Don’t Be Tricked by These 5 Common Mental Rules of Thumb.
Every Wednesday is Tip Day.This Wednesday: Beware of these five common heuristics.
One of my favorite topics within cognitive science is the concept of heuristics. Heuristics are the quick, commonsense principles we apply to solve a problem or make a decision.
Often, heuristics are very helpful rules of thumb, but they can also lead us to make dumb mistakes. Recognizing how heuristics operate can sometimes make it easier to be wary of the pitfalls.
Here are some common heuristics:
Recognition heuristic: if you’re faced with two items, and you recognize one but not the other, you assume that the recognized one is of higher value. If you’ve heard of Munich, Germany, but you’ve never heard of Minden, Germany, you assume that Munich is the bigger city. If you’ve heard of A Wrinkle in Time, but you haven’t heard of The Silver Crown, you assume that the first book is better than the second. When in fact they’re both outstanding children’s books!
Likelihood heuristic: you predict the likelihood of an event based on how easily you can think of an example. How worried should you be about child abduction by a stranger? What’s riskier, donating a kidney or having your gallbladder removed?
Anchor and adjust heuristic: you base an answer too heavily on some piece of first information. If someone says, “How old is Woody Allen? Twenty-five?” you’d probably guess his age to be younger than you would if someone said, “How old is Woody Allen? Ninety-five?” even though you know that both suggestions are incorrect.
Social proof: if you’re not sure about something, you assume that you should be guided by what other people are doing. You’re wondering whether to sign up for my monthly newsletter, which features highlights from the blog and Facebook. You’re not sure, but when I say, “157,000 people subscribe to it,” you think, “Yes, I do want to sign up!” You can sign up here. (End of blatant self-promotion.)
Fluency heuristic: if it’s easier to say or think something, it seems more valuable. For instance, an idea that’s expressed in a rhyming phrase seems more convincing than the same idea paraphrased in a non-rhyming phrase. When I decided to spend some time every weekend crossing long-delayed, horrible items off my to-do list, I considered calling that time my To-Do List Time, but then switched the name to Power Hour. Much more compelling.
How about you? Do you have any examples of how you’ve used these heuristics, or other heuristics that you employ?
Revealed! Book Club Picks for July. Happy Reading.
Because nothing boosts happiness more than
a great book, each month, I suggest:- One outstanding book about happiness.
- One outstanding work of children’s or young-adult literature. I have a crazy passion for kidlit.
- One eccentric pick. This is a book that I love, but freely admit may not be for everyone.
Shop at the wonderful Brooklyn indie WORD, BN.com, Amazon (I’m an affiliate of all three), or your favorite local bookstore. Or visit the library! Drumroll…
An outstanding book about happiness: Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Buy from WORD; BN.com; Amazon.
An outstanding children’s book: Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. Buy from WORD; BN.com; Amazon.
An eccentric pick: Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary. Buy from WORD; BN.com; Amazon.
I’ve noticed that many times, when someone describes a book to me, I want to read it less. And often, weirdly, the better a book is, the worse it sounds. So I won’t describe these books, but I love all the books I recommend; I’ve read them at least twice if not many times; and they’re widely loved.
If you read last month’s recommendations…what did you think? Smith’s Just Kids; Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Orwell’s A Collection of Essays.
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Want to Snack Less and Concentrate Better? Try This!
Okay, humor me here. This sounds silly, but it
really works. Try the resolution to “Chew on a plastic
stirrer.”I’ve found that I snack less, and concentrate better, when I chew on a plastic stirrer–the kind that you get to stir your to-go coffee.
I picked up this habit from my husband, who loves to chew on things. His favorite chew-toy is a plastic pen top, and gnawed pen tops and little bits of plastic litter our apartment.
But he also chews on plastic stirrers, and at some point, I decided to give this practice a try. I’ve been astonished at how helpful this small habit is.
I keep these stirrers in my office and backpack, and whenever I sit down at my computer, I pop one between my teeth. An occupational hazard with writing is to write while eating, smoking, or drinking–usually things that aren’t very healthy–but having the stirrer in my mouth diminishes that urge. True, my urge to snack has plummeted since I’ve started eating along the lines suggested by Gary Taubes’s book Why We Get Fat, but this habit has cut down it down still further.
Also, chewing on a stirrer helps me to concentrate. I feel more focused when I chewing away. I’m not sure why that is. Perhaps it’s the placebo effect–but the placebo effect is quite effective, so I’ll take it.
I’m a devoted hair-twister, so I definitely have an aptitude for nervous habits. Chewing on a plastic stirrer probably the adult equivalent of popping in a pacifier, but it’s effective.
How about you? Do you ever chew on plastic stirrers, straws, pencils, ice or other things? Or do you have other habits that are similarly helpful?
I Love Lists. Such as This List about What Gives Objects “Life.”
Every Wednesday is List Day, or Tip Day.This Wednesday: Do you agree with these 15 fundamental properties of “life” in objects?
In The Phenomenon of Life, vol. 1: The Nature of Order, Christopher Alexander asks, “Can we find any recurrent geometrical structural features whose presence in things correlates with their degree of life?”
He identifies fifteen features that appear again and again in things which have “life”–whether that thing is a sketch by an Impressionist, a wooden door, a Norwegian storehouse, a Japanese tea bowl, the Golden Gate Bridge. Or natural things, like a giraffe’s coat, palm fronds, a spider’s web, Himalayan foothills, muscle fiber.
- Levels of scale
- Strong centers
- Boundaries
- Alternating repetition
- Positive space
- Good shape
- Local symmetries
- Deep interlock and ambiguity
- Contrast
- Gradients
- Roughness
- Echoes
- The void
- Simplicity and inner calm
- Non-separateness.
I love schemes like this, that seek to identify the different elements of very complex wholes. I love taxonomy–and dividing people into different categories–and lists of all sorts.
For instance, just as I love Alexander’s approach, I love this scheme by John Ruskin in The Stones of Venice, about the nature of the Gothic:
“I believe, then, that the characteristic or moral elements of Gothic are the following, placed in the order of their importance:
- Savageness
- Changefulness
- Naturalism.
- Grotesqueness.
- Rigidity.
- Redundance.”
How about you? Does Alexander’s scheme ring true for you? Do you have similar lists that you love?
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Story: That Unreasonable Demand Might Not Be So Unreasonable
For the weekly videos, I now tell a story. I’ve realized
that for me, and I think for many people, a story is what holds my attention and
makes a point most powerfully.
This week’s story: That unreasonable demand might not be so unreasonable.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
As I explain in the video, I read this story about Van Halen in Chip and Dan Heath’s fascinating book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, which I highly recommend.
How about you? Have you ever shook your head over someone’s unreasonable demand, only to discover that there was a very sound reason for it?
Find the archives of videos here. More than 1.5 MILLION views. Don’t forget to subscribe!
If you’re reading this post through the daily email, click here to join the conversation. And if you’d like to get the daily blog post by email, sign up here.
This week’s story: That unreasonable demand might not be so unreasonable.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
As I explain in the video, I read this story about Van Halen in Chip and Dan Heath’s fascinating book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, which I highly recommend.
How about you? Have you ever shook your head over someone’s unreasonable demand, only to discover that there was a very sound reason for it?
Find the archives of videos here. More than 1.5 MILLION views. Don’t forget to subscribe!
If you’re reading this post through the daily email, click here to join the conversation. And if you’d like to get the daily blog post by email, sign up here.
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