{"id":29303,"date":"2022-10-28T14:41:22","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29303"},"modified":"2022-10-28T14:41:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:41:22","slug":"smart-vs-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/smart-vs-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart vs Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a professional communicator and doctoral student in leadership, understanding how the human brain works is critical to success. After reading <\/span>Thinking, Fast & Slow<\/span><\/i> by Nobel Prize recipient, Daniel Kahneman, I have an entirely new appreciation for both the complexity of the human brain and the rather shocking (and often-biased) way that people make decisions and judgements. The premise of Kahnemen\u2019s book is that the human mind is composed of two distinct modes of operation called System 1 and System 2.<\/span>[1]<\/b><\/a> System 1 is automatic, effortless and often based on emotion or intuition. System 2 requires effort and energy–it is the more logical and conscious work of the mind.<\/span>[2]<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Based on a lifetime of research, Kahneman concludes that humans frequently rely on the automatic and effortless working of System 1 rather than engaging the more thoughtful, purposeful processes of System 2. This default mode of thought can result in unrecognized errors of judgment. Reading through the various biases and heuristics described by Kahneman, I realized that those who know and recognize these System 1 tendencies have a clear advantage over those who do not. I see the following two principles as particularly important for people to know and keep top of mind, especially leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Halo Effect
\n<\/b>The halo effect is a bias that occurs when we associate positive or negative characteristics about a person based on our initial impression of them.<\/span>[3]<\/b><\/a> This tendency is precisely why first impressions are so important. Meeting someone when they are having a bad day, can easily sour one\u2019s perception about their skill, generosity and more. Likewise, just because a person is funny, generous, or beautiful does not automatically mean they have other positive characteristics like our System 1 mind wants us to believe. The implication for leaders is to be aware of this bias and continuously challenge ourselves to evaluate people based on deeper understanding than initial impressions and likewise, recognize that others are evaluating us based on factors that may not be based on fact or experience. Understanding this tendency and working to overcome it makes us more likely to have accurate perceptions of the people in our sphere of influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Availability Heuristic
\n<\/b>Another heuristic described by Kahneman is a tendency to judge the frequency or quantity of something based on how easily examples come to mind.<\/span>[4]<\/b><\/a> This has significant implications in light of the pervasiveness of media in today\u2019s culture. If a particular news story is popular in the media, it can cause people to think that an issue is far more prevalent than it actually is based on how often they hear about it. The reverse is also true. As leaders, we must be aware that just because we hear about a particular issue frequently does not mean it is representative of the whole. More investigation is required to understand just how often a particular circumstance is actually occurring.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a day and age comprised of people with short attention spans, over-busy schedules, and multi-tasking habits, it is more challenging than ever to be aware of the ways our mind wants to take the easy route and employ System 1 processing for decision-making. As leaders, we must be intentional about taking time and effort to evaluate our decisions (especially the most important ones) based on facts, evidence and data. Intuition is important, but overcoming the biases of our mind, requires a higher level of thinking that must be cultivated within us and those we lead.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> These terms are not the only terms utilized for these distinct modes of thought, however they are well-accepted in the field of psychology.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, <\/span>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span><\/i> (Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, 2013), 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> 82<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> 129<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a professional communicator and doctoral student in leadership, understanding how the human brain works is critical to success. After reading Thinking, Fast & Slow by Nobel Prize recipient, Daniel Kahneman, I have an entirely new appreciation for both the complexity of the human brain and the rather shocking (and often-biased) way that people make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2347,2052],"class_list":["post-29303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-kahneman","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29304,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29303\/revisions\/29304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}