We consume so much information daily and make a huge number of decisions that it’s hard for our brains to do so much in the time we have. Like the body company’s top-performing employee, it strives to do more in less time by learning shortcuts to give you answers, forgetting to analyse all factors, and not ignoring certain factors.
You make quick decisions using the shortcuts all the time. Many times, these quick decisions do well. Let’s face it – why make a pros and cons list to decide when to wake up, clothes to wear, menu for lunch, or shoes to wear?
But what about the more important decisions like what career to pursue, how to grow yourself in your workplace, how to take your relationship to the next level, and how to grow your money?
Does the brain make quick decisions to answer such questions as smartly as it should? Are they helping you to get the best results or just quick ones?
What Is Rational Thinking?
Rational thinking means deciding based on logic and facts. You see, we don’t think linearly. In a fraction of a second, we make quick judgements based on cognitive biases, and presumptions, and take shortcuts to get quicker results.
Rational thinking means becoming conscious of all such biases and heuristics to avoid them and make a decision based on facts, logic and evidence that will give you the most value.
It works by helping you take an objective view on problem-solving instead of getting distracted by the factors that do not matter. You see things as they are and not how you want to see them or how they are shown to you.
Why is rational thinking not automatic?
In a study, psychologists conducted tests to check if people could accurately date the events that happened just 5 months ago. They found some people could only date 29% of the events accurately. And the people who dated the recalled events most accurately did so only 62% of the time.
These people misplaced their memories (also called ‘telescoping’) by thinking that the events had occurred more recently or later than when they actually did. Like I said, we’re not talking about events that happened years ago. We’re talking about events that occurred merely 5 months ago.
Imagine if these people had to make important decisions based on the timings of these events.
Imagine if these people were you people? Are you sure about the timing of that client email?
What if you got overconfident and promised the new client the deliverable in an unreasonable timeline? What if you misjudged how much time you needed to study for a test? Or remember having paid the insurance premium on time?
What if you think that you’re arguing with your partner every week when it’s in fact only once a month?
Who knew that man is not as rational an animal as Aristotle thought?
How Does Rational Thinking Impact Your Life?
If you thought rationally, you’d
- check when you emailed the client before responding,
- promise a realistic timeline for the deliverable after assessing the real workload,
- review the syllabus and the difficulty level of the test before deciding on the timetable for studying, and
- sit down calmly to figure out what is really going on with you and your partner before jumping to conclusions about your relationship.
Therefore, it’s important to think rationally.
It reduces the likelihood of presumptions and biases ruining your judgement, brings more objectivity to the table, avoids mistakes that will cost you, and improves problem-solving abilities. In totality, it helps you make an effective decision.
What are the barriers to rational thinking?
The brain is a very smart computer. But like any other machine, it sometimes glitches.
Here is how:
Automatic Responses: Heuristics aka Shortcuts
There are various kinds of shortcuts the brain uses to decide how to proceed.
Let’s take an example. Your brain associates phones with chatting and wasting time because you see people doing it all the time.
Now if you see your boss on her phone for the complete first half of the day, you are likely to conclude that she’s wasting time chatting with people (based on availability heuristic) instead of reviewing your work, which needs to go out today.
She could just be working hard to maintain her relationship with the clients and keep them with the company that pays you your salary.
Who knows? She preempted that she’ll get occupied in the morning and already almost finished reviewing your work yesterday. She just hasn’t sent it to you yet.
Let’s take another instance. If you’ve been watching too many crime shows or too much news on the channels that sensationalise criminal news, you may feel that the crime rates are higher now. But if you see the data, maybe you’d notice that the rates in fact reduced.
Off-topic: I recommend The Desi Crime Podcast – It has given me goosebumps on my evening walks.
Biases and Presumptions: Thinking What You Believe
We pick up random pieces of information and use them to solve problems in different circumstances.
For instance, I’m sure you’ve been a victim of a stereotype which wasn’t true at all (also known as belief bias).
Sometimes, we only look at information that supports our existing beliefs (aka confirmation bias) and we ignore the contrary arguments, no matter their merit.
