Do pastors blink, or do they think?
Think fast: You’re the pastor. You walk out of a church service and are confronted by a member who is yelling at you and causing a scene. You aren’t sure why, and can’t tell if she’s having a psychotic breakdown, is high on drugs, is demonized, or is just angry. A crowd of congregants has started to gather. How do you respond?
What about this one? You’re preaching a sermon, and a guy stands up and walks onto the platform and starts to loudly address the church about the end times. Now what? (And you’d better be quick).
Now, a question: In each of those recent, all-to-real instances did I use system 1 or system 2 thinking featured in the book Thinking Fast and Slow[1] by Daniel Kahneman? To explain, system 1 thinking is “our fast, automatic, intuitive, and largely unconscious mode”[2]; it can include relying on instinct, rule of thumb, or prior learning. Conversely, system 2 thinking is “aslower, more deliberate and effortful form of thinking”[3] that engages deeper reflection and intentional use of logic.
System 1 thinking is used if I’m pulling my car out of my driveway in the morning; but I need system 2 thinking if I’m navigating a busy roundabout in London while driving on the “wrong” side of the road.
Often in church ministry (maybe more often in an urban environment?) there is a need to employ system 1 thinking. In a crisis, there may not be time to slow down and intentionally process a decision or direction. And any system 2 thinking that IS being used will lean heavily on system 1. Hopefully a pastor in this situation has enough experience or exposure to intuitively know what to do. Or if they don’t, hopefully they’re good on their feet.
But what about when there isn’t a crisis? For me it’s far too easy to default to System 1 thinking, not just because it’s necessary, but because it’s expedient; because I am a perceiver, not a judger, in the MBTI; and because I have over 10,000 hours of experience making church leadership decisions (and according to Malcom Gladwell[4], that makes me an “expert”, right?).
The problem with expertise is that it can deceive a person into thinking she or he has an accurate gut feel about the right answer. Kahneman describes “an excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and (an) apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in.”[5]
We may think the heuristic (rule of thumb) that we’ve developed or learned is a reliable source for decisions. We may trust the intuition that has worked before will undoubtedly work again. We may believe that our sense “must be from the Holy Spirit.”
And we may be unaware of it when we are totally wrong.
That’s a core premise of this book, “Much of the discussion in this book is about biases of intuition” Kahneman says, “and the confidence we have in our intuitive beliefs and preferences is usually justified. But not always. We are often confident even when we are wrong.[6]
This year we’ve been assigned to read books like How to Read Numbers[7], Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts[8], and Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error[9]. Thinking Fast and Slow joins these books that have made me question what I think I know, and to be a lot more careful with my instinct and intuition. As Dr. Clark has repeatedly quoted, “As the island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance”[10]
So, I know that I need to better understand how wrong I can be, and I feel challenged to spend more time in slow thinking. But I don’t want to discount System 1 fast thinking in my leadership. Without intuitive system 1 thinking I don’t believe we would have the adventurous leaders Friedman was talking about in A Failure of Nerve, because they would never take the ships out of the harbor for fear of making a mistake.[11] Without system 1, system 2 might take over and create analysis paralysis, because there’s never enough data, or consensus, or certainty to step into some things that God calls a church forward into.
Pastoral leadership requires thinking both fast and slow, depending on the situation, or one’s experience, or what the Spirit may be doing in a moment (fast) that is aligned with the truth of the Word (slow). Instinct and quick decision based on prior learning has its place in church ministry. So does slower processing and deliberation.
The question is how do you know when each is appropriate?
Jim Holt of the New York Times suggests the answer might be found in Kahneman’s response to the Malcom Gladwell question: “If you’ve had 10,000 hours of training in a predictable, rapid-feedback environment — chess, firefighting, anesthesiology — then blink. In all other cases, think. [12]
[1] Daniel Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013.
[2] Jim Holt. “Two Brains Running”. NY Times. November 25, 2011.
[3] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking Fast and Slow, 16.
[4] Malcom Gladwell. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little Brown & Co., 2008.
[5] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking Fast and Slow, 17.
