Our brain. It’s the most fascinating organ in our body. While the heart, liver and lungs are more or less well-understood by science, the brain keeps surprising us, both physically as well as what is is capable of on a level of thought and, even more, subconsciously. In line with this blog, it is the final organ that determines whether something is ‘Wow!’. But the brain isn’t faultless. It has some very interesting glitches. Fortunately, some of these glitches can be beaten or even used in your very advantage! I’ll tell you how!

First of all, let me credit Nikki, who posted the blog Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought to Listverse.com. This blog inspired me to write this post for you. I will briefly quote from that blog, and only made a selection of three out of ten. If you would like to read more, check out the original blog posting!

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviors that obtain results that confirm existing attitudes. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to become true. A common example can be found in relationships: “I think my relationship with my significant other is going to fail, so I start acting differently, pulling away emotionally”. Because of your actions, you actually cause the relationship to fail. Economic recessions are self-fulfilling prophecies. Because a recession is 2 quarters of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decline, you cannot know you are in a recession until you are at least 6 months into one. Unfortunately, at the first sign of decreasing GDP, the media reports a possible recession, people panic and start a chain of events that actually cause a recession.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is great when it’s in your favour. But if it’s not, simply reject the prophecy and focus on a more positive prediction. When the first signs of an economic crisis appeared on the surface, back in 2008, I right away declared that I am not going to take part in it and that I will even aim to benefit from it. So far, that prophecy indeed fulfilled itself!

Escalation of commitment

Escalation of commitment is the tendency for people to continue to support previously unsuccessful endeavors. With all the decisions people have to make, it is unavoidable that some will be unsuccessful. Of course, the logical thing to do in these instances is to change that decision or try to reverse it. However, sometimes individuals feel compelled not only to stick with their decision, but also to further invest in that decision because they have sunk costs. For example, say you use half of your life savings to start a business. After six months, it is evident that the business is going to be unsuccessful. The logical thing to do would be to cut your losses and drop the business. However, due to the sunk costs of your life savings, you feel committed to the business and invest even more money into the project hoping that the additional cash will turn the business around.

A good way to avoid to get trapped in escalation of commitment is to gather a group of three to five knowledgable people and ask for their opinion. For example, when your business adventure is not going so well and you feel in your guts that it is about to fail (which is often the case), ask a group of successful entrepreneurs for their judgement. If they agree in (overwhelming) majority, face the facts and shut it down, despite the losses. Obviously, if unexperienced people without any credibility tell you to stop doing whatever you feel is right, this advise does not apply!

Placebo effect

The placebo effect, which has a lot in common with the self-fulfilling prophecy, is when an ineffectual substance that is believed to have healing properties produces the desired effect. Especially common with medications, the placebo effect has been observed when individuals given a sugar pill for a real ailment report improvement. Placebos are still a mystery. It is theorized that placebos cause a so-called expectancy effect (in cases of uncertainty, expectation is what is most likely to happen). Individuals expect the pills to cure their disease, so they feel cured. However, this does not explain how the ineffectual pills actually cause a reduction in symptoms. The term ‘placebo’ is used when the outcomes are considered favorable, when the outcomes are negative or harmful; the term is ‘nocebo’.

You can actually use the placebo effect in your very own favor. A good example of this is the so-called Law Of Attraction, which basically says that like attracts like. If you set your mind to a certain wish, concept or idea and focus upon it, you will materialize it. Because you ‘believe’ in the ‘healing properties’ of your mental placebo, your thoughts and following actions will actually contribute (often significantly, in my personal case) to materializing whatever was on your mind.

Photo by SteveTaint