have a perfect triangle figure. Diving athletes have a high correlation with triangle figures, but they will not be able to be called divers because they have a triangle figure. That requires hard training day after day. Got it.
Those successful people have a sport that they are good at. Successful people have a high correlation with sports, but they won't be called a successful person just because they are good at a certain sport.
It is easy for us to confuse correlation with causality, and ignoring the nature of a matter will also affect the final decision we make.
4. Don't forget to control the sample size
Any single event may be random, but the repeated occurrence of the same pattern is unlikely to be an accidental event. From a mathematical point of view, the larger the sample size, the more accurate the statistical results.
A new drug needs to go through a long period of clinical trials from research and development to market, and as many animals and humans as possible are tested for its effects. Without any kind of medicine that has an effect on one person, it is considered that this medicine is effective for everyone.
Therefore, any decision we make should not be influenced by the conclusions of a few people. There are 10 people around you who have made money by playing stocks. If you think that stocks will definitely make money, it is very likely that your family will go bankrupt.
If your classmates and colleagues are all college students, you think that our country’s college student ratio is already very high, that would be a big mistake. The proportion of college students in my country is 9.5%. Even if the scope is restricted to the range of 21 years old, the proportion of college students is only 28.2% (13% if excluding junior colleges).
Therefore, conclusions that are not based on a large number of samples are all hooliganism.
5. Anticipate your impulse and restrain in advance
I believe everyone has made impulsive consumption. For example, on Double Eleven, because of the various discounts, red envelopes, cash back and other offers, they bought a bunch of things that were useless or even used only once. When we are hungry, we usually buy high-calorie foods. In the process of losing weight, we have just finished a high-volume fitness exercise, and it is very likely that we will eat more than usual. These are all impulses.
We can think about the products we want to buy before seeing the discount; if we feel hungry, plan what we want for dinner, and then strictly follow the plan.
The closest to us are small video apps such as Douyin or Kuaishou. Each small video is within 1 minute. If it is not controlled, a few hours will be gone. We can set up a teenager lock. After one hour, a password will pop up to decrypt. At this time, turn off the vibrato. Do what you should do. Don't wait for the time to pass, and then sigh and regret that you haven't done anything.
6. Don't just set goals, make contingency plans
Only the goal cannot guarantee the effect of the goal, and it is necessary to formulate a rational plan at the moment of reason, and then it is possible to implement more rationally.
In many cases, it is almost impossible for people to achieve a vague goal, such as "I want to lose weight." People who yell this sentence to lose weight, they should eat, drink and drink after yelling. The setting is "I want to lose 1 catty." This kind of goal is clearer, and there is no guarantee that it will be achieved. We need to formulate more detailed and strict plans.
Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer's research shows that if you formulate detailed contingency plans for the goals you want to achieve, taking the form of "if X, then Y", you can greatly increase the probability of success. For weight loss, our plan is to walk away if you see French fries; if the staple food is more than half a bowl of rice, you have to run 1,000 meters; if you drink beer during dinner, you have to exercise HIIT for half an hour. . .
According to this suggestion, I have also found the reason why I have been failing to lose weight.
7. At any time, if you are tired or thinking about other things, try not to make important decisions as much as possible
Thinking when you are physically and mentally exhausted (or mentally depressed) is not much different from driving after being drunk. Because after exhaustion (or when mentally depressed), we rely more on our reflex system rather than a deliberate system.
Almost all large-value transactions are at the most fatigued time. Large-scale business negotiations use fatigue wars. Long-term negotiations. When it comes to the end, there will always be people who collapse, and whoever collapses will give in. Those who are able to conduct large-scale business negotiations have strong physique and firm will.
8. Make trade-offs and comparisons between benefits and costs at any time
This seems to be a truth that even children understand, but in fact it requires us to think carefully.
For example, when ordering takeout, you often encounter full discounts, full discounts and product pricing, which are all calculated and set by the merchant. After choosing the appropriate amount, you find that you can add another 8 yuan, and you can get an additional 7 yuan. , And one more salad. From a rational point of view, without this salad, you can still be full without having to spend an extra RMB. However, many people will spend an extra dollar for this salad. This can be regarded as the impulse mentioned earlier. Putting it in this article means that there is no balance between benefits and costs.
