The modern world is changing our thinking

We love creative thinking

Before the word "creative" was synonymous with "informal". Today we want to see a person free and creative thinking, applaud when the task of finding an unconventional approach.

There are two methods for solving problems:

• Analytical - you pick up solutions, and then decide which one is right.
• Intuitive (insights Method) - the decision comes to your mind as a finished product.

It is difficult to go beyond, trying to solve the problem analytically, but here is a way for insights that could not be better.

scientists checked Insight solutions are correct more often than analytic solutions both methods and found that the method gives more insight correct answers than analysis. Brain scans showedThe Origins of Insight in Resting-State Brain Activity : People that solve problems in a way activated the anterior cingulate. This area monitors the conflicts between areas of the brain and reveals conflicting strategies. With it, people can see the obvious way of solving the problem and direct attention to them.

In addition, during the insights people have noted a more diffuse attention. It allows you to see the whole, did not dwell on the concrete.

Distracted attention characteristic of a person relaxed and elated. You are not totally focused on the task, but do not head in the clouds. Perhaps that is why most of the insights come to people in comfortable settingSuch as in the bathroom. If you visited this insight, along with it comes the belief that the decision is correct. And judging by the scientific evidence, it should be trusted.

Regardless of which method to solve problems you're using, you do it better than your not so distant ancestors.

We are smarter than the people who lived 100 years ago

Since 1930, the results of IQ tests increasedThe Flynn Effect: A Meta-analysis three points every decade. This tendency is called the Flynn effect - by name found it by Professor James Flynn (James Flynn).

In this law there are several reasons:

• Increased quality of life. Improved nutrition of pregnant women and infants, decreased the number of children in the family. Now people invest in the development and education of their children up to university of graduation.
• Improved education.
• Changed features of labor. Mental work is generally appreciated and physical paid above.
• cultural environment has changed. In today's world, people are getting a lot more incentives for the development of the brain: the books, the Internet, a variety of communication, not limited to the place of residence.
• People are used to the questions of the IQ-tests. We have a child can solve such problems and to use abstract thinking, so do it better.

We were much more fortunate than our grandparents, but our children are not necessarily smarter. Already in the developed European countries showed antieffektThe negative Flynn Effect: A systematic literature review Flynn: After 2000's intelligence growth stopped and even started to decline.

Scientists suggest that the impact on the environment human intelligence It peaked better to nowhere. People and so well fed, give birth to one or two children and are trained to 16-23 years. They can not have fewer children or study longer, so it is not surprising that intelligence has stopped growing.

We are better to solve puzzles on paper, but does this affect the real life? After all, a person - not a machine, and errors often stem from an incorrect assessment of the information and features of our perception.

We lack the critical thinking

To err is human and to see only one side of the problem. One example of such thinking - the availability heuristic, when one assesses the frequency and the possibility of events by the ease with which examples come to mind.

Using this method, we rely on your memory, and do not take into account the real statistics. For example, a person is afraid to die of a terrorist attack or tornado, but do not even think about a heart attack or Oncology. Just because on television often show high-profile cases.

Such errors can be attributed to the effect of armatureJudgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and BiasesWhen the decision of the people affected by the arbitrary data obtained from the environment. This effect is well demonstrated by experiment psychologist Daniel Kahneman (Daniel Kahneman). Subjects were asked to spin the wheel of fortune, which randomly dropped out number 10 or 65. After that, participants were required to estimate the percentage of African countries in the UN. People saw on the wheel 10, has always been called a lower number than those who caught 65, even though they knew that this is totally unrelated.

similar errors of perception follow us everywhere. Learn to ignore them is very important, especially in today's world, where the flows feykovyh news and myths are pouring from all sides.

To avoid becoming a victim of illusions, learn to question all the information to choose reliable sources and from time to time to assess their beliefs, even if they seem to you only true.

Also for the development of critical thinking is useful to communicate with a wide range of people. Usually we are drawn to those who share our views. But in order to develop the habit of critical thinking, we need friends who disagree with us. They just settle many themes for reflection and perhaps force us to reconsider their beliefs.