Thinking
How we decide
Title: How we decide
Author: Jonah Lehrer
Price: £13.00
Publisher: Mariner
This was a book recommended to me by Ted Garratt. Ted worked as a business coach and also in sport.
‘How we decide’ is a fascinating introduction to the complex processes we undertake when making decisions. Problems of urgency, problems with potential catastrophic consequences, problems of complexity or a combination of all three are included in this book. Each chapter begins with a story from real life, each of which not only illustrates the main thrust of the particular section of the book but also engages the reader in the topic. We are treated to pilots working frantically to avoid imminent airplane disasters, athletes making split –second decisions on the field, firefighters trying to save lives, poker players competing to win millions of dollars and a whole lot more. But if you are thinking that the book might only be relevant to ‘superhumans’ doing extraordinary things, hold on. In every chapter, Lehrer moves from the extraordinary to the mundane. His point is that the processes that go on in ‘big’ decisions are also the same for the ‘small’ stuff like deciding which flavour of jam is best or choosing your next car. (In fact, Lehrer’s own inspiration for writing the book in the first place was his frustration at his inability to select a brand of cereal, while shopping one day!)
The book is very heavily weighted to brain activity, as a source of information on decision-making and Lehrer shows that different decision-making strategies do not all use the same areas of the brain. However, he also provides many examples from experimental psychology, biology and sociology, to show how these different strategies have effects in the real-world. Much of the book is devoted to the individual (ie what goes on in the brain as decisions are made) but there are some interesting chapters on the social side of decision-making, when interacting with others. Some of this is done from the study of the ‘abnormal’ – what happens when the brain is damaged in some way and there is a particularly interesting section on psychopathic behaviour and also of autism. He also covers social decision-making in applied settings such as playing cards.
He takes the Platonic view of the relationship between emotion and rationality (that they are in tension with each other) and turns it on its head. He argues that there is a role for feelings as well as cognition in good decision-making, but he also shows that there are limits to emotionally-based and rationally-based thought. In fact, the wrong process applied to the wrong situation leads to poor outcomes. (He also gives examples of how are brains can be fooled into using the wrong type of thought process to make a decision, for example, he explains how ‘special offers’ in supermarkets lead us to think emotionally, when a bit more rationality might be helpful.) What the book leads us to examine is a complex interplay between emotion, cognition and experience, with experience being built up through deliberate practise. (He talks about the value of reviewing and analysing mistakes, for example). His argument is that as highly evolved beings we have developed these different ways of thinking for a purpose; we should not, therefore, be trying to promote one type of thinking while denying another.
So, if each type of thinking has a benefit, yet also has its own limitations, that can sometimes get us into trouble, then the question is how do you know what type of thinking to apply to the specific situation that you are facing? Lehrer’s final chapter gives some practical hints and tips on how to choose the best thing to do when faced with a variety of situations. A great book.
Pig that wants to be eaten
Title: The Pig That Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments
Author: Julian Baggini
Publisher: Granta
RRP: £8.99
This is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking introduction to some of the big questions in philosophy. As the title suggests, the reader is introduced to a series of short problems or dilemmas and invited to think about them. The goal is often not to reach a solution, but to examine the assumptions and beliefs that sit behind each conundrum.
You can read this book in two ways. You can read it for its entertainment value; each chapter is only a few pages long and each follows the same format; a statement of the problem, some possible choices and a brief description of some of the philosophical thinking that is represented through each example. (There in no one answer to any of the problems). Very quickly you find yourself reading the book in a different way. As you start to contemplate a problem presented to you, you often find that it is not as simple as it may first appear, and sometimes a level of discomfort emerges as you become aware that you are confronting your own morality, your beliefs about fairness or your values or even reality itself.
Take problem 29, for example, which begins like the introduction to some ‘B’ horror movie; a man wakes up in hospital to find that his own and another person’s survival are dependent on his own organs. It seems rather artificial and incredible, but with a deft change of context, Baggini, invites us to consider that the structure of the problem is the same as the one that lies behind the debate for/against abortion. Other seemingly frivolous examples invite us to contemplate the nature of reality by comparing it with that of Coronation Street, or our own morals through a ‘bank error in your favour’ (if it wasn’t your fault and no one knew, would it be stealing?)
And the pig that wants to be eaten? This is taken from a scene in ‘Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy’ and while we might find the idea unfavourable we are also asked to consider if it would be better than eating a pig that does not want that particular outcome! (Are there any turkeys that vote for Christmas?) In one short study we are confronted with our views on animal cruelty, vegetarianism, life purpose, personal autonomy and morality! Not bad for two and a half pages of text!