Or believe that bad things only happen to other people, regardless of the circumstances (also known as optimism bias). This helps the brain survive, but sometimes it falters when it has to solve more complex problems.
Because of optimism bias, do we believe that bad things only happen to other people? Smokers with severely damaged lungs might still not think they will develop lung cancer, regardless of contrary evidence presented by medical tests on the state of the lungs.
As a driver, you’d never think that you could get into an accident and drive faster than you should.
Emotional Responses: Not Logical
Emotions often guide us pretty well in our daily decision-making.
To navigate difficult situations, you can tune into their minds for emotional awareness and regulation. This is because the brain associates emotional responses with specific similar situations. If you had an abusive parent or an authority figure, interactions with other authority figures may entice similar anxious emotions for you. This is your brain’s way of warning you of the looming danger.
But it can also act out and land you in trouble if you don’t stay conscious of it (also, where self-awareness comes into the picture). So intuitive thinking is helpful, but needs to be used with rational thinking.
Click here to read the complete guide to self-awareness.
For example, affection, love and attachment light up the brain’s reward systems and signal to you it’s good to stay close to the person who ignites these rewards for you. But if you feel intense affection or attachment, you may also ignore the rational signs (also called ‘red flags’) that it’s never going to work.
Memory Misplacement: You Think You Remember It All
Our memory is not perfect. We already spoke about telescoping earlier in the article.
We confuse people, sources of information, and incidents that happened to others as if they happened to us, and mix up details from different stories more often than we’d like.
No matter how confident you are, you are likely to forget the timing of the memories that happened just 5 months ago.
Data Driven: Not Data Analytical
Even if we’re relying on data, our minds can mislead us while reviewing it.
We ignore the base rate and focus too much on the numerator. It’s called denominator bias.
For example, if someone tells you that there is a 1 in 100 chance you’ll win the lottery or a 100 in 10000 chance that you’ll win the lottery, you’re likely to ignore that the chances are as bleak as the first one.
We also ignore the statistical information if we’re presented with specific facts or information to consider when dealing with any problem. We focus on the specifics and forget about the complete picture. This happens because of low base rate sensitivity.
An example that is often given is that a doctor should consider how common/rare a disease is before giving his diagnosis.
Sometimes, the manner in which the information is presented to us also influences our decisions. Also called framing bias.
Imagine, if a doctor tells you that 90% of the people suffering from the same disease as you recover, you’ll feel way better than if the doctor tells you that 10% of the people suffering never recover.
Egocentric Thinking: Living In Your Bubble
It’s harsh but it’s true – your view is not the only right one.
Generally, infants and teenagers think that only their worldview is the correct one. No other view is even possible. But as we grow, we learn to understand that everyone can have a different opinion on the matter, and sometimes, listening to them may even be beneficial for us.
Unfortunately, not all adults learn this if they haven’t matured with their age.
For example, if the adult has spent too much time being the big boss and surrounded by lots of yes-men in her life, it could be hard for her to acknowledge others’ contrary views.
how to think rationally: Rules to make thoughtful decisions
You can be one of the smartest people in the room with the highest levels of Intelligence Quotient, but that doesn’t guarantee you make the best decisions.
So, how do we reason? What can we do to ensure that our major life decisions are not based only on hinges, or incomplete or misleading data (even if it is correct)?
Let’s dive into the rules of rational thinking.
Take A Minute and Procrastinate Decision-Making
There are two kinds of pauses we’re talking about here:
Pre-decision pondering pause
A few days ago, I was out shopping at one of the flagship retail stores. While billing, the shopkeeper suggested that I pay 200 bucks to purchase the membership so I could avail a birthday month discount at the store.
Looking at how he insisted, I requested him to proceed without the discount, because these store membership plans are always a scam. Obviously, there would have been some catch in this.
He looked at me in sheer disbelief and insisted again. This made my resolve to not purchase the membership even stronger. 🙂 I told him to please process the bill because we were late and hungry.
But thankfully, he was one of the nice guys there and explained to me that if I paid 200, I would get 20% off on a bill of 5000 (i.e., about 1000 off) right now. This means I’d save 800 bucks right on the spot. There was no catch!
