There is a reason that our brain tries to find associations and commonalities to make sense of the impressions given to it.
Some people label it as the availability bias, where your mind searches for the most present experiences in your mind.
You might associate the name Bill with other people, like Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, or a Bill that you are or were exposed to most of your life.
At this point, you can now see your brain tries to answer it sufficiently by associating it with recent or impactful experiences.
This phenomenon reveals to us the power of questions and associations formed as a result.
Our brains are designed to form associations. They work enormously well with uncertainties (even though most people usually pursue certainty). They also work well with facts.
Although, stating absolute facts often hinders our progress despite their truthfulness. Why? Well, the things that we believe to be the truth changes over time. Do you remember when the world believed that the earth was flat? Almost everyone does not subscribe to that theory anymore. Instead, we believe that the earth is round.
Ellen J. Langer (Harvard University professor and Author of The Power of Mindful Learning) hypothesized that the students given the conditional teaching would usually be more creative and faster to understand than students given the absolute teaching.
Her findings were confirmed many times. She further argues that both genders learn much differently in large part because of their childhood.
“Girls are told to be “good little girls”, which translates into “do what you are told.” To be a “real boy,” on the other hand, implicitly means to be independent of authority and “don’t listen to all you are told.”
She went on to explain how this difference should be:
“…especially salient in sex-typed activities such as sports.”
They tested this theory with a game of Smack-it ball.
Half of the males and females were instructed in how to use the rackets either in conditional or absolute language (e.g., “one way to hold your hand might be…” versus “this is how to hold your hand”).
After playing for a while, they changed the ball to a much heavier ball that required adjustments. They assumed that the males would change the grip since males usually modify what they hear or are being told. Furthermore, they expected the females that were taught in an absolute manner to be trapped by their teaching and not adjust to the new conditions.
The hypothesis was confirmed. The most interesting result was that the females that were taught conditionally performed just as well as the males.
When you are not confined to a particular way of learning something, you are engaged to think about it and think about it differently.
You are encouraged to open your mind up to the possibilities. Our brain works by associating things and making comparisons.
The key is that we allow ourselves to be engaged and not take everything as it is, but instead receive it conditionally.
Always explore something to get to the root of it. Discover it. Relate it to your life or someone else’s life.
Review your actions and thoughts. Look at them closely. You will then find that you are much more interested and faster at learning than before.
I want you to focus your awareness on the following:
- Be more observant to what works for you and think about what has worked for you in the past regarding your personal growth.
- Be more aware, especially when you are unsure about something.
Einstein said, “It is not that I am smart, but I just stay with the problems longer.”
I encourage you to do the same. Sit with it. Leave it alone and then return to it. Question it and sit with it again.
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Photo credit: Pixabay