11) Intuition or Reasoning
Cognition is the processing of information from our psychological processes. This includes "higher" cognition such as conscious reasoning and "lower" cognition, which includes sensory processing and memory retrieval.
If we look closely, we see that our emotions are not "simple" or "clean" - they quickly associate with cognition as sensory input is processed. Sound arrives, is processed/heard - analysis starts quickly w/the brain deciding if this is an important/dangerous/useful sound and then if it should be discarded, or attended to. This may be followed by physical changes to support flight-or-fight behaviors, like increasing heart rate, etc. Emotion turns out to be inseparable from information processing.
Cognition is the processing of information from our psychological processes. This includes "higher" cognition such as conscious reasoning and "lower" cognition, which includes sensory processing and memory retrieval.
If we look closely, we see that our emotions are not "simple" or "clean" - they quickly associate with cognition as sensory input is processed. Sound arrives, is processed/heard - analysis starts quickly w/the brain deciding if this is an important/dangerous/useful sound and then if it should be discarded, or attended to. This may be followed by physical changes to support flight-or-fight behaviors, like increasing heart rate, etc. Emotion turns out to be inseparable from information processing.
The distinction then is not between cognition and emotion, but between "intuition" and "reasoning"; whether "reasoning/secondary consciousness" leads, or "intuition/primary consciousness" does.
This can also be visualized as a "rider" and an "elephant":
Secondary consciousness developed as the graphical user interface (GUI) for primary consciousness for problem framing, planning, analysis and reporting. However, secondary consciousness can only handle 7 +/- 2 discrete items at a time, across all cultures, languages, etc.
The elephant did not create the rider on a whim. It does many useful things like making/recalling memories to create possible scenarios for the future. This enabled the elephant to make better decisions to achieve pleasure and avoid pain (well, that was the plan). It also helped in learning new skills and technologies.
The rider doesn't even know what the elephant is really thinking. Therefore, the rider's #1 job is fabricating after-the-fact explanations for what the elephant did and discussing what it might do next.
Another factor in discussions w/the "other side", is that we make first judgments rapidly, and are very reluctant to change our minds, or to gather evidence that might challenge those judgments. The small flashes of feeling that prepare us to make our "approach or avoid" decisions.
These affective reactions, faster than emotions, "set up" the emotions through "affective priming" which gets the elephant to lean left or right. Feel what just reading "joy" or "sinful" feels like and how fast it is...Within 200 milliseconds we like or dislike something without even "knowing" what it is. Almost everything we look at triggers that tiny flash of affect. Additionally, the more times we see something, the more we like it; it's obviously not dangerous as it didn't hurt us last time. This "exposure effect" is a basic principle of advertising.
Within the first second of meeting another person, the elephant begins to lean, which significantly influences what happens next. Intuitions come first. Therefore, as far as "reaching the other side" w/o argument, we should realize that the elephant is really in charge and appeal to its emotion/intuition.
And as reasoning is not the source, whence either disputant derives his tenets, it is in vain to expect that any logic which speaks not to the affections, will ever engage him to embrace sounder principles.
If you want to change folk's perspectives, talk to their elephants. Use your intuition, not your "rational" mind. Avoid direct confrontation. Convey respect, warmth and openness. Develop "social persuasion" before you attempt "reasoned persuasion".
Unfortunately, our "righteous minds" in an argument shift rapidly into combat mode. The rider and the elephant work together smoothly to fend off attacks and log rhetorical grenades of our own...impress our friends and show allies that we are committed members of the team, but no matter how good our logic, it's not going to change the minds of our opponents if they are in combat mode too.
If you can't somehow develop the ability to feel the other person's point of view, you'll never change their mind. Additionally, if you really do feel their point of view, your own mind may change as well. "Empathy is an antidote to righteousness...it's very difficult to empathize across a moral divide." (Haidt). Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.
Talk to the elephant first. If you ask folk to believe something that violates their intuition, they will try to find a way out, a reason to prove you wrong, and will normally succeed. It is possible to change the elephant's disposition. The rider is not a slave, but more like an advisor. The elephant will listen to "reason" through interactions with others, especially friendly others.
Source: Elephant or rider? intuition or reasoning? reaching the "other side" w/o argument...
- The "rider" is "reasoning, secondary consciousness";
- The "elephant" is "automatic, intuitive, primary consciousness" including emotion. The elephant ran the show, alone, successfully for a long time, evolutionarily, with an operating system with many upgrades that was exhaustively "field tested".
Secondary consciousness developed as the graphical user interface (GUI) for primary consciousness for problem framing, planning, analysis and reporting. However, secondary consciousness can only handle 7 +/- 2 discrete items at a time, across all cultures, languages, etc.
The elephant did not create the rider on a whim. It does many useful things like making/recalling memories to create possible scenarios for the future. This enabled the elephant to make better decisions to achieve pleasure and avoid pain (well, that was the plan). It also helped in learning new skills and technologies.
The rider doesn't even know what the elephant is really thinking. Therefore, the rider's #1 job is fabricating after-the-fact explanations for what the elephant did and discussing what it might do next.
Another factor in discussions w/the "other side", is that we make first judgments rapidly, and are very reluctant to change our minds, or to gather evidence that might challenge those judgments. The small flashes of feeling that prepare us to make our "approach or avoid" decisions.
These affective reactions, faster than emotions, "set up" the emotions through "affective priming" which gets the elephant to lean left or right. Feel what just reading "joy" or "sinful" feels like and how fast it is...Within 200 milliseconds we like or dislike something without even "knowing" what it is. Almost everything we look at triggers that tiny flash of affect. Additionally, the more times we see something, the more we like it; it's obviously not dangerous as it didn't hurt us last time. This "exposure effect" is a basic principle of advertising.
Within the first second of meeting another person, the elephant begins to lean, which significantly influences what happens next. Intuitions come first. Therefore, as far as "reaching the other side" w/o argument, we should realize that the elephant is really in charge and appeal to its emotion/intuition.
And as reasoning is not the source, whence either disputant derives his tenets, it is in vain to expect that any logic which speaks not to the affections, will ever engage him to embrace sounder principles.
If you want to change folk's perspectives, talk to their elephants. Use your intuition, not your "rational" mind. Avoid direct confrontation. Convey respect, warmth and openness. Develop "social persuasion" before you attempt "reasoned persuasion".
Unfortunately, our "righteous minds" in an argument shift rapidly into combat mode. The rider and the elephant work together smoothly to fend off attacks and log rhetorical grenades of our own...impress our friends and show allies that we are committed members of the team, but no matter how good our logic, it's not going to change the minds of our opponents if they are in combat mode too.
If you can't somehow develop the ability to feel the other person's point of view, you'll never change their mind. Additionally, if you really do feel their point of view, your own mind may change as well. "Empathy is an antidote to righteousness...it's very difficult to empathize across a moral divide." (Haidt). Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.
Talk to the elephant first. If you ask folk to believe something that violates their intuition, they will try to find a way out, a reason to prove you wrong, and will normally succeed. It is possible to change the elephant's disposition. The rider is not a slave, but more like an advisor. The elephant will listen to "reason" through interactions with others, especially friendly others.
Source: Elephant or rider? intuition or reasoning? reaching the "other side" w/o argument...
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business. His academic specialization is the psychology of morality and the moral emotions. He is author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, and The Happiness Hypothesis.