Why Thinking Before Acting Is Hard & How AI Can Help
“Think before you act” is a popular adage — it implies that thinking is desirable, action is mandatory, and most of us don’t think before acting.
Yet thinking comes naturally to us humans, so are there cases in which we have an aversion to it? If so, and we assume thinking is indeed a desirable prerequisite, wouldn’t it be wonderful if somebody could think on our behalf, while we simply act?
“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
― Thomas A. Edison
Is An Aversion To Thinking Beneficial?
“Stop thinking, and end your problems.”
― Lao Tzu
In daily life, we make many judgments and decisions quickly without much conscious processing. Often it feels that we have a strong tendency to avoid thinking at the first opportunity. We even learn to train to eventually jettison the need for thinking. We learn to drive so that we can drive without thinking. We learn to swim so that we can swim without thinking. Soldiers are trained to fight so that they can fight without thinking. We learn to meditate to be present without thinking.
To think involves cognitive effort which consumes precious energy. Through biological evolution, lifeforms are hardwired to conserve energy and are quite efficient at doing so. Within an evolutionary context, speed and agility take precedence over thinking — a delayed action when hunting or being hunted in the wilderness could cost one their life. In this circumstance, an aversion to thinking is beneficial.
Thinking can be considered an ‘afterthought’, enabled by relatively underdeveloped add-on machinery in our brains. From a psychological perspective, thinking in order to act is a matter of self-control. And every time we practice the skill, we are drained of energy, eventually to the point of complete exhaustion. In other words, always thinking before acting is not sustainable. Additionally, there are other indirect aversions to thinking, such as the fear of facing the unpleasant consequences of our own actions.
When we act on impulse, we are intrinsically convinced that our actions are the best ones within the given circumstance. But, what is the source of such conviction? There are two answers, attributable to two amazing features of our brain — long-term, subconscious memory and cognitive bias.
Conscious thinking requires evaluating all possible actions, their expected outcomes, and then acting in favor of the most desirable outcome. This is hard work — even more daunting when the number of options, and the uncertainty of consequences grows exponentially.
Instead of exerting unnecessary effort, we rely on the memory of past experiences which resemble our present experience. It’s as if we have a subconscious lookup table to map possible scenarios to. We can call this situation encoding — an amazing ability to identify the situation demanding action, analyze the present environment, and instantly and effortlessly receive recommendations on how to act.
But, how do we best respond to unfamiliar circumstances then, for which there is no precedent? Well, we could do nothing. But, we tend to do something. Our sensory faculty impulsively interprets the new circumstance by mapping to already familiar situations, thereby introducing cognitive bias in the process. Such a mechanism gets us quickly going, but may have serious unintended consequences.
We may find ourselves quick to anger in a situation which warrants compassion, due to lack of experience with the outcomes compassion can yield. And if anger has led to desired outcomes in the past, it becomes even more difficult to deduce which situations require a compassionate response.
Transcending Thinking Aversion
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
― Maya Angelou
Despite any aversion to thinking, we must admit that our position at the top rung of the evolutionary ladder is attributable to our conscious faculties. Thinking is difficult, yet desirable, because by some measure, we idealize a favorable consequence to our actions.
Within today’s hyper-connected, fast-paced world, where we encounter a far greater number of unfamiliar situations personally and professionally, we can further argue the importance of conscious processing.
Entire enterprises cannot make effective decisions, if the individual decision makers remain slaves to unconscious processing.
Therefore, the most effective action enterprise leaders can take today, is to initiate conscious processing for individuals and teams within their organizations.
It is possible to use proven psychological interventions for behavioral transformation, however such techniques are often temporary and difficult to scale. Humans are hard-wired to return to intrinsic behaviors without sustained intervention.
What would be useful is a mechanism for sustained intervention that is nonthreatening, and perhaps even sought after to transcend thinking aversion.
AI — My Thinking Buddy
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
― Isaac Asimov
Enter artificial intelligence — our potential companion in personal decision-making. For this to become a reality, we must precisely understand when AI can intervene in the decision-action process without causing cognitive discomfort or additional burden.
Let us review what steps our brain takes, without much output of energy or effort, when we encounter a situation which requires us to act.
- We sense the environment and know that an action is required
- Our mind instantly considers whether or not it is necessary to think before acting
- The answer follows one of three paths:
Path A - No thinking, familiar situation. I have a precedent for the best action. Act.
This is the reflexive path for a familiar situation. It works well and requires no intervention from AI.
Path B — No thinking, unfamiliar situation, but I still map to an approximately analogous situation. Thinking is difficult. I seemingly have a precedent for the best action. I will deal with the consequences of my actions later. Act.
This is an error prone path where our cognitive biases may steer us to map the unfamiliar to familiar, potentially loosing valuable information. Intervention by AI here can mitigate the adverse impact of cognitive biases. Unfortunately, this is also the path where people can be overconfident and most defensive in resisting intervention.
Path C — Yes to thinking, unfamiliar situation. I don’t want to take undue risks. I must think before I act.
This is where AI can help reduce cognitive burden by assisting in the decision-action process.
AI can influence human behavior by judiciously intervening in Path B in real time. Coupled with the assurance of reducing cognitive burden, an intervention is more likely to be acceptable.
For AI to intervene and assist in the decision-action process (see figure 2) within unfamiliar and complex situations, it must sense the environment continuously, understand human intent and biases, alert us at the right moment to choose the right path. Once the ‘thinking path’ is consciously chosen, AI can further assist in reducing cognitive burden by analyzing and evaluating alternate scenarios in the background.
The Emerging Field of Decision Intelligence
Decision intelligence (DI) is an emerging field of innovation where AI and analytics are effectively tapped to achieve business goals within a fast-changing environment.
DI is about impacting outcomes by transforming habits — information, data and analytics play a key role, but are not necessarily the primary drivers. An exclusive focus on data and analytics alone can easily lead us astray if human factors in decision making are overlooked.
The example of AI intervening in the decision-action process is a simplified manifestation of DI capability within an enterprise. It hints at the possibilities of deeper, human-centered investigations in designing decision intelligence systems.