The prerequisite for making a reasonable judgment is obviously to weigh the pros and cons. However, unless we are more vigilant, our character and emotions will often become a stumbling block to rational judgment.
9. Imagine that your decision may be spot-checked
The old saying goes: "There are gods when you raise your head three feet." Sometimes, the decision we make is affected by irrational thinking because we are not responsible for the decision. Suppose, we often imagine that if someone looks at us, is this the decision we make?
According to research, if we need to explain our reasons to others, we will make decisions more impartially and objectively. That is, when we need to be responsible for decisions, we will invest more energy, conduct more thoughtful research, do more detailed investigations, and then make more responsible decisions.
10. Keep your distance
After writing this article, I suddenly discovered that many of the suggestions here are beneficial to reduce impulsive consumption.
When we were shopping, we saw that an item was on sale, and the discount was very attractive. We would imagine that in the future, we would use this item, and then we would spend more money on this item, so we bought it. , Then, the destination of this thing is either to eat ashes or to discard it.
Our brain's thinking mechanism for distance and near is almost established in a completely different way: near (for the brain) is a clear and concrete concept; while far, it is an abstract concept. It is not always possible to think about problems with abstract concepts to get better results, because we will set many assumptions about the future.
At any time, we should ask ourselves, how will the future I feel about this decision now? Recognize that our approach will be different now and in the future, and try to balance and make good use of both immediate and long-term thinking modes. In this way, we won't suffer from it because we base our choices completely on the basis of immediate thinking.
Studies have shown that irrational behavior will fade over time. The more complex the decision, the more time it takes to consider it. When we realize that we are impulsive, there is only one way: I will talk about it tomorrow.
11. Beware of vividness, personalization and anecdotes
Our brains will be attracted to things with vivid personality, which originated from our ancestors, sensitive to bright things, and can find ripe fruits faster. So this gene has continued to the present. We are more sensitive and trusting of a series of things that are not so lifeless, such as bright, vivid, and personalized.
The research done by Timothy Wilson on college students and condom brands came to a classic conclusion, that is, "do what I say, not what I do." In the experiment, the subjects obtained two sources of information: one came from the conclusion of Consumer Reports with sufficient data that it recommended condom A; the other came from an anecdote (it is said that it was written by another student). ), it recommends condom B, on the grounds that some people use condom A inadvertently ruptured during the process of "sucking", which made the person extremely anxious and worried that they might become pregnant. Almost all college students believe that the conclusions in Consumer Reports are more reliable in principle, and hope that their friends will not be influenced by that anecdote when choosing condoms. But when asked about their own choices, almost one-third (31%) of college students still believed in the vivid anecdote and chose Condom B.
In other words, the more attractive you are, the more you should be careful, such as advertising. The so-called bewitching is nothing more than that.
What we need to do is to overcome our vulnerability to vividness by paying special attention to objective and scientific things.
12. Select focus
When our brain makes complex decisions, it consumes a lot of energy, which is why we feel tired after making major decisions. Therefore, in order to reduce this consumption, save energy for more needed things.
The story of "Buridan's Ass": Although the donkey faced two piles of hay that were equally distant and equally attractive, he starved to death in the end. Obviously, which pile of hay to eat is not a complicated decision at all. Pick one pile at random and eat another pile after eating.
The small things follow the nature, the big things follow the heart.
13. Try to be as rational as possible
This suggestion basically serves as a warning and belongs to the spell system. One of the important reasons for admonishing yourself to be rational is that when you do this, you can automatically inspire yourself to use the various techniques that have been introduced in your life practice. It may not be enough to just tell yourself to be rational, but while doing so, you can see the effect in this regard when you use other techniques together.
If you want the complete "Weird Brain Science: Self-Control Techniques to Overcome Anxiety, Chaos, and Procrastination" and control your own brain, you can search the WeChat public account kanshanshuo, reply "Weirdness", and get an e-book.
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