[Neurons] 2019 Neurons #10 THINK SLOW TO THINK FAST

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2019 Neurons #10

March 4, 2019

 

THINK SLOW TO THINK FAST

 

I wrote about Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) in the last
Neurons as an excellent source for understanding the basic cognitive biases.
Kahneman in that book also introduces the idea of two modes of thinking.
Both of them are necessary, yet each one has its own specialities.

In System-1 fast thinking you operate automatically and quickly, with little
effort.  Your  thinking is highly sensitive to impressions, feelings, and
inclinations (intuitions).  You create coherent patterns of ideas from
associative memory, quickly infer causes and intentions, neglect ambiguity,
suppress doubt, and you are biased to believe, exaggerate emotional
consistency, deal only with what easily comes to mind, substitute easier
questions for difficult ones, etc. (p. 105).

 

As such, while System-1 is easy and effortless, it sets you up for
mind-reading and cause-effect mistakes, over-reacting, cognitive biases and
cognitive distortions.  Yet once you have expended effort and something
thought-through and come to some conclusions (beliefs, decisions, identity,
permissions, etc.), system-1 carries out those programs quickly and
automatically.  It is run by the lower levels of the brain.

In System-2 slow thinking you operate consciously and slowly and to do so
requires effort.  That's why to be thoughtful induces a cognitive strain on
your mental system requiring attention, focus, concentration, choosing, etc.
You establish beliefs and understandings, make choices, take over when
things get difficult, with it you can monitor system-1, doubt, un-believe,
can reset expectations of system-1, and surge with conscious attention to
deal with surprises. 

 

As the executive functions of the brain, System-2 gives you the ability to
do executive thinking.  It is here that you attend, monitor, notice, choose,
decide, etc.  You become your own personal executive, making the executive
decisions about what you believe, who you are, where you're going, the
values you live, etc.  This is effortful.  It requires discipline and via
cognitive strain and effort, you build up programs that best suit you- which
are most ecological for you.

 

Now because your brain has both lower and higher functions, and because you
need to keep translating between the dynamic, fluid representations of the
lower brain functions and the more static, permanent higher brain functions
(Korzybski, 1933)- you need both systems.  You need both systems in good
communication with each other.  In fact, the meta-capacity of translating up
and down is precisely what enables you to keep learning and updating your
programs thereby making your responses most appropriate and effective.

 

Now to do that, you also need to go slow- do your mental work of thinking
things through, thinking about your thinking (meta-cognition)- so that you
can go fast.  Going fast at the primary level in an effective and accurate
way is what the experts do and what we want to model.  They have programmed
themselves slowly over the years in a given domain (chest masters,
musicians, physicists, mathematicians, athletes, etc.)- the ten-year rule of
Anders Erickkson- so that now they can very quickly (intuitively) function
in their domain with ease, comfort, and precision.

 

Today the experts go fast because they have gone slow.  This is also true
for you!  Think about something that today you can do very rapidly with
accuracy and precision.  Think learning to type on a keyboard, riding a
bike, playing tennis or chess, etc.  Whatever that is, you did not begin
that way.  Nor did it develop quickly.  You engaged in thoroughly studying,
practicing, and adjusting with feedback until today you can go fast.

 

How does human expertise in any area develop?  First comes the slow
deliberate thinking by which you come to understand something.  You read
slowly and extensively, forget speed reading.  Get James W. Sire's book, How
to Read Slowly (1978).  Talk out what you learn with friends.  Try to teach
it to someone.  Do something about what you have read.  Practice.  Get
feedback.  Then if you keep it up for ten years, you can reach a level of
quick response in a complex context.  How is your integration of both fast
and slow thinking?  For many, this is one area wherein people need a
cognitive make-over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net


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