Gut vs. Head, Science of Fear, Part II

For the majority of the book, Daniel Gardner is comparing two psychological concepts, clinically known by System One and System Two reasoning. It's feeling versus reason, or as Gardner says, Gut versus Head. Instinct or gut reasoning is a legacy of the days of the hunter-gatherer, and not well suited to the modern world. It's the part of our hard wiring that gets us in trouble and is often exploited by marketeers.

Along with Gut v. Head, we get two additional concepts:

Confirmation Bias: "Once a belief is in place, we screen what we see and hear in a biased way that ensures our beliefs are 'proven' correct." Once you set your opinion that a coach won't pass, a player can't hit clutch shots -- see where this is going?

Group Polarization: "When people get together in groups, they become more convinced that their beliefs are right and they become more extreme in their views." Hmm. Is there a part of the social media that fits that definition?

My takeaway reinforces the need to engage social media. If no one is there to represent your point of view, to be the voice of reason among a group, you have left the day to the natural course of Group Polarization. The idea that first impressions really do matter and once set are extremely hard to change means that rapid response into social media situations and quick engagement is the key in trying to disrupt Confirmation Bias.