Conditions for survival in the manufacturing industry in VUCA era
Satoru Murakami
CEO Goal-System consultants Inc.,
Error-causing brain (cognitive bias)
Since the last time, I have been considering another uncertain existence, "human beings".
I think you have heard the word "cognitive bias". Cognitive bias is a characteristic of the brain in which one's thoughts are distorted in a direction that is in line with one's own interests and wishes for a certain object, and the evaluation is distorted by being dragged by the prominent characteristics of the object. When dragged by this cognitive bias, intuition, prejudice (belief), fear and aspiration hinder logical thinking (intelligence) and hinder rational (intellectual) thinking.
Our human brain evolved to correspond to life in the grasslands of Africa as "Homo sapiens" about 200,000 years ago. In response to dangerous environments where it is not known when a beast will be encountered, the human brain now reacts instantly and intuitively rather than pondering when it senses danger. Because when I saw the beast, "What's that, maybe a lion, then I have to run away. Should I run to the right, behind, or diagonally in front ... what should I do?" It must have been culled without leaving any offspring by being preyed on by beasts.
Summarizing the characteristics, the following can be said.
Respond quickly without thinking deeply (problem = conditional reflection such as immediate countermeasures)
React to events to avoid wasting energy (random)
Prioritize safety and do not deviate from the prescribed procedure (dislike change)
It is the world of Darwin's theory of evolution that what can be adapted to the environment survives. However, this "evolutionary evolution" hinders the "solving of complex problems" that modern humans have to deal with.
After that, human beings need the ability to "think" from the life of running around the savanna to responding to social demands and realizing the desire for self-realization by farming and forming a society. it was done. However, changing roles does not dramatically change the structure of the brain. Physiologically, commands issued from the brain stem are transmitted to the new brain outside through the inside of the brain that controls the instinct, and the inside that controls the instinctive reaction (reflex) is the outside of the brain that controls the intellectual reaction. It is believed to be prioritized.
Therefore, modern humans who play a new role in the old brain are dragging the following "cognitive bias", a feature that can be called a specification bug of the brain.
Emotions lead and intuitively rely on biases and beliefs, and theory is retrofitted (emotion-driven)
Affected by "intelligent shortcuts" (heuristics)
Want to find patterns where nothing is, in order to want "explanation" for everything (fear of ignorance)
Focus on the facts that you believe in everything and disregard what you don't, so even if you get objection, you try to cling to what you believe (confirmation bias).
Due to such bugs, what we think we judge by "reason or logic" is actually biased by our instinctive emotions, and plausible reasoning justifies emotional judgments. When dragged by this cognitive bias, intuition, prejudice (belief), fear and aspiration hinder logical thinking (intelligence) and rational (intellectual) behavior. You may not feel that this is not the case, but psychological experiments conducted around the world have demonstrated that it tends to be seen by everyone, regardless of developed or emerging countries, education level or belief. It is a common feature of the human brain.
Moving people and organizations in the desired direction is not easy. However, moving people has always been a major management concern, and it is important to know how people gather to form an "organization" and how their characteristics change and how to deal with cognitive bias.
