Why are there thinking errors, and what are their benefits

All errors of thought arose for a reason - especially to the brain saves energy and time. Let us consider them in terms of the problems they solve, to understand why the mistakes of thought exist and what are their benefits.

thinking errors help us to deal with four issues: information overload, lack of information, the need to act quickly and selection of stored data. Consider each of these issues in more detail.

1. Too much information

In a world of too much information. Naturally, we have to filter out most of it. To determine what information can be useful, the brain uses some simple techniques. That's what we see in the first place:

• Duplicate data. According to this rule, our brain is more likely to pay attention to the facts related to the fact that we already know.
• All weird, funny, unusual. All unusual and unexpected brain seems more important. Conversely, we pay less attention to what seems mundane and ordinary.
• Change. In this case, we define the importance of the new features in accordance with the quality of the changes, rather than to evaluate it as a separate phenomenon.
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• Evidence to support our views. As a consequence, we ignore facts that contradict our beliefs. This is one of the major errors of thinking.
• Shortcomings of others. Before you think that this article is about oddities other people think that your mind is making the same mistakes.

2. Lack of information

The world is very complex, in addition, we see only a small part of it. In this case, our brain must somehow arrange all incoming information. To do this, we compare the facts, assumptions and fill in the gaps so make up your view of the world.

• We see patterns even in situations of scattered information. Since we have only a small fraction of all existing information, in addition to filter out most of it, we can never have a complete picture of any event. Therefore, our brain recreates the image of the surrounding world with the help of the available bits of information.
• When we do not have enough information, we use stereotypes, generalizations and your previous experience. Sometimes we are faced with the phenomenon of which we have no specific information. If it refers to a group of well-familiar objects, the brain automatically fills in the gaps best guess. Then we are the way we forget what the real information, and what we've added by analogy.
• It seems that things and people we know and love better than others. This error is similar to the previous one. When we have enough information, we fill in the gaps assumptions. In this case, the brain relies on the built-in the belief that everything is better familiar.
• We simplify. Our subconscious mind is not very good at math. Therefore, in the absence of complete data is usually incorrectly interprets the probability of a particular event, resorting to simplifications.
• We think that we know what others think. We either assume that they know the same thing as we do, or believe that they think of us as often as we do.
• We project its current views on the past and the future. This error is amplified by the fact that we can not imagine how fast or how events will unfold slowly.

3. The need to act quickly

We are constantly limited in time. Without the ability to act quickly in emergency situations, we would have long extinct as a species. Every time receiving new information, the brain assesses our ability to influence the situation, simulates different scenarios and decides. This leads to the following errors of thought:

• Confidence in the self-importance. Although in everyday life such confidence would be considered presumptuous, it is necessary for us to proceed with the action.
• We prefer that in front of us at the moment. We value the present than the future, and more specific empathize with people than groups of people.
• We aim to finish the job in that have already invested time and effort. This helps us to finish the job, even if in the process we find reasons to stop.
• We try to avoid errors and to maintain its position in the group. We choose the option that seems the least risky, or one that will help to keep our status quo.
• We choose the easiest option. We willingly we undertake quick and easy task than important and complex.

4. What to remember?

In a world of too much information. We can afford to keep only what is useful to us in the future. Therefore, our brain constantly having to decide what to remember and what to forget. For example, instead of concrete facts he prefers generalizations, because they take up less space. When we are faced with data that is not amenable to simplification, the brain selects a few particularly salient facts and discards the rest. In this case, there are such mistakes:

• We change some memories. In this case, some details may confuse. Sometimes we unconsciously add to the memory of the new parts.
• We generalize. This is necessary, but subsequently such generalizations and stereotypes often turn into problems.
• We reduce events to key characteristics. To get an idea of ​​the event, we select several important elements that characterize it.
• We store memories differently, depending on their importance. The brain remembers only the information that seems important to him at the moment, while his decision may be influenced by many circumstances that are not related to the present value of information. Over time, the importance of this or that memories can be changed.

conclusions

So, once again, how the error of thinking helps our brain to save energy and time:

1. Too much information, so we filter all incoming data.
2. When we have enough information, we are filled with blanks.
3. The need to act quickly so as not to miss their chance, leads to the fact that we draw hasty conclusions.
4. We try to remember the most important, but not always correctly identify the importance.

What's the catch? In solving these problems, new problems arise:

• Part of useful information, in any case lost.
• We will automatically fill in the gaps and then believe what is actually there.
• Some quick decisions are unfair, selfish, or counterproductive.
• Part of the memorized information only increases the number of errors that occur.

We can not do anything to get rid of these four problems. thinking errors - it is just a tool, benefiting in some situations and harm - in other. Try to look at it from the positive side: thanks to these errors our brains to cope with incoming information and is aware of the world around us.