Inside our brain magic can happen if you let it
Why our brain automate can block our creativity
Most of the things that happen in the world right now go at an alarming speed. But on the other hand, we as humans are different.
Our personal development, for instance, is very slow. Our body and actions can follow fast, but our brain follows very slowly. Our brain is even remarkably slow. We are still developing elements from the time that we were hunters and gatherers, according to Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and researcher of our brain.
What we do and how we think also descends from that era; still, we act as though we are entirely in control. Unfortunately, we are not. Our brain is in control. And our brain is very old fashioned, says Kahneman.
I will explain why we need to stop listening to our immediate given reactions if we want to be highly creative.
That includes dismissing ideas as soon as they are born.
We tend to eat sweet, fat or salt food (yes, you are not the only one). We tell ourselves that we have a sweet tooth. Or we think we deserve a moment (anyone?) for our hard work. This all seems like a controlled decision, but that is not the case. The choice for sweet, fat or salt food derives from our ancient hunter and gatherer brain. Because during this era, long before we cultivated our food, we had to eat what was available. And sometimes that could be nothing when there was a period of drought, for instance. So, we ate when we had food. Our brain signals that we had to eat fat foods because you needed to build up extra reserves for times when food was scarce. Sometimes we got the signal to eat salty food, this was necessary when we needed to retain water, and this kept us from dehydrating when we had no water.
And the taste for sweet food was so we could recognize berries and fruit that we could eat. Sour fruit tends to be poisonous and should not to be eaten.
So, our preference for these types of food comes from our hunter and gatherer brain. This way of selecting food was the best way to survive at the time. Unfortunately, our brains, ever so now and then, confuses us. It signals that we need fat, salty of sweet food. But now, because we have a completely different lifestyle this “hunter and gatherer “thinking is no longer necessary. As a result, obesity is amongst the highest-ranking causes of death, not hunger. Our brain reacts to this world like we are still hunters and gatherers.
The reason this is important is not only to understand why we have these cravings for the food we should not eat. But the main reason is that once we realize that our brain is much more in control, than we might think we need to learn how to use it. And how to use it, to help us.
The first thing we need to understand is the way our brain functions.
Adapting our brain to the world of today will take time.
One of the things our brain is doing is processing information non-stop. Everything we see, hear, feel, we collect, store and analyze.
This means that all we see of society, all we experience, all we smell, everything, is collected in our brain. All stories, rules, regulations, behavior, emotions, everything is stored.
I call this my library and I even see it this way. Huge stacks of books, papers and everything, no structure (well not much, but as I will discuss later on, structure is not always a good thing. So, hurray, for my lack of organizational skills here).
And we all have these archives, some large and some modest.
When we need something, our brain can find that piece of information and hand it back to us, so we will be able to use that piece of information for what we needed it.
When we are given an assignment, like climbing the stairs fast.
Our brain dives into the information and gets back to us in a split second and hands us the right information. This way we can move our feet and take a step up the flight of stairs. Foot by foot and because you have learned how to run up the stairs, you can do that immediately.
How you react to anything that happens around you is the outcome of all the information gathered over the years.
The older we grow, the more information is gathered, and our brain is filled with all kinds of experiences, emotions, knowledge and much more.
How our brain uses the information we have gathered is quite positive because it allows us to interact with and function in society.
And your brain is also able to hand you new possibilities and ideas, and this is where it starts to get interesting.
But as you might have guessed by now, there is also a downside to this behavior. According to Kahneman, our brain consists of two parts: system I and system II. System I is always busy building a reliable interpretation of what is happening around you.
It is an information collector, and one of its main goals is always to have a reference for what we see, hear and feel around us. Our brain is our knowledge center the library. It helps us translate what we see, hear or think. This system works very quickly and completely automated. We, therefore, have to use little to no energy to keep system I working and up to date.
We have very little control over system I.
Then there is, System II, which is different; it revolves around conscious thoughts, like calculations and problem-solving. It can connect ideas and stories. The more information we have gathered in our brain, the more exquisite connections our brain can make.
System II, on the other hand, works consciously and is not automated.
These two systems together can work wonders. System I collects all data and system II can come up with solutions and complicated thoughts.
Our observation is linked to system I and is fully automated. Which is great, because you wouldn’t want to look at a mountain not realize what it is you are looking at. But system I is very prejudiced since it only uses the data you have. All the data you have collected and stored in system I, over the years, is, in fact, your whole life. Your upbringing, everything you have read, the society you live in and everything you did in your life, your friends, opinions of friends, media you watch and so on. But that means it is also filled with bias. Since anything is stored and not fact-checked, this could be causing problems. Since these are just stories, things you got told, read somewhere. This information could hold actual facts but could also be hear say.
When there is something that needs to be dealt with right away, suppose you are confronted with a problem: System I always hands you the easy explanation. Kahneman discovered that System I is somewhat lazy and therefore does not bother to find the right answer or explanation, but the easiest. So, in this capacity system I, makes a lot of assumptions. Fast and easy is the way it works, using as little energy as possible.
Suppose somebody hands you a picture of a person is lying in the street. Imagine it in your minds eye!
Take some time!
What is your first thought?
Your first reaction might be: there has been an accident. You might look for a car or even worse: injuries. Remember we are working with first reactions here.
To correct this first reaction of System I, you need System II as a backup. But thinking with System II takes a lot of our energy, and that sometimes is just too much work. Most of the time, we rely on system I to be right. We accept the given solution that is handed to us.
And that is a good thing for most situations but a serious creativity killer!
Let’s take a closer look at what happens if you let system II take control. System II might give you other explanations, just somebody who got tired and laid down in the street. Or it’s is an excellent place to meditate.
Our brain doesn’t like to work overtime and spend energy on something that system I has already done, whether is it the right solution or not that does not matter.
But you can choose to put your system II at work when you are open to more options.
When you need to be creative, you need to understand how to put system II to work and to let it work.
But there is another issue, System I is not a system you can shut down. When we need to ideate properly
- we need to observe without prejudice,
- think without the burden of rules and beliefs,
- bypass the stories we have been told, and are in our library.
So, it is of the utmost importance that we acknowledge and recognize what System I does and that we consciously use System II for the more complicated problems to create a more reliable environment, to ideate at the highest level.
We thank System I for its help, but we should work with System II to give us the important stuff.
Unfortunately, most of us have learned to rely entirely on system I, and it’s quick and adequate answers.
Only if you know how to maximize the potential of system II you can work your creativity at the highest level.
Maurille,
Rebel School for creativity
