Our Brains Want To Be Lazy; Here's How To Win The Battle

We all like to think we’re open-minded, but the reality is our brains are hardwired to prefer information that aligns with what we already know and think.

New ideas, innovation, and creativity are things we all want in our organizations, but a new idea that goes against the status quo can be risky.

When you present something that is unknown, unseen, and unproven, you can make people psychologically uncomfortable; it forces them to think critically and decide whether or not they want to change (and people hate to change). It also requires more effort.

Thus, people will react much more positively to information they agree upon and already know.

It’s Not Just The Idea, It’s Whoever’s Saying It

In addition to our brain’s strong tendency to reject novel information, when we are exposed to fresh, new ideas we tend to judge them based on the confidence of the person sharing them.

Research has shown that those who take the floor with ease and talk confidently are perceived as knowledgeable, when it might be the introvert in the room who possesses the information that’s needed.

It’s not just confidence and natural speaking talent that captures our attention, however; there’s also what University of Utah management professor Bryan Bonner calls the “proxies of expertise:”

…our brain’s natural inclination to take shortcuts by focusing on the loudest - or even tallest - person in the room, as opposed to the actual expert on the matter at hand.

This is potentially dangerous when we need to make critical decisions because our brains love to take shortcuts.

The Two Types Of Thinking

As a leader, you can take steps to make yourself and your team less likely to use the automatic, biased, shortcut thinking style our brains can use by default. This shortcut mode was named “System 1” thinking by psychologist Daniel Kahneman:

“The operations of System 1 are fast, effortless, associative, and often emotionally charged; they’re also governed by habit, so they’re difficult either to modify or to control.” ~Daniel Kahneman

When we don’t pause to consider alternate points of view, when we react with emotion, when we’re tired or feeling lazy, when we feel drawn to that which we’ve seen or heard before - this is all System 1 thinking.

Of course, System 1 thinking is an effective way for our brains to work in a lot of situations, like when we drive the correct route home from work without really thinking about it, or when we immediately move our hand from a hot stove without conscious effort.

However, in the business world, we usually want to be critical, deliberate, and goal focused, what Daniel Kahneman calls “System 2” thinking.

System 2 thinking is more deliberate, careful, and considered. It counteracts our biases, knee jerk reactions, and emotional reasoning. It is our ability to problem solve, analyze information, evaluate options, and make decisions.

You want to use System 2 thinking whenever making big decisions, leading meetings, or having team conversations. If you are in a leadership position, encourage System 2 thinking in your team to reduce the group’s natural tendency to avoid new, risky - but ultimately valuable - information.

Cultivate an environment where people feel comfortable taking the risk to bring new ideas to the table or speak up against the status quo. Keeping things the same is easy and takes less effort, but it doesn’t lead to excellence, success, or profit.

How To Avoid Lazy Thinking

1. Establish Group Diversity – Uniformity tends to breed lackluster results. Groups thrive when opinions from different genders, age groups, and ethnicities are welcome.
2. Define Expectations – Knowing what’s expected of a group can help the group stay on track. Expectations support accountability as well, since the group members can’t deny they didn’t know what the goal was.
3. Emphasize Collective Awareness – Understanding common group biases helps to keep them at bay. The group should know their weaknesses and how to spot them.
4. Stress Freedom of Thought – Individuals can do their own research and thinking before meeting with the group. Leaders should stress that all ideas are welcome, no matter how far out or strange they might seem. They should also make sure all ideas are heard so that those who don’t naturally speak up are given the floor.
5. Insist on Information Sharing – It’s imperative that everyone in a group lists all of the information in their possession that relates to an issue. It’s the only way to get the best results.
6. Promote Innovation – A good leader stimulates people to climb over the mental fence that can keep a group from devising, openly discussing, and adopting new ideas and solutions.

All of the smaller, day-to-day situations where we err on the side of caution and adhere to the status quo can seem harmless, but these small choices build towards a lack of innovation and creativity.

Make challenging the status quo an ongoing practice by keeping curiosity alive.

[Research study cited: Bottger, P. C. (1984). Expertise and air time as bases of actual and perceived influence in problem-solving groups.]