Choking on Thought

In this chapter, Jonah Lehrer talks about the dangers of over thinking a situation. He says that there is a certain set point where thinking is no longer advantageous - instead, it is disadvantageous. For example, beginners at golf should consciously think about their swing to practice and improve. However, once their swing has become second nature, golfers should rely on feeling. Actively thinking about their swing could prove disastrous. Turning off our brain's autopilot will cause the golfer to override the brain's feelings, which have been honed and tuned through practice. It is therefore possible to thinking too much. Being a baseball, tennis, and golf player, I know this downfall all too well. Thinking about your swing is often the reason that you mess up your swing.

In addition, it is rather ironic that I should read this particular chapter this week. This past Saturday, I had a piano recital. I was playing near the end of the program, so I had no shortage of time to think about the piece that I had to play. However, I over thought, and as Lehrer puts it, "choked on thought." As I played, I began thinking about what comes next instead of relying on my brain's feelings as I normally did when practicing. When I was practicing, I could usually play through the piece without many mistakes. However, while performing, I got nervous and I thought too much, which ultimately led to me making many mistakes. Thankfully, my piano teacher understood. Now that I have learned the reason that this happens, hopefully I can avoid it next time.

Lehrer also discusses the other downsides to thinking too much. When people are faced with a visual choice (such as two paintings to pick from), they usually go with the choice that "feels right." However, when pondering the choice, people tend to over think. They change their minds because they are unable to rationalize their initial choice other than "it feels right." This could be dangerous. "Self analysis results in less self awareness," Lehrer says.

I kept this in mind this past week when picking senior portraits. I had narrowed down the choices to two, so I asked my friends what they thought. However, I took care not to ask them why they liked the picture, but only which one they liked. Hopefully this approach was effective in picking the better looking picture.

Lehrer spends the rest of the chapter talking about how the rational brain is sometimes confronted with too much information. This causes our brains to start considering irrelevant information, which is known as the anchoring effect. For example, when a new car is seen, there is usually a high sticker price printed on it that was never meant to be paid. However, when the salesperson gives the customer an inevitable price cut, the customer's prefrontal cortex automatically interprets it as a bargain.

Now that I know, when it is time for me to buy a car, the only thing I have to do is figure out how to get a discount on a "discount."

Essentially, this chapter is trying to prove that emotions are better at assessing actual preferences, as opposed to rational thought. We should listen to our feelings when looking at choices. However, I am still hesitant to adopt such a different approach to life. As much evidence that Lehrer puts forth, I am still somewhat convinced that rational thought helps in decisions.

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