David Gruber

Rational Reading

Speed-searching

Speed-reading

Speed-studying

Training E-textbook for Courses and Autodidacts

© Gruber-TDP 2014

Rational Reading – an Essential Psychic Weapon for the Internet Era

An Information Feast

An information feast - this accurately describes the situation which faces all, even moderately ambitious people at the beginning of the 21st century. We are all, as residents of industrial countries, in the middle of a huge feast of information. This is a feast where any gaps in information have disappeared. Take out a bit of something from somewhere – and you do not notice its absence. In fact – information is that strange kind of commodity which cannot be exhausted, even when used (that is, absorbed by the senses) by one or a hundred or a million people.

However, some of the dishes on the overloaded and bending tables can be harmful or even poisonous. Chefs from all over the world have prepared for us an assortment of every possible dish, from the best-quality and most delicious meals, to those which are harmful and distasteful.

What a contrast when compared with previous ages, when the hunt for food was the most important concern, the primary aim of our work and income. As time progressed, food became a symbol of wealth, so long as it was put together in appropriate amounts and quality.

This analogy of information to food provides us with many further possible comparisons. Let´s look at them together, systematically.

Food:

In a previous age:

1. Most of our time was used in search of it.

2. Acquisition strategies were the real science - consuming was not an issue.

3. Often, our ancestors were lucky if they had one meager choice and relatively enough for a dinner. The danger of overeating was very rare.

4. It was necessary to protect oneself from losses of food - to lock up reserves, etc.

5. Selecting food was not a major problem; no choice – no selection.

6. Those who did not hunt for food perished.

7. The choice of food remained unchanged for generations.

8. It was an age of stability, long term plans and complex knowledge about food.

9. The ruling strategy was to „learn, learn, learn“.

Today:

1. Food is delivered to your door at a constantly decreasing price. Perhaps today we view this cost in a symbolic way.

2. Acquisition strategies are losing their importance and value. They pointlessly take place in our heads, notebooks and libraries. The correct manner of consumption has become a new science. Consumption strategy develops a thousand times faster and more urgently than acquisition strategies which evolved slowly over thousands of years.

3. The danger of overeating and poisoning is a permanent threat.

4. It is necessary to protect ourselves from an overflow of food.

5. The selection of food is beginning to be such a complicated decision problem that only professionals can understand it. In our mature age we cannot fully rely on them, but we have to partly depend on them.

6. Those who chew and digest badly will die, i.e. continued failure will lead to ´career death´.

7. The selection of food is changing faster and faster. You take one portion, then, a few moments later, you return to the same plate to find already something different, more modern: more nutritious and nourishing, if you know how to eat it properly. You meet something more dangerous and poisonous, if you do not master the technology of its digestion.

8. We live in an age of permanent change. If you want to master the knowledge of a certain kind of food through a common learning strategy, you can - but no sooner have you mastered it, it is already yesterday´s information. Maybe profound and perfect - but more and more redundant and unnecessary.

9. The ruling strategy is “learning, unlearning, learning, unlearning” etc. However, “learning” takes on an entirely different meaning. There is a major difference between learning something forever and learning in such a way that it can be unlearned.

Not so long ago I thought that the current era of the Internet, smart mobile phones and the world as one global village represented the same kind of breakthrough as did the steam engine and electricity two hundred and one hundred years ago respectively. Now I know that this comparison is weak. Today´s changes are not comparable with anything that has gone before.

Let´s make a summary of our previous analogy – but instead of talking about food we´ll talk about data and information.

Older generations can well remember how many different techniques and systems of work with information were introduced in books and sometimes even taught at schools. The organization of libraries, the system of keeping newspaper and magazine cuttings, the habit of keeping notes on cards, recording as much as possible. "Find and keep" was the slogan of those days. What if it doesn't appear anywhere in a newspaper or magazine for a long time?

These generations experienced schooling (from primary school to college and university) in a spirit of "remember facts and data, you will need them for your whole life". The idea that a man could have a constant source of data equal to the most extensive library, in his briefcase, wherever he happens to be, whether in the desert or in the jungle, above the mountains or under the sea, belonged to the world of fantasy.

But now, we do have such a source. It is not called "a university library in a briefcase" but a notebook computer with a smart mobile phone connected to the Internet. (As you read these lines it might already be something else, something a shade more sophisticated.) And it is also somewhat different, almost uncontrollable – and that's why it is almost uncontrolled in terms of its contents, form and reliability.

