Thinking about thoughts…
Have you ever thought about your thoughts? Thoughts can live in the present, then suddenly think of the past, or dream of the future. They can wander to distant lands and then focus and shut out distractions[1] Well, no doubt, noted psychology professor and esteemed scientific thinker, Daniel Kahneman, has thought much about thoughts. Reading his book “Thinking Fast and Slow” gave much “food for thought” by introducing his readers to how our brains operate in two systems. System 1 enjoys being the hero and quickly generates many patterns of ideas. System 2 is the hero’s support, working more slowly, and thinking deeper into a series of ordered steps.[2] As Kahneman supports his ideas regarding these systems, he gives many scientific examples…many more than my brain can handle!
Furthermore, Kahneman heavily explores how our brains so easily create their own biases. He notes that because of “cognitive ease”, the brain will take even the smallest false statement and build its credibility, especially if it’s simply easier for our brain to process. Sad to say, we often see this on so many levels. We can often close our minds to the questions that lurk beneath our imposed thought processes that we have simply believed without much deeper thought. Kathryn Schultz in her book, “Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” states “believing things based on meager evidence is what people do.”[3]
Chivers & Chivers also came to mind. Their chapter on “Demand for Novelty” spoke of the mind when being primed to see something interesting, easily believes it. This “priming effect” causes us to easily be gullible to marketers. Kahneman affirms Chivers & Chivers’ endeavors by stating that we don’t think statistically because we think more metaphorically, socially, and causally.[4] Personally, this resonates with ministry leadership. In the realm of what we believe, we are often gullible to a story that sways us emotionally instead of perhaps thinking deeper about the theological underpinnings.
This causes me to think of the book “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath which focuses on a coaching model to help cause a change in people’s behaviors.[5] Chip and Dan Heath also see the brain as two different systems but call it the rational mind and the emotional mind, both competing for control. “The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. This tension can doom any change effort.”[6] The emotional mind will cave in much easier and not bring much change. Likewise, Kahneman, in his chapter on “The Lazy Controller” links lazy behaviors to people who are “cognitively busy” basically because self-control takes cognitive work and if the brain is busy, it cannot have the attention and focus needed to have self-control.[7] For example, this was the case with my LCP. I have had much self-reflection through the last five years so at first glance, my brain went into autopilot. However, as System 2 was allowed to ask and order deeper thought, my brain was unleashed to make more connections and cause greater self-awareness.
I confess I tend to have my mind filled with many things at once. “All There: How Attentiveness Shapes Authentic Leadership” by Dr. Gail Johnsen mentions the story of Linda Stone, a former Apple and Microsoft executive, who coined the term “continuous partial attention”[8] “Continuous partial attention” very easily seems to give way to a lazy mind. I must ask myself and others, how can we slow down to think better? Can we also have greater self-awareness regarding our own biases?
2 Corinthians 10:5 demands that “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”[9] Taking thoughts captive requires intentional attention. Perhaps giving more attention to our thought life is more advantageous than we realize.
[1] “Your Thinking Brain | AMNH,” American Museum of Natural History, accessed March 2, 2023, https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain-the-inside-story/your-thinking-brain.
[2] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 1st edition (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013).
[3] Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, First Ecco Paperback edition (New York: Ecco, 2011).
[4] 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). 13
[5] Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, 1st edition (New York: Crown Business, 2010).
[6] Ibid.
[7] Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow. 41.
[8] Gail Johnsen, All There: How Attentiveness Shapes Authentic Leadership (Gail Johnsen, 2020).
[9] “Bible Gateway Passage: 2 Corinthians 10:5 – New International Version,” Bible Gateway, accessed March 3, 2023, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2010%3A5&version=NIV.
About the Author
Esther Edwards
Esther has served in ministry leadership for over 35 years. She is an ordained minister, an ICF and CCLC certified coach, and licensed coach trainer. Her and her husband have launched their own coaching practice, Enjoy the Journey Leadership Coaching and seek to train ministry leaders in the powerful skill of coaching. Esther loves hiking, reading, and experiencing new coffee shops with friends and family. She enjoys the journey with her husband, Keith, their four daughters, sons-in-law, and their five beautiful grandchildren.7 responses to “Thinking about thoughts…”
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Thank you, Ms. Edwards for your sharing. Well, at first, I thought I have an excuse for my late postings by saying that I was very “cognitively busy” which sounds so excusable. However, when you close with 2 Corinthians 10:5, I have no excuse not to take every thought captive or have an intentional attentiveness to our Lord and to work it out in system 2 when necessary. Thank you.
Noel,
You and me both! I was also late this week due to much upheaval with a few church situations and grandkids visiting. Sometimes there is a fine line between grace and truth in our lives. The grace to extend to ourselves when needed, but then the truth to know when it is simply procrastination. This week, it was a little of both for me so we will continue to spur each other on!
Hi Esther, I was interviewing for a job (once upon a time) and they asked me what animal describes myself. I wanted to answer tiger (strong, good-looking and understated), but the visual image of an Octopus leaps to the forefront of my brain.
I suppose this an anchoring heuristic. My wife (who threw out the anchor) says I have multiple arms reaching out for things.
Yup, I am an S1 octopus. Always networking, always grabbing for things. Sometimes I grab things that don’t work (error) sometimes a get it right. But my nature is to reach…think measure and react intuitively and quickly. I am okay with being wrong 50% of the time. It has gotten me this far. My wife, by the way is S2 (I guess opposites do attract).
What brings me out of my octopusness, is the presence of God in my life. I sometimes call him my Coach. As I run and leap over the hurtles, I fall A LOT. But he sets up those hurdles and has me take another lap. I run, I fall and sometimes I clear the hurdle (lets call sin a sin), and I am sure that He smiles.
In the game of life I think he gave us S1/S2 thinking as a compensation for the error of Adam and Eve.
Because of Papa Adam and Mama Eve we are genetically and spiritually predisposed to make wrong decisions. But he gives us the tools for thinking so that we can come back to the right choice of, Him.
Put me in Coach.
I really liked this statement, “We can often close our minds to the questions that lurk beneath our imposed thought processes that we have simply believed without much deeper thought.” What you said is kind of “meta”, but I think this is the key to really examining what’s behind our worldviews, biases, and beliefs. Plus I like “meta” ideas!
Do I believe this because: I inherited this from my social and moral contexts…so and so said it and I really like them plus they seem credible….I would not know what to do if this were not true… this is more comfortable for me to accept…etc. The whole comfort level thing is getting pounded on in these books. lol
Appreciate your posts!
Hello Esther, I love reading your post. I have a quick question. Between the books, “Switch” and “All there” which one would you recommend a leader reads and why?
And I like, “slowing down to think better” Thank you!😊
I resonated with your statement “I confess I tend to have my mind filled with many things at once”. ME TOO!!! Maybe this is the story of us all on this journey? Sometimes there is so much thinking going on that the conglomeration of thoughts concerns me. Is this really good for the mind? Am I training my mind for a future state of confusion? Or am I truly strengthening my brain? Is my brain being altered to live life in a distracted way. . . distracted by all that it is processing? Ugh.
Hi Esther!
Thank you for your writing. I enjoyed it so much.
I’m intrigued to know more. When you mention the writing about attentiveness shape authentic leadership, does that further confirm Kahneman’s views about S1 and S2 ways of thinking in human beings? Is attentiveness only in S1 or S2 or can it be in both?