Royane Real
Learn to Think More Clearly
Why do humans so often make errors in the way we think? Aren't we supposed to be intelligent creatures, with big, powerful brains?
In spite of how smart we are compared to every other creature on this planet, human beings often make mistakes in the way that we think.
Instead of thinking logically, we often over-generalize and we jump to conclusions based on very little evidence. We get cause and effect mixed up. We make snap decisions and we don't change our mind.
Once we have made a snap decision, we tend to stick to it emotionally, no matter how strong the evidence might be that perhaps we are wrong.
Believe it or not, many of the mistakes we make while thinking are a result of the way our brains are programmed. It is actually much easier for our brains to jump to conclusions instead of taking a long time to think over an issue from many angles.
For humans to learn to think clearly and deeply actually takes training and practice. Thinking clearly does not come to us automatically. We have to be educated on how to think clearly and logically.
Our brains are actually programmed to make snap decisions on very little evidence.
Our brain’s tendency to make snap decisions often came in very handy when our ancestors were facing some sort of sudden crisis. If one of our ancestors saw a dark shadowy shape moving in the dark, or heard a suspicious noise, it was better for him to become alarmed and run away quickly. He couldn’t afford to sit down and think it over logically.
It was often safer for our ancestors to fight or run instead of taking a lot of time to think and reason. This tendency towards snap decisions remains in our brains today. It is no longer a tendency that helps us to stay alive because the modern world has become a lot more complicated. Many of the dangers that face us are slow and complex.
The bigger dangers that face us today come from the environment, from the economy, from tensions in international relations.
Today we live in a world where we need to overcome some of our brain’s tendency to jump to conclusions. Today we often face situations that are very complex and require long term solutions. .
To deal with the issues that arise in the world today, we need to have a lot of education. We need to know how to evaluate evidence and come to an effective conclusion. We can’t afford to get sloppy with our thinking. We can't keep jumping to conclusions that don't fit the evidence.
That means that we need to develop our brain power to a higher degree. We need to learn to collect evidence and take time to think more clearly and logically whenever we can.
( The above comments were written by Royane Real. Learn more ways to get the most out of your brain power in her popular ebook : "How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative” You can download it from: http://www.lulu.com/real )
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