What makes us intelligent?
… and does Google and Wikipedia make it better or worse? Studies show
that other people and tools influence our brain power as much as our own
minds.
I’ve written before about whether or not the internet is rewiring our brains, but here the question is about how we seek to define intelligence itself. And the answer appears to be an intriguing one. Because when you look at the evidence from psychological studies, it suggests that much of our intelligence comes from how we coordinate ourselves with other people and our environment.
An influential theory among psychologists is that we're cognitive misers. This is the idea that we are reluctant to do mental work unless we have to, we try to avoid thinking things though fully when a short cut is available. If you've ever voted for the political candidate with the most honest smile, or chosen a restaurant based on how many people are already sitting in there, then you've been a cognitive miser. The theory explains why we'd much rather type a zipcode into a sat-nav device or Google Maps than memorise and recall the location of a venue – it's so much easier to do so.
Research shows that people don't tend to rely on their memories for things they can easily access. Things like the world in front of our eyes, for example, can be changed quite radically without people noticing. Experiments have shown that buildings can somehow disappear from pictures we're looking at, or the people we're talking to can be switched with someone else, and often we won't notice – a phenomenon called “change blindness”. This isn't as an example of human stupidity – far from it, in fact – this is an example of mental efficiency. The mind relies on the world as a better record than memory, and usually that's a good assumption.
As a result, philosophers have suggested that the mind is designed to spread itself out over the environment. So much so that, they suggest, the thinking is really happening in the environment as much as it is happening in our brains. The philosopher Andy Clark called humans "natural born cyborgs", beings with minds that naturally incorporate new tools, ideas and abilities. From Clark's perspective, the route to a solution is not the issue – having the right tools really does mean you know the answers, just as much as already knowing the answer.
Society wins
A memory study by Daniel Wegner of Harvard University provides a neat example of this effect. Couples were asked to come into the lab to take a memorisation test. Half the couples were kept together, and half were reassigned to pair up with someone they didn't know. Both groups then studied a list of words in silence, and were then tested individually. The pairs that were made up of a couple in a relationship could remember more items, both overall and as individuals.
What happened, according to Wegner, was that the couples in a relationship had a good understanding of their partners. Because of this they would tacitly divide up the work between them, so that, say, one partner would remember words to do with technology, assuming the other would remember the words to do with sports. In this way, each partner could concentrate on their strengths, and so individually they outperformed people in couples where no mental division of labour was possible. Just as you rely on a search engine for answers, so you can rely on people you deal with regularly to think about certain things, developing a shared system for committing items to memory and bringing them out again, what Wegner called “transactive memory”.
Having minds that work this way is one of the great strengths of the human species. Rather than being forced to rely on our own resources for everything, we can share our knowledge and so pool our understanding. Technology keeps track of things for individuals so we don't have to, while large systems of knowledge serve the needs of society as a whole. I don't know how a computer works, or how to grow broccoli, but that knowledge is out there and I get to benefit. And the internet provides even more potential to share this knowledge. Wikipedia is one of the best examples – an evolving store of the world's knowledge for which everyone can benefit from. I use Wikipedia every day, aware of all the caveats of doing so, because it supports me in all the thinking I do for things like this column.
So as well as having a physical environment – like the rooms or buildings we live or work in – we also have a mental environment. Which means that when I ask you where your mind is, you shouldn’t point toward the centre of your forehead. As research on areas like transactive memory shows, our minds are made up just as much by the people and tools around us as they are by the brain cells inside our skull.
Courtesy
Article by Tom Stafford @tomstafford.
Why is it so hard to give good directions?
We’ve all been there – the directions sounded so clear when we were told them. Every step of the journey seemed obvious, we thought we had understood the directions perfectly. And yet here we are miles from anywhere, after dark, in a field arguing about whether we should have gone left or right at the last turn, whether we’re going to have to sleep here now, and exactly whose fault it is.
The truth is we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. Psychologically speaking giving good directions is a particularly difficult task.
The reason we find it hard to give good directions is because of the "curse of knowledge", a psychological quirk whereby, once we have learnt something, we find it hard to appreciate how the world looks to someone who doesn't know it yet. We don’t just want people to walk a mile in our shoes, we assume they already know the route. Once we know the way to a place we don't need directions, and descriptions like "its the left about halfway along" or "the one with the little red door" seem to make full and complete sense.
But if you've never been to a place before, you need more than a description of a place; you need an exact definition, or a precise formula for finding it. The curse of knowledge is the reason why, when I had to search for a friend's tent in a field, their advice of "it's the blue one" seemed perfectly sensible to them and was completely useless for me, as I stood there staring blankly at hundreds of blue tents.