[6] Ibid., 8.
[7] Tom Chivers and David Chivers. How To Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them).London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021.
[8] Meyer, Jan, F.H and Ray Land. Overcoming Student Barrier to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. London: Routledge, 2012.
[9] Kathryn Schulz. Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. New York: Harper Collins, 2010.
[10] John Archibald Wheeler.
[11] Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick New York: Church Publishing, 2017. 49.
[12] Jim Holt. New York Times. Nov 25, 2011. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman-book-review.html
About the Author
Tim Clark
I'm on a lifelong journey of discovering the person God has created me to be and aligning that with the purpose God has created me for. I've been pressing hard after Jesus for 40 years, and I currently serve Him as the lead pastor of vision and voice at The Church On The Way in Los Angeles. I live with my wife and 3 kids in Burbank California.14 responses to “Do pastors blink, or do they think?”
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Tim, in the cases of responding to the all-to-real examples you began your post with, at what point do you think your training/readiness hit a threshold concept…”opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about,” (Meyer and Land) in these cases, how you were going to react/respond to two potentially anxiety-inducing situations? I wonder if your 10,000+ hours just sort of slowly moved you toward a helpful way to respond to those circumstances. Or perhaps you were receiving specific critical feedback from your mentor(s), staff, former pastor(s)…whoever…that was helping you correct whatever System 1 errors might have impeded earlier, less experienced responses. Or maybe it’s a combo of all of that. Lastly, if one were teaching in a seminary, and a student asked the prof how to respond in a similar situation…I wonder if the prof would spend more time answering in a way that says “this is how to respond” or would the prof start with “this is how to prepare yourself to be able to respond in a helpful way.” Excellent post, Tim.
Travis those are great questions.
While my ‘expert’ reference was tongue in cheek (yes I’ve had over 10,000 hours, no I don’t feel like an expert) I can remember witnessing and being in situations like this all the way back to early ministry. I’m certain I would not have the ‘muscle memory’ to address these incidents without watching seasoned, mature pastors dealing with the same thing. For a long time I just copied what I saw. Now I respond in much the same way but I “own” it more.
If I were teaching I would lean on the “this is how to prepare yourself” instead of “this is what to do”. A non-anxious presence, a focus on spiritual care for both the individual and the whole church, not being defensive, etc.
Thanks for the questions.
Thanks for your post. I can identify with being the one responsible for handling crazy situations. There should be a special name for that feeling when everyone is looking to you to handle it and you have no idea what to do, and it sounds like you’ve had some “fun” ones to deal with.
You mention thinking on your feet and that’s something that I’ve been thinking about recently. Mostly because I’m not very good at it. In connecting that idea to templating, can you imagine any ways to “practice” or “train” ourselves to be quick on our feet?
Kim, I have had some ‘fun’ ones to deal with, having served in urban environment most of my ministry; I could tell stories… mostly of how I didn’t handle stuff well 🙂
I wanted to write about templating in my blog but ran out of room. It’s a new thought for me since reading Poole, but I really do think she’s onto something. I wonder if “the stuff nobody taught me in Seminary” could be mitigated with practice and templating. I had to learn by trial and error, and watching mentors handle similar situations. But I do think we can learn to ‘think fast on our feet’ to an extent because once we HAVE done it in a situation we recognize we CAN do it and the next time it’s not as challenging… at least that’s what I’ve learned from personal experience.
That’s the challenge, pastors have to think and blink simultaneously, it seems. I can relate to the scenarios you shared from our years in ministry. Do you find that there are times when system 1, thinks fast, maybe correctly or incorrectly, and then system 2 corrects system 1, after contemplation? Kind of like they’ve got each others’ backs, so to speak?
Cathy, YES! That’s so right. I think that’s one of the things Kahneman is getting at: System 1 and 2 are symbiotic, and that can either be bad (as when S2 is ‘lazy’ and just accepts what S1 tells it) or good (like when S2 brings correction to something S1 assumed).
