"Lateral thinking": the traps of the brain that prevent us from thinking, and ways to avoid them

In this article we want to tell you about how human brain (as scientists), as it prevents us to think freely, develops in us lazy and drowns productivity. And, of course, as with it all to fight.

If you think that your brain is unique, you are deeply mistaken, because "the trap", which will be discussed below, got everything.

Scientists call the brain's "advanced machine learning", as it is able to receive and process a lot of information in a short period of time. But like any other "technology", our brain sometimes need a break. This he signals such simple biological phenomena, such as hunger or nervous exhaustion.

And often concern the brain about itself goes sideways for its owner, because at the time, until he could decide a vital and build brilliant plans, the brain wants to rest and asks him a little lazy. What "trap" this the perfect machine prevent us to think freely and how to avoid them, read below.

Energy saving

Initially, the purpose of the brain was the service three biological goals of dominance, breeding and feeding. But over time they added such artifact functions as, for example, abstract thinking, or analysis of various situations.

Of course, with the increase of running processes brain started to demand more of the "feeding". On average, it "eats" about 20% of our energy, despite the fact that we usually have only 3-16% of the brain, and he is a 2% by weight of the entire body. That's voracious on!

So that people understand when he needs to "charge" the brain, the body has developed a system of protective reactions (hunger, fatigue, nervous exhaustion, etc.). Even too much thinking can cause the mind a desire to "pay off". In such cases, it produces a dramatic release of endorphins or slows down the process of sudden headache.

If you imagine that the brain is the person, then describe it in the following way. He is born to be a genius, a pioneer who possesses amazing intellect and is able to solve difficult tasks, but instead prefers to lie on the couch and do nothing. And the reason for such laziness lies in the peculiarities of thinking.

Labels and templates

The brain used to label everything. Have you noticed that often just called the person a "mugger" instead of having to figure out what the cultural environment he grew up, how he was raised by parents that influenced the formation of his personality and made him as he is. Too hard. Especially for the lazy brain.

And it comes with absolutely everything ranging from people, to activities and tasks. This type of thinking allows the brain to save a lot of energy, and that because of this, the owner can not think more broadly and creatively, he did not care.

In addition, our imagination too voraciously, so selfish brain often does not give him "replayed". Hence it becomes clear why when problems occur, we spend more time thinking than the solution itself. Because the problem is already familiar to the brain, we can say, is preserved in a cache, but the decision is for him something new, unknown, and, accordingly, energy-consuming.

Addictive

The brain quickly gets used to the external circumstances and begins to form a picture of the world given the already acquired experience. For example, if you once see a man jumping out of the bushes, it will turn back in his direction quickly and easily create a neural model for this situation. But if it will happen again, soon, the brain will cease to react to it, come up with an explanation and hang the required label ("some nut").

At the level of synaptic and neural connections this process takes place on a larger scale. For example, if from childhood the person will say "Gopnik bad and make friends with them is not necessary", by Association he will be understanding, that the boys in shape and flipping sunflower seeds at the entrances – not very good guys. So they will be in the future one of these guys, or hearing the definition of "Gopnik", the person will not need to build a new model, because it already has existing picture.

The only thing that can break this world some cognitive dissonance. But it happens very rarely, so man lives, starting in established him in childhood or adolescence of the model and situation.

Distortion

Our thinking has such a unique ability as a cognitive distortion. And it is different. The list of KEY, there are about 100 items. These include personalization (when people tend to take things personally), catastrophization (assumption of worst-case scenario), professional deformation, and more.

From a list of these "bugs" most annoying person of the so-called selective perception. This is a group KEY that is split on many items. Among them, special attention should be given of confirmation bias. Simply put, it is the human tendency to ignore any evidence to the ideas and theories opposite him.

KEY embedded in the brain default: someone more, someone less, but they have absolutely every person. And to manage this complex system is almost impossible, unless, of course, you are a Buddhist monk who spent in meditations half of his life. After all, to control your thinking, you will need a lot of will power and patience.

It is also worth considering the impact of external factors. No one is immune from the sudden quarrels, traffic jams, rush hour in the subway and other unpleasant phenomena, which control intelligent decision-making can easily fail.

What to do

First accept the fact that the characteristics of the brain anywhere you are not going anywhere. Then, they are features. The only thing you can do in this situation, try to adjust them as needed. To do this, you can read the guide on cognitive distortions from Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman.

Another way is to "lighten" the world with the shift KEY. For example, when active "mind reading" (distortion which creates the impression that everyone around know our thoughts), the picture of the world is pretty grim (it seems that all I think about us, bad).

However, if you activate positive thinking, "filter" all the negative thoughts and tune in to good, the world really will be a little better. And not only with the help of auto-suggestion – just now in your brain will be launched KEY, giving the corresponding picture.

This is possible due to neuroplasticity – the brain's ability to change under the influence of the environment. A clear proof of the experiment conducted with the participation of British taxi drivers. When workaholic for a long time studied the labyrinthine map of London, they have significantly increased the hippocampus.

However, neuroplasticity can work in the opposite direction. If a person will always be in a negative environment, the brain will quickly become accustomed to sadness, depression and boredom. As a result, it will create certain templates – engrams or, as they are called, "traces of memory". This trail each time it will return to normal condition, and the more often it will happen, the worse will be its flexibility and performance.

That's why we need to constantly maintain his activity not to thinking patterns and to hang "tags", and in detail to understand the situation; cognitive distortions send a positive side and a negative to try to stop it. To increase the overall efficiency of the brain with the game musical instruments, performing aerobic exercise, lesson, creativity and other techniques described in any book on neuroplasticity, for example, authorship Wendy Suzuki.

To improve the picture of the world will help travel again, creativity, listening to unfamiliar music, and other processes, during which the person receives a new experience. Even a new route to the house may have a positive effect on the brain, which is why researchers are advised to constantly get a new experience that in the modern world also to call for the release of the "comfort zone".