This same quirk is why teaching is so difficult to do well. Once you are familiar with a topic it is very hard to understand what someone who isn't familiar with it needs to know. The curse of knowledge isn't a surprising flaw in our mental machinery – really it is just a side effect of our basic alienation from each other. We all have different thoughts and beliefs, and we have no special access to each other's minds. A lot of the time we can fake understanding by mentally simulating what we'd want in someone else's position. We have thoughts along the lines of "I'd like it if there was one bagel left in the morning" and therefore conclude "so I won't eat all the bagels before my wife gets up in the morning". This shortcut allows us to appear considerate, without doing any deep thought about what other people really know and want.
“OK, now what?”
This will only get you so far. Some occasions call for a proper understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. Giving directions is one, but so is understanding myriad aspects of everyday conversation which involve feelings, jokes or suggestions. For illustration, consider the joke that some research has suggested may be the world's funniest(although what exactly that means is another story):
This will only get you so far. Some occasions call for a proper understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. Giving directions is one, but so is understanding myriad aspects of everyday conversation which involve feelings, jokes or suggestions. For illustration, consider the joke that some research has suggested may be the world's funniest(although what exactly that means is another story):
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"
The joke is funny because you can appreciate that the hunter had two possible interpretations of the operator's instructions, and chose the wrong one. To appreciate the interpretations you need to have a feel for what the operator and the hunter know and desire (and to be surprised when the hunter's desire to do anything to help isn't over-ruled by a desire keep his friend alive).
To do this mental simulation you recruit what psychologists call your“Theory of Mind”, the ability think about others' beliefs and desires. Our skill at Theory of Mind is one of the things that distinguish humans from all other species – only chimpanzees seem to have anything approaching a true understanding that others' might believe different things from themselves. Us humans, on the other hand, seem primed from early infancy to practice thinking about how other humans view the world.
The fact that the curse of knowledge exists tells us how hard a problem it is to think about other people's minds. Like many hard cognitive problems – such as seeing, for example – the human brain has evolved specialist mechanisms which are dedicate to solving it for us, so that we don't normally have to expend conscious effort. Most of the time we get the joke, just as most of the time we simply open our eyes and see the world.
The good news is that your Theory of Mind isn't completely automatic – you can use deliberate strategies to help you think about what other people know. A good one when writing is simply to force yourself to check every term to see if it is jargon – something you’ve learnt the meaning of but not all your readers will know. Another strategy is to tell people what they can ignore, as well as what they need to know. This works well with directions (and results in instructions like “keep going until you see the red door. There’s a pink door, but that’s not it”)
With a few tricks like this, and perhaps some general practice, we can turn the concept of trying to read other people’s minds – what some psychologists call “mind mindedness” – into a habit, and so improve our Theory of Mind abilities. (Something most of us remember struggling hard to do in adolescence.) Which is a good thing, since good theory of mind is what makes a considerate partner, friend or co-worker - and a good giver of directions.
courtesy of bbc.
Make More Money by Confronting Money
Steve has the golden touch. Everything he does makes money. As an employee at a furniture store, he gets fast promotions and raises. After five years, he is the top manager and makes a deal with the owner to buy the business. He makes several improvements and triples the income. He has no debt, saves money every month and has a lot of fun.Andy never has any money. He works hard at the same furniture company, but never gets ahead. He can't remember his last raise and is terrified of starting a business. He spends more than he makes, so his debts are steadily increasing. Because he constantly worries about money, he has health problems, as well.
What is the greatest difference between Steve and Andy?
"Man is having trouble with finance? Obviously, he is unwilling to confront* money." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*Confront has two common definitions: 1) meet face-to-face in hostility or defiance. 2) face up to and deal with a problem; to be courageous. In this article, we are using the second definition.)
To resolve money troubles, you confront or face all aspects of money. To really confront something, you have no resistance, no hesitation and no emotion. You courageously, but simply face it.
For example, you can probably confront an apple. The apple does not scare you or upset you. You can easily control and enjoy the apple.
However, a credit card bill, a financial disagreement or a problem with taxes may not be as easy for you to face. These areas of low confront actually hurt your ability to earn money.
When you face something completely, the area starts to improve. It's amazing how much money you can make when you improve your ability to confront money problems.
Using our example above, Steve is a financial success because he faces all financial problems. For example, he fearlessly sells big packages of office furniture to the toughest customers.
Andy gets so nervous when talking to big-shot customers that he prefers to stay in the store instead of going to customer's offices. If he were willing to confront tough customers, and went to see them despite his fear, he would conquer his fear and earn more money.
Two Steps for Increasing Your Financial Confront
If you are not making as much money as you like, what about money are you not confronting?
Non-confront comes in many forms: fear, avoidance, shyness, laziness, procrastination, terror, pretense, anxiety, stress, worry, upsets, forgetfulness, disorganization, hatred, lies, shame, blame, regret, critical thoughts and excuses. Do you experience any of these forms of non-confront regarding money?
If you are willing to increase your ability to confront money, you will have more of it. All you need to do is:
1. Identify an aspect of money you are not confronting.
2. Confront it: face it, deal with it, be courageous, take responsibility for it; invest the hard work and persistence required to resolve it.
