Ways to improve your intuition or your experience-based mind, which is needed along with the knowledge, skills, and logic of the rational mind.
Epstein
and Brodsky (1993) believe you can't change your automatic thinking (intuition,
irrational ideas, biases, etc.) by willpower nor by
reading and getting some intellectual understanding. He says the
experience-based mind only changes with experience. So, the main priority is to
identify the automatic thoughts that cause your problems, that arouse unwanted emotions or
create misconceptions (this is much like detecting the irrational ideas in
method #3). You need to find the experience-based feelings, thoughts, memories,
opinions, judgments, attitudes, etc. which could explain why you had the
emotions or the faulty thinking you had. Often it is your view of the
situation that determines how you respond emotio 14214i84o nally, such as berating
yourself, attacking someone, or withdrawing. Examples: Losing one's
boy/girlfriend or doing poorly in one class is seen as ruining your entire
life. A decision by a supervisor to re-do part of your work is seen as an
insult or as leading up to being fired. The question is: Is your view or
interpretation of the situation or other peoples' behavior rational? If not,
why did you misunderstand the situation? A review of step 1 may help
you recognize your thinking errors. A review of similar prior traumatic
experiences may help you recognize the source of your emotional reactions.
Your
experience-based mind must have the experience over and over of being
corrected and taught to think and feel differently (more rationally) about the
situations. Every day take time to analyze a distressing event in this way: (1)
explain to the intuitive mind how it misunderstood the situation or person; (2)
note the mental rumination or fantasies that resulted from your faulty
interpretation of the situation; (3) note how you responded internally and
overtly in the situation. Then, go back over the event, pointing out to the
experience-based mind why it went wrong, where the emotions came from, and so
on. Recognize how your train of thought, following the mental error or
misinterpretation, went awry, making the situation worse. Lastly, review how
you could have responded in a better way, if you had seen the situation
accurately. This process of substituting constructive thinking (a new rational
view) for destructive thinking is critical; otherwise, your intuitive mind will
continue to misread future situations.
This
process is very similar to disputing irrational ideas in method #3 and to
reframing in chapter 15. Perhaps the best way to change your experience-based
mind is to have new experiences. If you fear your boss, get to know him/her
better and talk to others about him/her. If you are uncomfortable with very old
people, get to know several. If you feel you couldn't be a leader, find a cause
and try your hand at leadership roles.
In
chapter 15 several methods (getting in touch with your feelings, focusing,
guided fantasy, and meditation) are described which will enable you to learn more
from your experience-based mind. This, in turn, will help you understand the
feelings that underlie many of the emotions and misinterpretations which cause
you problems. Emery (1994) wrote a workbook to increase your intuition,
especially in the workplace and in leadership positions. Ruchlis (1992) teaches
you ways to evaluate the in-coming evidence and be a
little more reasonable in daily life.
Time involved
It may
take you only 30 minutes to read the steps above and ask, "What are the
facts supporting a particular belief I have?" On the other hand, to
understand the cognition underlying a troublesome reaction you have in a
specific situation may take a few hours. Correcting the intuitive mind by
experiencing constructing thinking will take 15 minutes every day for a month
or so. If you want to clean up your cognition generally and become an expert
thinker and problem-solver in some complex general area, like self-help, it may
take years.
Common problems
The
first obvious problem is failing to recognize our well entrenched erroneous
thinking or reasoning. Simply reading the examples in step 1 will almost
certainly not correct our thinking. We may need to be confronted by ourselves
(our rational mind?) or by others many times to acquire critical thinking
skills. Actually, many different skills and much knowledge are needed to be a
straight, creative thinker. We need to acquire much knowledge and know how to
accurately recall that information, how to analyze arguments, how to test
hypotheses, how to make decisions, and how to problem-solve. There are several
somewhat applied courses addressing these issues offered around the country;
the best-selling textbook about critical thinking skills is by Diane Halpern
(1995). This kind of training should come before a lifetime of careful
thinking.
Effectiveness, advantages and dangers
Hopefully,
within the context of our emphasis on critical thinking in schools, we will
soon have many studies of the effectiveness of this classroom training in terms
of practical decision-making at work, in interpersonal relationships, in
guiding one's own life. And, fortunately,
|
