Too Clever By Half

I read this great article called Too Clever By Half about the tricks that our brains play on us. Regular readers will know that I am constantly intrigued about how the brain operates and have myself written numerous posts that cover some of the topics in this article.

The first point in the article is about "The Paradox of Choice". What this means is that although humans love variety, having too much choice is a bad thing. When given too many options, humans actually can't make a decision and are always wondering what they missed out on. I can totally relate to this. When I was in Hong Kong, there were so many restaurants offering all types of cuisine that I liked that in the end I couldn't choose and didn't know what I wanted to eat. When I did end up eating something, I sometimes wasn't too happy with my choice. In Melbourne, you have to make a conscious decision to go eat somewhere and when you get there, there is no choice, so you're happy with whatever you order.

"Optimism Bias" is when we think that the risks that apply to others don't apply to us. Just because that idiot in the other car shouldn't be talking on the phone doesn't mean that we can't handle talking and driving. I have to say that this has happened to me. I do the mobile thing where I think others are stupid for talking on the phone while driving yet I do it myself and don't think anything of it. I think that our self perception of ourselves is too high for our own good in most cases.

"Judging Risk" is something that modern humans are not very good at. Evolutionary genes means that we're still scared of lions since they can kill us, but don't even blink when going to drive a car, which kills far more humans each year than lions do. I wrote a post about acceptable risk when I had a similar conversation with a friend. I think you have to stop sometimes and reassess risks of activities that are dangerous but we just take for granted in this modern world.

"If it feels good, do it" is a mentality that most of take nowadays. Overindulging in lollies for example, is a sure fire way to take the enjoyment out of it. It also leads to a lot of people with problems, such as weight problems. All the contestants on the Biggest Loser must suffer from this "If it feels good, do it" mentality.

"I'm right, you're biased" is a common theme that we can all relate to. We pick up on other people's bad habits but fail to see our own. We think that we are doing the most work in a team, but fail to see work that other people do. I think we need to constantly look at things from other people's perspective to make sure we are seeing the whole picture.

"Status anxiety" is when our benchmarks are constantly being raised because we need to do better than the next person. I've written about how things always seems better for others than ourselves in thispost.

Finally, "The impact of external events" talks about the old adage of whether we will be happier if we are rich. If you win lottery, apparently your happiness levels return to normal after a while. We are not good at predicting our future feelings as we underestimate the human ability to adapt. I wrote a post about what I wanted out of life and one thing I touched on was having more money and getting out of the rat race. I guess I still think that if I was richer I would be happier. I guess I won't know until I actually am rich.

So from these many examples, you can see how our minds are such tricky things. To finish off, you might like to read my posts about the subconscious mind and the wonders of the mind.