by William Taboas, M.A.
The other day, I was discussing the concepts of cognitive biases and irrational beliefs to a close friend of mine. I recognize now how good and polite of a friend he was when he didn’t snooze through my explanation. Instead, he actually acted like a curious listener. Anyway, I explained, in a nutshell that, our mind takes mental shortcuts and makes good (but insufficient) summaries of all of the sensory information we are exposed to through our lifetime. The brain is a faster and more efficient information processing organ by allocating attention and memory to only relevant data. However, a byproduct of mental shortcuts are these cognitive biases or predilections in our thinking patterns.
On the other hand, beliefs end up being the organizing theme of the conglomeration of these thinking predilections, that are given color, texture, and flavor by our emotional and behavioral reactions. Some beliefs are irrational and dysfunctional, and others are rational and functional. Everyone has their own themes and flavors of beliefs and thinking patterns. My friend was buying the lecture, so far. But he was concerned that most of us aren’t aware of these patterns; he challenged the notion that we need awareness to function.
I conceded to my friend that awareness or insight to our beliefs and ways of thinking are non-essential to carry out our day to day activities. After all, these models of explaining human psychology have been present only in a fraction of human existence…we have survived without them! But then I had a rebuttal: without disagreeing, I am still of the belief that understanding the thematic motivations of a behavior and the associated emotional consequence related to our thinking can be of help if we wish to find more effective and fruitful ways to behave, feel, and function as an individual and society as a whole.
I asked my friend if he could identify his themes. Can you give yourself examples? Can you identify their advantages and the way they get reinforced and propagated? Can you heighten your awareness of these themes? Would you like to change the theme? How would you go about changing the theme?
He was buying it, but had one more concern; what if I can’t change the theme? To which I answered “You can! Everyone can customize the view of their experiences.” “So, you can’t? Or you won’t?”, I asked. “I don’t feel like it. I’m stubborn like that”, he says with facetious pride. Then I say: “Maybe that’s your theme. And it’s your choice to behave and think stubbornly. Your theme; your choice.”