Nobody in this world of information overload is even close to knowing all necessary information in their field. People cannot even know all experts in their branch in their own country. They might know just the most significant ones - in a community, whose members socialize and regularly communicate together. In a different social group, someone else can be considered to be the most significant in the same branch. We, swimmers in the sea of information, cannot try to get to all continents, lands and islands. We should be happy to find the first piece of land which comes our way on our voyage.

Life more and more resembles an accident. The good things that could have happened to us in the past, can happen today easily in a more impressive way. Whatever bad could have happened, can now come along in even more evil form.

The larger the spectrum of comforts that surrounds us, the more unsettling it is to lose a part of the comfort we already have. The loss of a hot water tap or car meant for the greatest tycoons in the Middle Age a zero loss, because nobody in the world owned a tap or a car then. Losing the opportunity to take a flight, make a phone call, or buy a hamburger in McDonald's represents a heavy shock for today´s Americans, Europeans or Japanese, simply because it is available to others.

To look to the future for constants and being guided by them has become extremely difficult.

However, let's attempt to do so in one specific field and assume that the main function of the human brain will not change for a few more decades. Assume that brain activity will be led, even in this hectic environment, by constant neurophysiological and psychological rules – that our brain will have the same functions, possibilities, and the same limitations. That the words of the most famous German poet J.W.Goethe will remind valid: "Mankind is always developing forward, but man stays the same."

Every human brain, which wants to provide fair living standards for his bearer, will have to absorb up-to-date information. To chew, to swallow, to digest, and to excrete continuously at our previously described information feast.

We will talk here about information that comes to us in written, printed or electronical form – not in pictures but in letters, syllables, words, sentences, paragraphs, articles, chapters, books... Just in the form of a text. In the last decade, business information in this form was statistically over 80% of all business information. The percentage may change, but will stay significant for a long time. In fact, text is a static mode of communication. Every meaningful speech can be pictured by a text. All we can describe by spoken word is possible to describe by an appropriate text. We can describe in detail any visual, audio, oral, nasal or any other possible human perception by words. On the other hand, to express oneself by just pictures without text, or accompanied by spoken words is often impossible (Try, for instance, to communicate the timetable of Heathrow airport in London without spoken word, symbols or numbers!).

Of course, many artists may now object and claim that there are many perceptions and feelings which cannot be described by words. It is often discussed in intellectual societies. However, isn´t something discussed precisely because it is surprising, unexpected, subtle, or extraordinary? Isn´t it discussed using words, i.e. by spoken bits of text? How else could people say that something „cannot be described by words“, if it wasn't expressed using some words?

Even such expressions such as "indescribable", "vague", and "unexplainable" are bits of text. They are adjectives with a strong expressive power.

It is high time for our brains to learn to correctly perceive textual information, conduct primary and following processing, and to separate the important from the unimportant.

There is an analogy with food again there: A fit and competent brain works with information similarly as a fit and efficient digestive system works with food.

- Walking around the feast table and sniffing - it is like surfing on the Net and choosing what to read.

- Chewing a chosen dish is like a first reading of some text.

- The job of the stomach and intestines to absorb nutrients is like deciding after an initial reading, what to integrate into our knowledge and experience database, and into our entire psychic organism. What we excrete as unnecessary derives not just from recently consumed food but also from other waste products as a result of dishes consumed long ago that are now unnecessary or harmful.

- Snickering aside, the last stage (excretion) is what is the most lacking element in our work with information. In the realm of reading and learning, many of us resemble people who just feed themselves but never use a toilet. Needless to say such constipation is not healthy. Just like you have to excrete, you also have to efficiently ignore the unimportant and unlearn old facts or know-how because they have become redundant and useless.

To keep it simple, let´s refer to the whole nourishing and digesting process for the brain with the term rational reading.

Learn Rational Reading

Now, dear readres, try to answer the following questions related to the previous text.

It is important that you do not refer back to the text even once. The following questions are going to estimate the quality of your reading in a simple way.

