Cognitive Barriers to Innovation
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Transcript of Cognitive Barriers to Innovation
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Cognitive Barriers to Innovation
byGray Somerville
December 7, 2015
www.launchpathinc.com
Most of us experience challenges with innovation. A recent finding reveals that the deep foundations of these challenges are embedded in the way our minds work.
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In his best-selling book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explains an understanding that emerged from his thirty year study of the way our minds work, how we perceive reality, and how we achieve judgments.
Thinking Fast and Slow
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The Two “System” Theory of the Mind
Kahneman calls this the Two “System” Theory of the Mind.
(“System” is in quotations to highlight its use as a metaphor: our brains don’t have different anatomical structures, but the way our mind behaves can be thought of as two systems.)
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Let’s Meet the Two System Characters
“SYSTEM 1”
Represented by Erin Hannon of The Office: Gung-ho, fast, confident, intuitive . . . but can’t always be trusted to make a rational judgment
Portrayed by “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski: Quite smart and good at doing complex calculations . . . but LAZY
“SYSTEM 2”
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Historically, we thought of our minds as a thinking process we could actually observe; for example, when we’re doing a math problem or making a complex buying decision. But a new understanding of the way System 1 works has emerged from the recent work of cognitive psychologists. Let’s take a closer look.
“SYSTEM 1”
A New Understanding of SYSTEM 1
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Associative Memory
Perception, Intuition, Heuristic Judgment, Memory
Monitoring for Cognitive Ease--constantly scanning for norm violations and threats
How “System 1” WorksSystem 1 is made up of three different key functions:
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The Core: Associative Memory
Associative Memory
We use our associative memory when we automatically link one thing with another. For example, we might associate the word ball with the word bat.
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The Power of Associative Memory
This vast network of associations has a more dramatic effect on our perception of reality than we first realized. For example, after being exposed to words associated with old age like cane, walker, or nursing home, etc., people will actually walk more slowly.
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Associative Memory
The Next Layer Out:Perception, Intuition, Heuristic Judgment, Memory
These functions are outgrowths of associative memory. Intuition is at work when we walk into a room and can immediately tell that someone has been talking about us. Heuristic judgment is when we are able to say that one thing is like another.
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Associative Memory
The Outer Layer:
Monitoring for Cognitive Ease
System 1 constantly scans the environment for any norm violations or threats to its state of cognitive ease. If everything makes sense and feels normal, then System 1 lets things go as they are. If not, it raises the alarm.
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Your “System 1” In ActionTo see an example of System 1 at work, consider the image below:
Immediately, your System 1 at a single glance has looked at this image and made a judgment of what it sees.
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Interestingly, people see two different images. Some see a rabbit; others see a bird. When you now reconsider the image, your System 2 is at work—called into action to audit the immediate and confident judgment of the image made by System 1.
Your “System 2” In Action
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How the 2 “Systems” Work Together
StimuliWe are constantly bombarded by stimuli even if it’s something as subtle as the almost imperceptible noise of the heating and air-conditioning system whirring in the background.
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Step 1: What’s Going On?
What’s going on?
Stimuli
System 1 is constantly monitoring that stimuli and basically asking: What’s going on? Is everything okay? Does everything feel normal? Does it all make sense?
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Step 2: Should I Get System 2?
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Stimuli
If anything happens that raises any kind of concern at all, System 1 asks the question: “Should I engage System 2 or not? Should I raise the alarm?”
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Step 3: Is System 2 Available?
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Is Sys 2 available?
Stimuli
If System 1 thinks it should get System 2, then it must ask, “Is System 2 available?” Unlike System 1, which has limitless capacity, System 2 has limited capacity.
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Step 4: System 2 makes a judgment
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Is Sys 2 available?
Stimuli
So if System 1 detects something that needs to engage System 2, and if System 2 is available, then System 2 will be prodded off the couch and called into action to step in and make a judgment.
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Step 5: System 2 Unavailable
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Stimuli
Is Sys 2 available?
However, if System 2 is not available, then System 1 will make the call without System 2. For example, when you are sending a text message, you cannot also be making judgments about an oncoming car because System 2 is unavailable.
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Step 6: Did System 2 Request an Audit?
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Did Sys 2 request audit?
Stimuli
If System 1 did not detect anything that it felt required System 2, and, therefore, decided not to ask System 2, the next question is, “Did System 2 request an audit?”
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Step 7: System 2 Requests an Audit
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Did Sys 2 request audit?
Stimuli
System 2 has the ability to intervene, inject itself, and require a closer examination of the situation and make the final decision .
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Step 8: No Audit? System 1 Makes Call
What’s going on?
Should I ask Sys 2?
Did Sys 2 request audit?
Stimuli
If System 2 did not request an audit, then System 1 makes call.
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This Is the Revelation:What’s
going on?Should I
ask Sys 2?
Stimuli
MOST OF OUR JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE WORLD HAPPEN
LIKE THIS.
Most of the time, System 1 has done all of the thinking for us, and we haven’t engaged System 2 at all.
Is Sys 2 Available? Did Sys 2 request
audit?
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This creates a perpetual state of affairs that Dr. Kahneman calls
WYSIATIWHAT YOU SEE IS ALL THERE IS
WYSIATI
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WYSIATI at work
Do yousee any
opportunities?
Nope.
We go about our business, thinking that we are seeing the entire scene when, in fact, we are looking at the world through narrowly framed periscopes and missing opportunities that we’re practically tripping over.
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Fine, If You Live on the African Savannah
LION! RUN! FOOD! RUN!
The way our mind works would work if we lived in a primitive state and our critical decision-making for survival boiled down to detecting imminent threats and running away or detecting opportunities like food and running towards them.
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But it’s tough to cope with thisOur complex, technical, and subtle world makes it hard for our two system minds to cope.
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Or this . . .
IdeateIdentify & Prioritize Design Test &
AdaptImplement
or Abandon
The Innovation Process
Even innovation which seems a simple process of identifying and prioritizing our opportunities, ideating possible solutions, designing, testing, adapting, and implementing or abandoning our best idea is too much for System 1.
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So what do we do?What do we do when we live in a world that demands innovation in order for us to be successful, and yet we are fighting our nature and our environment every single day that we are trying to do it?
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Implement a system.
The Answer Is
We must build a crutch, a tool, to aid our minds to allow us to see the opportunities and innovate successfully.
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The LaunchPath Innovation SystemA good example of an Innovation System that is simple, practical, and
affordable that organizations can implement looks something like this:
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LaunchPath Innovation
The LaunchPath Innovation System lays out the key steps and identifies key roles of the innovation process. By using a system such as this, organizations can overcome the cognitive barriers that would otherwise prevent them from realizing their opportunities so that they can innovate successfully!
For more information about how LaunchPath Innovation helps SMBs affordably, continuously, and successfully innovate visit our website, www.launchpathinc.com, or contact us at [email protected].