The path to success, or how we believe in illusions and deceive ourselves

Our brain is unique, it controls all the processes of life and thinking, but thanks to the development of science, we can track which mechanisms underlie its work. Surprisingly, a serious obstacle to self-knowledge and improvement is the ability of one part of our brain to deceive another.

How not to fall into the traps of the brain and protect yourself from mistakes in achieving goals, Dmitry Mezentsev, founder of the MDV Schools of Communications and Arts, coach in public speaking and effective communications, told the Inc-News information portal.

Cognitive distortions or the culprit of deception

Every day we perform thousands of actions, draw hundreds of conclusions and a lot of mistakes. Yes, this process is inevitable due to the basic settings of the brain that have been formed in the course of the centuries-old evolution of mankind. It's nice to consider yourself a rationally thinking and conscious person, but in fact, most of the decisions that we make are based on prejudices, stereotypes and beliefs. All this can be characterized by such a concept as “cognitive distortions”. These are processes that lead to illogical, preconceived conclusions or stereotypes. They distort our perception of reality.

For example, because of such systemic errors, people often make rash purchases, dramatize, exaggerate or underestimate what is happening. Realizing the cause of a particular reaction, we can more objectively assess what is happening.

Often we rely on our inner instinct, intuition, and find ourselves in the trap of self-deception - we forget about real goals and succumb to emotional temptations.

Cognitive biases can be represented in four categories:

• A lot of information. The problem lies in the overabundance of information and the formation of information noise;
• Lacks meaning. Situations where there is difficulty in understanding;
• Speed ​​reaction. Cases when you need to quickly respond to something;
• Memory size. The ratio of information that is remembered and forgotten.

It is important to understand that, alas, it is impossible to completely get rid of the traps of thinking. In today's world, the brain is overflowing with information and cognitive distortions are its attempt to cope with the uncontrolled flow of thoughts in our minds.

At the moment, there are more than 200 scientifically proven cognitive distortions. Today we will talk about three typical mistakes that we most often encounter in professional activities and everyday life.

Illusion of particularity

Forgive me astrologers, tarologists and sorcerers, but the first trap of thinking lies in the illusion of particularity or the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Surely you have noticed that as soon as you learn about something new, you begin to meet it everywhere. Generally everywhere. As soon as you learn a new word, you immediately begin to meet it in every book or advertisement. This is just a vivid example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, which is explained by the fact that increased attention to some phenomenon or object creates the illusion that it appears more often.

And so it turns out that as soon as a person receives a tarot alignment or an astro forecast, he begins to focus on the information received. Accordingly, he immediately receives "irrefutable" evidence, justifying any facts.

Our brains are too adept at noticing what it thinks is right. And masterfully knows how to ignore what he does not need. Therefore, people tend to see and interpret information in a way that confirms their beliefs and illusions.

Naive realism

We tend to seek and interpret information in a way that is consistent with our point of view. The egocentric distortion is to blame - the inability of a person to perceive someone else's point of view.
It is this trap that prompts us to ignore a point of view different from ours, relying solely on our perception, believing that our view of the world is the only objective one. Therefore, situations when someone disagrees with us cause indignation, resentment and misunderstanding.
As a result, there is a false feeling that everyone around thinks and feels the same way as we do, they want the same thing that we do. This is a very common and harmful delusion that leads to self-obsession.
Try to accept the fact that everyone is different, so others may not like what you like. Everyone has their own opinion, due to personal experience and characteristics. This does not mean that the person is wrong, just different.

Reverse effect

Sometimes when communicating with a person, there is a feeling that they do not hear or understand you. This is just an example of yet another cognitive bias, the backlash effect.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the more you start to prove to the interlocutor that he is wrong, the more he believes in his own opinion. A vicious circle is formed when any attempts to convince are broken against a wall of misunderstanding.

This is a more dangerous version of confirmation bias, when no matter how much evidence is presented to a person that contradicts his position, he only becomes stronger in the correctness of his beliefs.

If you understand that the interlocutor does not hear or listen to you, do not go for a confrontation. This will only make the situation worse. Try to rephrase your point of view and offer a different perspective on the problem.

Having realized and accepted at least these 3 cognitive distortions, life will become much easier. And the achievement of goals is closer. Take care of yourself and do not be deceived by beliefs and prejudices.