To surprise you with a test at this point is a deliberate step. When someone knows already before reading that the following text will be a basis for a test of reading quality and reading performance, they will take a very different approach. A certain percentage of people will suddenly read almost twice as slowly as usually. They will often go back in the text with questions like "Will I be tested on remembering this particular fact here?". The text will then lose a majority of its attractiveness and comfort. Other readers will switch on their determination, concentration, and effort to a maximum level and read in such a way that they will be sweating and overcome in just a few minutes. Such a style of reading is ineffective for extensive use.

However you, dear friends, have read the entire introduction to this book spontaneously for the most natural reason that people read – the text caught your attention. You may have felt that you needed it. Something probably attracted you that may be useful to know, and may offer you new opportunities. You may have felt in the text above some threat for your existing style of living, working and learning. (And your threat can be avoided or neutralized on the basis of your improved knowledge from the same text, of your reading through this passage.)

After reading, your brain was busy with various thoughts, e.g. you perceived the last few paragraphs wit the task already in a different context than the introduction of the book. That is the way it works in real life, in our jobs, in our personal lives. We absorb something, and then when we are busy with something else, the know-how from our previous experiences must be used correctly and appropriately.

Answer the questions by choosing the option that best matches information from the introductory text.

1. What is the concept of information in today´s society compared to?

- a) To a waterfall that is streaming towards us

- b) To our participation in a feast, or banquet

- c) To a flood

- d) To a new revolution

- e) I don't know

2. What was the major problem for people in the past?

- a) To avoid military conflicts

- b) To be healthy and strong

- c) To gather and hunt for food

- d) To make money and get rich

- e) I don't know

3. What revolutionary change resembles the coming of Internet and mobile phones?

- a) It is not comparable to anything before

- b) To the invention of the steam engine

- c) To the invention of electricity

- d) To the invention of calligraphy

- e) I don't know

4. In these days of information overload

- a) It is easier to research and write scientific work

- b) Anywhere and at any time we can locate practically any data we need for our work

- c) Nobody knows all the most significant professionals in his field

- d) It is getting harder to separate the essential

- e) I don't know

5. What is the only certainty in today´s world?

- a) Constantly accelerating change

- b) The contraction of distances

- c) Mankind stays the same in principle, just man is changing

- d) The main functions of human brain are not changing

- e) I don't know

The key is in the appendix 2 of this book.

For every correct answer, give yourself 20 points. For the answer “I don´t know” you receive 0 points. Any other answer is minus 10 points. Guessing on a test, and thus attempting to make oneself look better is evaluated in a more negative way than the honest admittance of imperfection and lack of knowledge. It applies in real life, so in this test as well.

So how did you do on your first surprise test of reading performance? The maximum is 100 points. If you achieved this result, then you can congratulate yourself (assuming no luck was involved). You are an attentive reader.

80 points is still great, even 60 are not so bad. If you ended up below 60, it probably means that you have committed some "sin" in your past.

Our self-respect, our ego has a tendency to deny and protest in such situations. For example, answers 4a or 5b are generally correct. I can imagine a long list of arguments that can very well be advocated by the insulted ones, who selected them and feel that they were unjustly scored a minus 10 points.

However, in testing reading quality and retention, one important principle must be followed: The correct answer is the answer written by the author of the text - not the one that the reader would have liked the author to write.

With the exception of exact sciences (like mathematics, etc.), there are always many points of view on any topic. To every view we can identify similarities and differences to other opinions. So you ask, “Why is the author´s view the only correct one?”. You are right, the author is not a superman. However, the test serves the purpose of a check how you read the given text and absorbed its content.

Therefore, if the author wrote that in today´s information flood nobody can possibly know all major professionals in his field anymore, it must be marked as the correct answer. If the reader is convinced that in today´s flood of information it is easier to research and write scientific work (4a), his answer in his mind could be as follows: "In today´s flood of information it is easier to research and write scientific work, however, the author (I don't know where he got it from) has the opinion, that in today's society nobody any longer knows all major professionals in his branch”. Even this answer can be considered correct (for 20 points), because the reader proved text comprehension and retention. However, such a long comment is possible only in a free-answer-system. (We will use it later.) In a multiple-choice system, there is no other option but to choose the answer 4c.

How Was Your Reading Speed?

Speed is usually measured by the unit "words read per minute". Your text had 1,807 words, which is the path your eyes followed.

What was your time? You probably did not measure it, because I did not tell you so. But if I did tell you, it would not have been a surprise, and your reading of the introduction would not have been done in your usual reading style.