Baggini has created a really superb introduction to thinking about the big things in life and in that respect this book is more than an entertaining read. You can use it to train your brain, to think better and harder, and also to raise our own self-awareness. We like to think that we are consistent in our approach, fair to all and rational-thinking beings. This book ever so gently exposes the lie. A really good read!
Market mind games
Title: Market Mind Games: A radical psychology of investing, trading and risk
Editors: Denise Shull
Publisher: McGraw Hill
Price: £23.99
This is a fascinating book, even if you are not a trader or financial whizz-kid. It addresses the kind of situations that we all find ourselves in from time to time; where we have to make complex decisions under pressure. It’s just that the in the financial world, traders find themselves in this situation on a daily basis and the cost of failure is high.
At the heart of this book is the idea that the ‘traditional’ notion, that rationality is king and emotions should be largely ignored, is not a good strategy when faced with complexity and pressure. Shull goes further; not only should we pay attention to our emotions when making a difficult decision, they might be the only source of information that we can trust.
Behind this idea lies the principle that facts are never neutral. Even numbers on a computer screen will have some significance for the person looking at them. The actual significance that an individual puts on the facts that they see is driven by the beliefs they hold. Beliefs tend to have an emotional content, so when we see a set of data, we also have emotional and physiological responses to what they represent. This is where intuition and ‘gut feel’ play a part in decision-making.
Thus, trading becomes a game of perception as much as it is about statistics and trends. Being aware of your own emotional state, and at the same time having an understanding of how others are also perceiving the trading environment are key to sound decision-making. This is Emotional Intelligence for people who don’t hug trees. The book is packed with research on the influence of emotions in decision-making and how a lack of awareness of your own emotional state can lead to poor choices. Interestingly, emotions seem to have a ‘residue’ that exists well beyond the point where our conscious awareness of them has passed and yet they still affect our decision-making. For example, chasing the market, making one bad decision after another simply because you felt angry when you had lost out on a deal earlier in the day. So awareness of our emotions can help in trusting our intuition, but it can also help guard against acting impulsively. (By the way, Shull does not argue that emotions are a substitute for cold logic. Intuition comes from being able to recognise patterns and trends that have been established through years and years of analysing data. There is still a place for hard work and rehearsal!)
Shull’s argument is based on psychodynamics, which says that we tend to repeat patterns of behaviour in adulthood that we first learned as children, many of which are based on how we learn to gain approval. These unconscious patterns are acted out in more adult ways, but inability to decide or making poor choices can often be tied back to unresolved conflict earlier in life. While the book is short on the ‘how’ of becoming more emotionally aware, traditionally the psychodynamic approach requires the ‘client’ to work extensively with an ‘expert’ in order to uncover the patterns that drive the behaviour. This might be uncomfortable for some. Nevertheless, an absolutely fascinating read and it has a relevance far beyond the rarified atmosphere of trading.
Title: We-Think
Author: Charles Leadbeater
Publisher: Profile Books
Price: £12.99
This is a book for our age although Leadbeater makes clear that the idea of mass collaboration has been around for centuries. What has changed is the evolution of and access to technology. The internet and social media has allowed communities to grow and flourish in ways that were not possible previously. As a consequence innovation has exploded as the speed of change has increased.
Leadbeater is actually ambivalent about the internet. It has advantages and disadvantages but he makes the point that it is here, so we might as well learn to use it. He pulls on a diverse range of sources to make his point. For example, he quotes research into how the operating principles that allowed peasant farmers to share common grazing land can be seen in the high-tech world wide networks of our age. He also goes some way to de-bunking myths about the efficacy of internet-based information sources. (Have a look at the comparison he makes between Wikipedia and paper-based encyclopaedias, for example).
He lays out the conditions that allow communities to grow organically, and how they create their own self-governing rules to ensure that the community functions effectively. These include the principles by which status and power are earned by key influencers in the community (often through recognition of their expertise or contribution) and also why people will choose to become involved in a community, to the point where they give their time freely and often as additional effort to their paid employment. These principles are worthy of note for anyone who wants to get real commitment from their employees too.
The book is packed with mini case studies, real-life examples and research from a variety of sources. As he moves into looking at the implications for the future, we are required to think about challenging our ‘traditional’ business models – how do we price our products and services? What is the ‘real value’ of our output and what are users actually willing to pay? (The emergence of this type of thinking can be seen in the ‘smart phone’ technologies – one business model is that the phone is a platform for other services and what is valued by the consumer is the ability to place other technologies onto it eg ‘apps’, as opposed to charging for the hardware or making money on the airtime used).
‘We-think’ is a fascinating read. If you like this area of work, you can also check out the following titles:
Open Innovation by Henry Chesbrough, Harvard Business School
Crowd Surfing by Martin Thomas and David Brain, A & CB.