20 Questions
To help you get started, these questions can help you identify the areas of money you should confront.
1. How much money do you owe?
2. How much loan interest do you pay per month?
3. How much money do you spend per month? On what?
4. How much money do you waste per month?
5. Is your checkbook balanced?
6. Do you avoid preparing tax forms?
7. Are you not paying money you promised to pay?
8. Are you avoiding anyone who owes you money?
9. Are you involved in a financial disagreement?
10. What are you doing with money that you should not be doing? That you should be doing?
11. Do you have a long-term financial plan?
12. What work skills should you improve?
13. How could you produce a better service or product?
14. What about your income are you avoiding?
15. What do you lie about regarding money?
16. What bad habits do you have with money?
17. What scares you about money?
18. What are you putting off?
19. What do you hate about money?
20. What steps would be needed for you to increase your income? Which of these steps seem too difficult for you to face?
Pick one thing you are willing to confront, confront it today and see what happens!
courtesy of tips4life L. Ron Hubbard
How to Increase productivity by Handling Distractions
Have you ever ended a very busy day only to realize you accomplished nothing?
You were probably distracted. Ever wonder why you feel frustrated at work? Distractions might be stopping you.
Ever feel stress? Distractions may be the cause.
Distractions are not just irritating, they are destructive forces that ruin your productivity. Examples: Chatty coworkers, personal problems, sunny days, rainy days, Facebook, holidays, earthquakes, debts, political news, salespeople, money concerns, health problems and more.
How do you handle distractions?
You get organized.
"THOSE INDIVIDUALS OR AREAS THAT ARE THE LEAST WELL-ORGANIZED ARE AFFECTED THE MOST BY DISTRACTIONS." -- L. Ron Hubbard
A well-organized business understands distractions and organizes to deal with them.
For example, a key worker calls in sick. In a well-organized group, the manager calls in a temporary worker from an agency, gives the worker a written list of instructions and everyone gets their work done. A poorly-organized group discusses the problem for 20 minutes without coming to a solution. The group members are then distracted all day because they have to do the missing worker's job.
When a well-organized business owner gets a legal notice, he or she delegates the problem to a lawyer and focuses on making a prosperous day. A poorly-organized business owner drops everything and worries about it all day.
Well-organized groups handle emergencies, disasters and sudden increases in production without breathing hard. Poorly-organized groups are overwhelmed by them.
Personal Organization
Organizing your personal life so you are not distracted
boosts your productivity and income!
For example, you don't need to talk to everyone who calls you and it's silly to read every piece of e-mail or every electronic message when it comes in.
If you are organized, your communications are organized so you only receive information that is relevant to your job. Except for emergencies, you ignore family problems, personal problems and even your health problems. All superior producers do this and are not easily distracted. While working, nothing is more important than the work itself.
If your car won't start, your computer crashes or other small disaster occurs, you have backup plans. You are organized and not distracted by these problems. You get your work done despite everything that gets in your road.
For example, you don't need to talk to everyone who calls you and it's silly to read every piece of e-mail or every electronic message when it comes in.
If you are organized, your communications are organized so you only receive information that is relevant to your job. Except for emergencies, you ignore family problems, personal problems and even your health problems. All superior producers do this and are not easily distracted. While working, nothing is more important than the work itself.
If your car won't start, your computer crashes or other small disaster occurs, you have backup plans. You are organized and not distracted by these problems. You get your work done despite everything that gets in your road.
How to Get Better Organized
1. Write
down five of your biggest distractions or potential distractions.
2. Next to the first distraction, write down how you can get organized so you are not affected by the distraction.
3. Do the same for the other items on the list.
4. Follow your plans and get organized!
5. Write down permanent rules or policies for yourself or your work so you stay organized.
Personal examples: "I will only take personal calls during my lunch hour." "If I get hungry during the afternoon, I will chew gum and keep working until 5:00." "If Joe tries to upset me, I will pretend he is three years old, not get into an argument and get back to work."
Business examples: "If someone asks me to do their job, I will ask them for their pay." "If you have a suggestion for the company, please e-mail all the details to me." "Each summer, we will do the following program to keep our sales up, despite the vacations."
Because you are well-organized, you make faster progress toward your goals and ultimate success as you are not easily distracted.
2. Next to the first distraction, write down how you can get organized so you are not affected by the distraction.
3. Do the same for the other items on the list.
4. Follow your plans and get organized!
5. Write down permanent rules or policies for yourself or your work so you stay organized.
Personal examples: "I will only take personal calls during my lunch hour." "If I get hungry during the afternoon, I will chew gum and keep working until 5:00." "If Joe tries to upset me, I will pretend he is three years old, not get into an argument and get back to work."
Business examples: "If someone asks me to do their job, I will ask them for their pay." "If you have a suggestion for the company, please e-mail all the details to me." "Each summer, we will do the following program to keep our sales up, despite the vacations."
Because you are well-organized, you make faster progress toward your goals and ultimate success as you are not easily distracted.
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