I believe you are curious about your reading speed. That's why there are 3 introductory tests waiting for you, where you can time yourselves (using a watch, mobile phone, laptop, or computer).

How to Use this E-course

1. Perform the introductory tests. Read through the instructions very carefully to let the tests measure all parameters of your reading as precisely as possible.

2. After the introductory tests, you get further instructions.

How to Test Yourself in this Book of Rational Reading?

The time measurement starts from your first click on the proper button on your device. Before you click you may know just the headline. After you have finished reading, click on the "stop button" and the your timer will stop. After that moment, you are not more allowed to glance at the test text. Then you answer the related questions. You may have maximum 20 seconds to submit each answer. In practice, our memory performance has two parameters - correctness and nimbleness. One without the other is usually insufficient.

If you measure the time for your answers, it is O.K. If you only guess the 20-second-interval, you don´t do any big harm. If you spend an obviously longer time thinking over a certain correct answer, your resulting pointing hasn´t such a value like by keeping the maximum time interval.

How to estimate your reading speed?

At all the tests, you will know the number of words in their text. From your measurement, you will know your time. Firstly, you transform the “seconds-part” of your achieved time onto tenths and hundreths of a minute. You obtain it by dividing by 60. Examples: Two minutes and thirty seconds (= 2:30) is equal to 2.50 min, because 30 : 60 = 0.50. Two minutes and fifty seven seconds (= 2:57) is equal to 2.95 min. Because 57 : 60 is 0.95. Then, you divide the words number by your transformed time. Example: A test had 500 words. Your time is 2:30, i. e. 2.50 min. 500 divided by 2.50 is equal to 200. Your reading speed is 200 words per minute.

How to estimate your reading performance?

It is a product of multiplication: If your summary comprehension is 60 points (out of 100 points possible) and your speed is 200 words pre minute., your reading performance is 200 x 60, divided by 100. In this example, it is 120.

The performance is equivalent of the speed (measured in words per minute), multiplied by the comprehension factor, which is a number between minus 50 and plus 100. All this divided by 100. It is relevant only as a positive number; a negative number shows an unacceptably risky tendency on the part of the reader).

In general, the procedure is the same as in your first memorizing test.

- The correct answer is what the author wrote, not what the reader wishes the author had written

- Wild guessing and gambling for luck is penalized by minus points; it is better to admit openly that you don't surely know.

During each of tests:

1. Read without leaving out a line, or a word

2. Read silently

3. Do not take notes

You may object as sometimes reading aloud is better than reading silently, or that taking notes helps. I agree, however, this time do the tests according to the given instructions and think "hard in the gym, easy in the fight". For those who are used to reading without note taking, it is easy to change to notes taking. Those, who cannot live without note taking may run into situations where they will have a hard time. When to take notes and when not to in practical reading situations will be covered in the training part of our e-book. Nevertheless, the rule “no notes” applies to all of you right now.

From the next reading here, you will discover that you can learn content quite well just by preparing tests, even surprisingly well. You can do so also by detailed checking your answers in the test text, accepting step by step, why one concrete of offered possibilities is correct and why all the others are not correct. That is why, in the following tests, we will kill two birds with one stone and choose a topic useful to us. If you discover after the test that you wish to go back to the article again in a quiet environment, slow down your reading pace, read with note taking, because you feel very interested in the topic, then do so. BUT, only after you had taken the test. the test measures your speedreadig ability; your next detailed look at the text is something different – it is studying, not speed-reading.

Be honest…taking even a short glance at the test in advance (except for its title) can harm your results remarkably!

At this point you probably feel sufficiently pepped up to test your reading performance. If you want to be serious about it, do not look at the test before we start for even a split second, because your eye can catch information that will skew the final result. Then, the more you try to forget it, the more you will remember it (the reason is the opposite of subconscious – we explain it later).

If you wonder how many tests you will be taking, then be aware that there will be 3 tests, based on the described testing method, and then I prepared 2 more, based on a different evaluation method.

Shall you do them all or just some of them?

If you want to take the training of rational reading seriously, do all of them. If you just want to browse through this e-book, then do as many tests as you want to.

If you have this e-book only for your pleasure or amusement, then read the tests texts without testing yourself. After that, however, they won't be applicable for testing your abilities any more.

