As its default mode of operation, the human brain uses the least amount of information necessary to make sense of the world before making decisions. This product of evolution was an efficient and effective strategy when we lived in a simple, familiar world. We no longer live in that world. We can still use this strategy to make sense of those aspects of our world that remain relatively simple and familiar (i.e., walking from point A to point B without tripping or falling into a hole), but we must use more advanced strategies when navigating the complex and/or unfamiliar. The default mode of thinking, which is intuitive, feeling-based, and fast, utilizing efficient heuristics (rules of thumb), is called System 1 thinking. The more advanced and more recently evolved mode of thinking, which is reflective, rational, and slow, is called System 2 thinking. Both are valid and useful. The trick is knowing when to shift from System 1 to System 2.

In my opinion, many of the problems that we suffer from today occur because we fail to shift from System 1 to System 2 when needed. For instance, electing the president of the most powerful nation on Earth requires System 2 thinking. That’s obvious, I suppose, but even such a mundane task as grocery shopping requires System 2 thinking to avoid choices that are fueled merely by marketing.

Defaults are automatic and largely unconscious. A single mode-of-thinking default doesn’t work when life sometimes requires System 1 and at other times requires System 2. Instead, rather than a default mode of thinking, we would benefit from a default of shifting into one or the other mode depending on the situation. This default doesn’t exist, but it could be developed, to an extent, through a great deal of practice over a great deal of time. Only by repeating the conscious act of shifting from System 1 to System 2, when necessary, over and over again, will we eventually reach the point where the shift will become automatic.

For now, we can learn to bring our mode of thinking when making decisions into conscious awareness and create the moments that are necessary to effect the System 1 to System 2 shift when it’s needed. Otherwise, we will remain the victims of hunter-gatherer thinking in a modern world that demands complex and sometimes unfamiliar choices, many of which come with significant, potentially harmful consequences. How do we make this happen? This is a question that deserves careful (i.e., System 2) study. One thing I can say for sure, however, is that we can learn to pause. The simple act of stopping and taking a moment to ask, “Is this one of those situations that, because it is complex or unfamiliar, requires reflection?”, is a good start.

Take care,