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January 09, 2007

Snap decisions

The BBC runs a story about the advantage of snap decisions and that it can be better to trust "your instincts may help you to make better decisions than thinking hard."

Here is how it goes:

"Ten volunteers were showed a computer screen covered in over 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the symbol. There were asked to decide which side of the screen the rotated image was on.

Instincts accurate
Given a fraction of a second to look at the screen, the subjects were 95% accurate. But when they were allowed to scrutinize the image for over second, they were only 70% accurate."

Ever since Malcolm Gladwell and Blink or my entry about the structure of the subconscious mind and the limitations of the conscious mind should it be clear that snap decisions are pretty accurate.

I mean, look, half the time, we are already operating under the influence of trance. Our conscious mind cannot hold more than a few items at any one time, the rest by-passes the conscious mind and goes straight into the unconscious mind. Just ask yourself, how many advertising boards have you seen today, and then go out and compare them with the real number. There will be more, and your unconscious knows.

Of course, those snap decisions are also based on entrenched beliefs in our unconscious mind and how those work together in the snap of a second in order to come to a decision. This, for example, explains, why you stir your car in a certain way, when it starts to slip. Or even easier, how you can park your car pretty quickly. Because it is here where automated processes come in whcih are - stirred by the unconscious mind. The opposite fact of course relates to those who cannot stop, for example, shopping or spending on credit cards. Here, as well, is a working of the unconscious that results in snap decisions that might be regretted at a later stage.

Got the picture? But the interesting part is that more and more scientific facts and findings support NLP and its early thinking. There still are people out there who say that NLP is bogus - but as we know more about neuro-science we need to understand that a lot of the stuff said in NLP earlier is supporting its early statements. Now this is what I call foresight :)

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You can still register for the Certified NLP Practitioner Course in January/ February if you are serious about change - in this course, you will learn more about the workings of the conscious and the unconscious mind.

Places are still available. Register now by faxing in the registration form available in the brochure.

Or call at 012-287 50 48 to check for more information
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Posted by Andreas at January 9, 2007 07:46 PM

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