Test A - Analytical and Intuitive Style of Dealing with People

People are able to provide for each other good, beautiful and useful things that is worth striving for. "All is in people," it is said.

You dream of seeing the beauty of exotic countries? If you want your dream to come true, you will need to interact with people along the long journey. Some of them will arrange food and accommodation for you, others (your boss or your clients) provided you with the opportunity to make some money to finance your journey.

A key principle to being successful is to be on good terms with people. To act in a way that people around us want to do what is useful for us. Social status, wealth, success and to some extent even our mental and physical health and happiness are effected by the people around us, and is not entirely under our own control.

You can be successful in social interaction in either an intuitive or analytical way. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The intuitive style does not analyze why people react in certain ways. It is guided by the assumption that people behave in certain ways.

- This is how it is.

- This is trendy.

- You should look like this, behave like this...

These are typical pillars of intuitive people. They usually don't worry themselves with the rationale behind certain events or behaviors. They are not stressed by the occasional absurdity of what they perceive around them. They usually suffer from weak adaptability. An intuitive person adapts to a certain environment and becomes comfortable, but when new conditions arise, there is usually a period of adjustment during which new intuitive experience can be acquired. In the modern world, however, there is often little time for that. Moreover, an intuitive person finds improvisation difficult and doesn't get along well with extravagant and non-intuitive type of people, who cannot accept illogical behavior.

Analytically oriented people have a more difficult lifestyle. They have hard time understanding those who behave just in one way. An analytic, with all his brain capacity penetrates to the heart of the matter, to the links that bind. He is curious regarding internal contradictions, illogical conflicts and absurdities.

As the human brain is not a machine, contradictions, conflicts and absurdities are very common. Analytical people tend to be stressed out, frustrated or even furious at an early stage. In later stages, they are able to learn to harness some of the absurdities and use them to their own advantage. Sometimes it makes them disdain others, who are different.

For example, a writer with an analytical nature soon discovers the illogical truth that the world wants to be misled and disappointed. That the public is not looking for truth and reason in their novels, but rather for its unfulfilled dreams and wishes. The same applies to film and TV audiences, if it is in video form. Analytical people shake their head when crowds of mature people spend their time and money to listen to lies like this. Pragmatic analytics adapt to this and take advantage to the benefit of their own prosperity. However, they will continue to view their public with disdain and a certain contempt.

A smart analytic seller discovers the surprising fact that people do not really want a certain product, but rather the image of belonging to a certain level of society. A successful manager does not really want to buy a new powerful red car, but a strong erotic appeal to young women. A successful woman could easily justify paying nominal prices for cosmetics, but she cannot resist paying 20 times more just because at her level of society everybody does so and she would be a black sheep if she didn't follow the trend. A smart salesman recognized this behavior, and takes advantage. However, under the friendly smile she is hiding disdain and a feeling of superiority.

This superior disdain occasionally appears though. The analytic´s peer group may sense it which presents a communication problem to the analytic. Sometimes, nobody senses what's hiding inside, but the individual feels stressed regardless because of the overwhelming nonsense in the world. An intuitive type is not stressed by this scenario. A successful woman buys soap for 20 times its production cost, just because that's the way it is and she does not analyze it. If she decides to sell the soap, she sets the prices at the same illogical overpriced level. But it does not seem ridiculous to her, because she considers it a fair price. For her, it is a matter of common practice.

So which is better – analytic or intuitive style?

Usually it´s best to take the analytical approach to evaluate the advantages of an intuitive style. Based on an analytical approach, we can define to what extent we allow intuition affect our world. The right level of intuition can be a good servant instead of an evil master.

Test A - Analytical and Intuitive Style of Dealing with People – Multiple Choice Questions

1. Without what can we not fulfill our goals and wishes?

- a) Health

- b) Money

- c) Right technique of thinking

- d) People

- e) I don't know

2. About what does the intuitive thinker not care much

- a) That people behave in certain ways

- b) Why people behave in certain ways

- c) What the reason is for poor communication

- d) Feelings of others

- e) I don't know

3. According to a smart analytical writer, people look to novels and movies for

- a) Shallow entertainment

- b) Their lost illusions

- c) Their unfulfilled dreams and wishes

- d) Answers to questions that are bothering them in life

- e) I don't know

4. What bothers the intuitive type about the fact that people sometimes buy overpriced goods?

- a) Nothing

- b) Illogical justification of such behavior

- c) That they try to attain a higher social level than they are

- d) That the world wants to be mislead

- e) I don't know

5. Which style is better - analytical or intuitive?

- a) Analytical

- b) Analytical to study intuition, and then apply it in a certain extent

- c) Combine them, depending on the situation

- d) Intuitive, because it is less stressful

- e) I don't know

The key is in the appendix 2 of this book.