I looked at him embarrassed and handed him another 200 bucks for the membership.
While this time the shopkeeper saved me, we may not all be so lucky each time.
Pre-decision pauses help to calculate the consequences of each of your decisions can save you time and money. Ponder over the circumstances and be deliberate in the calculations and the pros and cons, because you need to prompt the machine (brain) to not be lazy.
Reflection pause
We get so lost in completing our work, getting tasks ticked off the to-do lists, that sometimes we forget why we’re doing them.
This is a more general pause taken even with no inducement, at regular intervals, to look at the bigger picture and think about:
- Why are you doing this?
- Who are you doing this for?
- What is going to result from your actions?
Instead of deciding on auto-pilot, be intentional in doing whatever you want to do.
Look Beyond the Fuzz
According to the fuzzy trace theory, we process information in two different compartments of the brain. One compartment stores the gist of our perceptions, while the other keeps verbatim details.
You’ve heard about how the Greeks used a Trojan Horse to win a war. Do you remember which war? Who were they fighting against? Which Greek God was the horse supposed to be an offering to? You remember the gist but have most likely forgotten the details.
As we grow older, we rely more and more on the ‘gist’ to solve complex problems. The problem, however, is that you frame the gist based on your state of mind, education, culture, social setting and worldview.
While the gist compartment may be efficient, it alone may not be accurate in giving you information. You need to put both your compartments to good use.
Tune Into Your Emotions
Rational thinking is not devoid of emotions. Emotions are neural responses of the brain to our circumstances, often based on long-term learning and provide essential information about our experiences that we may not pay attention to.
Acknowledge the emotional state of mind but both and by using both, you can get the most suitable results.
Active Critical and Open Thinking
Make the brain do the hard work and analyse each problem with an open mind. When you identify a problem, take a break and be deliberate in:
- Question the assumptions and biases.
- Think about the solutions.
- Analyse the pros and cons of each solution.
- Discuss the problem with others, especially stakeholders.
- Evaluate the different outcomes and compare them.
- Draw logical solutions based on your analysis.
Use All Your Mindware
You’re not born a learned expert, so have to learn new concepts, collect relevant information and use active critical and open thinking to decide. Without it, you’ll at best make sub-optimal decisions and choices.
If you have the right facts and data, you can override the automatic responses of the brain based on intuitive thinking. With the right mindware, you can ditch the unsuitable responses based on biases and presumptions, and do more rational thinking.
Takeaway: Decouple from the automatic by:
- Questioning the stereotypes and biases, and
- Questioning your natural response to the task
Ditch Rationalisation
We’re human and we make mistakes. The only way to avoid making any mistakes is not to do anything.
Accept your mistake instead of making excuses to justify the wrong action. Don’t find logic in the irreversible actions to rationalize them. Instead, take a pause and look beyond the fuzz. How can you best solve the problem now that you know what doesn’t work?
Making a mistake isn’t reflective of your intelligence. If you made a mistake, celebrate because that means you tried. You’ve moved forward. Acknowledge that and move on.
Disintegrate and reintegrate supporting data
Look at the numerator and the denominator when reviewing any data points by analysing the bigger picture, considering all the specific facts and the overall probability, and presenting the data in positive and negative frames.
Just like the shopping experience I discussed above, instead of only looking at how much extra you’ll have to pay, sit down and calculate how it translates into savings and by how much.
Instead of looking at only the 90% success rate, make a mental note that it means there is a 10% failure rate. Not to scare yourself, but to make a calculated choice after considering all the factors that contribute to success or failure.
Next Steps
- Your brain is wired to finish scrolling and moving to the next topic. But hold on, take a pause.
- You need to chase maximum rewards. Don’t compromise and adjust to sub-optimal responses your brain gives you.
- To think rationally, you’ll have to think, DELIBERATELY. This is a one-page printable PDF to remind you to do that.
- Chase maximum rewards – don’t compromise and adjust to sub-optimal solutions.
- Look for solutions and not for problems – be a learner now a judger.
Free Printable PDF – Checklist on Rules of Rational Thinking
Please take a print and hang it up on your work-desk, or fridge at home, or keep it in your desk drawer at work.