Tim, your comment that pastoral training needs both fast and slow thinking, depending on the scenario is certainly true….and as I read your post I also wondered how personality preferences fit into Kahneman’s model: are some people naturally more prone to decide and act (too quickly) while others are more prone to ponder a situation for some time (too much time?). If we, as leaders, have a natural propensity towards system 1 or 2 thinking, it would be important to know that about ourselves and include the opposite kind of thinkers in our feedback group. Perhaps this is one way for us to make a few less mistakes on the important decisions as Kahneman hopes?
Scott, I thought about that after writing my post, too. I think one of the lessons here is surrounding ourselves with people who lean a different direction regarding S1 or S2 thinking in different situations. And I think being clear about the intentionality and benefit of that would be helpful, so S1 leaning leaders aren’t accusing S2 folks of shutting down vision and S2 leaders aren’t frustrated at S1 people for irrational decisions.
I’m in a situation like that now with a co-pastor: He is more data driven and careful and I tend to be the “let’s go take that hill, now” kind of leader. As we are really clear about our differences we’ve found a great balance and partnership.
Tim,
Thanks for your well-written post and your many thought-provoking questions. Your statement “We are often confident even when we are wrong” resonates. On p. 118, Kahneman draws attention to “exaggerated faith in small samples” which leaves us ending up with a “view of the world around us that is simpler and more coherent than the data justifies.”
The older I get, the more I see how very wrong I can be and am. The complexity of our society no longer warrants pat answers that are simply stated out of our limited understanding. That is one of the reasons I am in this program.
Esther, me too! I’m grateful for being challenged and stretched regarding how wrong I can be.
I don’t think it will change my ‘charge ahead’ passion but maybe it will help me better consider the implications (or better listen to those who do that more naturally).
Hi Tim, this post was fun to read.
Blinking and thinking. I will have to presume that since God created both, that there is a place for both. Sometimes we get things wrong (welcome to my world).
However, Jenny Dooley shared a thought with me. She said, that her S1 intuitive self brought her to her NPO topic. Her S2 self would flesh out the idea and help her research, analyze, and create a product that will minister to her South East Asia pastors and family. I really like that.
I was reading a C.S. Lewis review on the topic of the “Dignity of Causality.” I discuss my books with my wife (who is smarter than me) and reminded me that Lewis reminds us that we are given the “Dignity” of impacting both physical and spiritual realms when we are in connection with Him. Paul reminds us to Pray Unceasingly…I am thinking that is how we stay connected.
Jennifer Vernham found a fun fact that says that humans make about 35,000 decisions a day. Wouldn’t be nice if we prayed unceasingly, laying the ground for S1 or S2 thinking?
By the way, I blink more than I think. Oddly, I find it comforting to suppose that the young shepherd David, S1ed before he fought the giant.
The Jennifers for the win!!!
I can identify with what Jenny Dooley said: my S1 self writing checks that my S2 self has to pay for. But it’s really not a bad thing because without S1 I’d never invest in high risk/high reward areas in my ministry or life.
I also appreciate your comment about Jennifer Vernham’s statement about all the decisions we make every day. That puts a new spin on the need to pray without ceasing. I may “steal like an artist” and use that thought in an upcoming sermon!
Thanks!
Tim, I love this wrestling you are doing with system 1 and 2. I believe the same and really appreciate your think or blink analogy. I think you are right that the real wisdom comes in knowing and having the discernment to know when to engage each system. I can imagine the situations you have had in your church as a pastor, partly because I’ve seen things like that. I am curious how you use system 2 when others are behaving or speaking “through the spirit?”. I don’t come from a spirit heavy tradition, so I can imagine logic coming in play with the Holy Spirit moving requires an activation of 1 and 2 together? What do you think?
Jana, thats a great question. I was going to write some on that but ran out of room.
I think this is where “testing prophesy” comes in. It’s easy for people to pull the “God card”, but any supernatural manifestation needs to align with the Word of God and come under a collective accountability, so S2 in a healthy Spirit-filled environment should built in.
Have I seen spiritual gifts operate outside of S2? Sure, plenty of times. Paul did, too, and I’d argue that’s one of the reasons he wrote 1 Corinthians 12-14.