{"id":36203,"date":"2024-02-28T19:24:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T03:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36203"},"modified":"2024-02-28T19:24:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T03:24:30","slug":"i-shouldnt-have-answered-the-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/i-shouldnt-have-answered-the-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"I shouldn’t have answered the phone."},"content":{"rendered":"

As a general rule, I do not use my phone while driving. Several years ago, we were at a football watch party with friends. Between plays, the conversations were always interesting. On one nondescript Sunday afternoon, the conversation turned to driving while talking on the phone. Our friend Andy, who is a neuropsychologist, chimed in about the dangers of talking on the phone while driving. Essentially, he said that when we talk on the phone, our brain leaves the car and pictures itself with the person on the other end of the line.[1]<\/a> \u00a0Few of us believed him right away, including me.<\/p>\n

This week I was driving to a meeting on a route I use at least 5 times a week, sometimes more. I was in a hurry to get to my destination. My phone started ringing and my husband\u2019s name came up on my screen. Knowing I could drive hands free, and I wasn\u2019t on an interstate highway, I pressed the button and answered. Our conversation centered around an addition we are putting on our house. The purpose of the call was to help figure out a couple of details. Still driving and talking, I stopped for a red light. When I paused to look around, I realized I had turned the wrong way and had driven fifteen minutes in the opposite direction. Needless to say, I was thirty minutes late.<\/p>\n

In Thinking, Fast And Slow<\/em>, Daniel Kahneman uses the metaphor of two systems to explain intuitive and deliberate thought, System 1, and System 2.[2]<\/a> System 1 is the fast thinker. It takes little effort. We typically use it for things that feel automatic, such as speaking, brushing teeth, or answering basic math questions such as 2+2=4. System 2 is the slow thinker, more deliberate. Typically, it verifies everything. It has the ability to construct thoughts in an orderly series of steps. [3]<\/a><\/p>\n

While driving my car, I operated in System 1 for most of the time. The route was familiar, and I drive the same car each day. With little traffic, it did not take much effort. Once the traffic picked up and I was thinking about the questions that needed answers, driving needed System 2 but I had none of that. It took more brain power and the driving safety of paying attention to the traffic signs went by the wayside. Thankfully, I didn\u2019t hit anyone or anything.<\/p>\n

Kahneman thought that there was more to how we make decisions and our reactions to things that are encountered. Typically, people have opinions and feelings about almost anything that is encountered. The question is how they originate. Dr. Kahneman described the concept of substituting as: \u201cthe target question is the assessment you intend to produce. The heuristic question is the simpler question you answer instead.\u201d It may work well, but there is also risk of errors.[4]<\/a> \u00a0The errors arise because System 2 can sometimes want to avoid the verifying work when figuring things out and thus takes a shortcut. The problem arises when the shortcut or mental shotgun doesn\u2019t really connect to the question. Kahneman used the example of asking a target question: \u201cHow should financial advisers who prey on the elderly be punished? To replying to a heuristic question of: How much anger do I feel when I think of financial predators?\u201d The answer to the second question will not answer the first question.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

This led me to think about Kathryn Schulz\u2019s book Being Wrong: Adventures In The Margin Of Error<\/em>. Schulz discussed the fallacy of the bias blind spot where people make conclusions about others\u2019 biases based on external appearances, but our own biases are based on introspection.[6]<\/a> The problem with this type of bias is that it is largely unchecked causing errors of reason.<\/p>\n

This leads me to ask, So What? What is the value of recognizing that what we think or believe could have errors, especially if we do not take the time to examine them? It is easy to feel that how we think and what we do about those thoughts are above the need for scrutiny. We think our own ideas are true and altruistic and our opinions are important. We know what we are doing. However, Kahneman showed throughout his book that it is important to understand that each person has errors in their judgement of others. On a personal level, getting sidetracked while driving and talking on the phone reminded me that I am not above the need for scientific understanding of the functioning of the human brain. I need to not drive and talk on the phone. On a bigger level, if I can make a mistake when I ignore the work needed for \u00a0my System 2 then might I do that in other areas? When I disagree with someone ideologically, it might help me to step back and consider how I am processing the information I hear from them to see what I might be missing. Above all, clinging to the words of Jesus are also a good reminder.<\/p>\n

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother\u2019s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, \u2018Let me take the speck out of your eye,\u2019 when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3-4 NIV).<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Andrew Ruffett, PhD, Clinical Neuropsychologist, private conversation, 2022.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast And Slow<\/em>, (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011), 13.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Kahneman, 21.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Kahneman, 97-98.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Kahneman, 98-99.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures In The Margin Of Error, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010), 106.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a general rule, I do not use my phone while driving. Several years ago, we were at a football watch party with friends. Between plays, the conversations were always interesting. On one nondescript Sunday afternoon, the conversation turned to driving while talking on the phone. Our friend Andy, who is a neuropsychologist, chimed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"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":[3083],"class_list":["post-36203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kahneman-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36203","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\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36205,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36203\/revisions\/36205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}