Test B - Analyzing Our Brain's Illogical Style of Perception

The human brain perceives and processes information on the basis of 3 main imperfect mechanisms:

- First impression

- Generalizations

- Substitution and filtering - you see and hear only what you want to

We will now analyze each one.

First Impression

If the human brain remains unchanged for a few more decades, then it will remain true that information accepted into the rational part of the brain will, before reaching its target, undergo an emotional test.

Does this sound complicated?

However, it really is not. For example, the richest information input into our brain is via our eyes. From the sensors in our eyes leads a thick visual nerve to the nape lobe, where the center of rational processing of visual perception is located. There is defined the color and shape of an object that we are looking at-triangles, squares, lengths, widths, curves, etc. Roughly midway along the path from the eye to the nape lobe, the nerve carrying visual information comes across diencephalons. It is an important section which activates parts of our brain called hippocampus, amygdale, thalamus, hypothalamus, and the limbic system. For the sake of simplicity we will call this part the emotional brain, where visual information obtains emotional value.

The following test of emotional values is less structured than the following comprehension summary. It is also very quick and it is not controlled by our will. An emotional test can be bipolar. The tester – let's call him Mr. Emotion - uses an emotional scale with two ends. At one end there are extreme positive emotions (happiness, joy, ecstasy, love, etc) and at the other, there are extreme negative emotions (disgust, repulsion, anger, stress, etc.). In the middle, there is an emotional neutral zone (doesn't matter to me, I don't care).

Mr. Emotion measures every passing information according to this emotional scale. The newer, more surprising and unexpected the information is, the more intensively he measures it. The result of his measurements are called impressions. An impression from something new is called the first impression.

A first impression is not rational, but emotional. Using the terminology of our previous chapter- it is not analytical, but intuitive. The first impression is our emotional opinion, a part of our personality, self-respect, and self-understanding – something that cannot be easily changed. If we did change it, it would be like admitting a mistake, thus threatening our ego – it would be the opposite of human nature.

What is true for visual perception, also applies to the senses of hearing, smelling, touching and tasting, only the target areas of our brain are different. However, the emotional stopover on the journey is the same for every sense. Mr. Emotion ultimately receives a complex informational perception.

Examples:

An elementary school class gets a new teacher. In the class there is a good student Peter and a bad student Paul. When the first test arrives, Peter uncharacteristically fails, and Paul excels by coincidence. The teacher receives her first impression about the students from this exam – Paul is an excellent student and Peter is weak one.

In the sub-context of these emotional evaluations are thoughts such as, “I know it, I am an experienced professional. I have a trained sense for evaluating students,” etc. The less a teacher is aware of the power of these thoughts, the more effective they become.

Later on, when Paul starts performing badly, the teacher might have a tendency to excuse his failures and consider them accidental, “ today he had a bad day, but normally he is a good student”. When Peter goes back to his excellent studying results, the teacher might suspect him of cheating.

Both misperceptions create problems in interpersonal communication. So, how to deal with them? Definitely not by using the “banging a head against the wall” method. If we try to persuade the teacher about her mistaken first impression, then it may only worsen the situation. If we can somehow successfully change the first impression while supporting the teacher's ego, success will be more or less guaranteed.

Generalizations

Generalizations can be useful sometimes. When we touch a hot surface for the first time, we will probably burn our hand, which results in a very high negative emotion. When it happens a second time, the same kind of negative experience repeats. The first object might have been big, gray, and square-edged, and the second small, red and round. Mr. Generalization (again he resides in our emotional brain) decides: “Any kind of object, heated above a certain temperature, is dangerous to touch. I am not interested in color, shape, or any other information. When there is a hot surface, I avoid direct contact.”

Such a generalization is totally justified. It´s useful, sometimes even vital, to ignore dozens of different qualities and evaluate something based on only one characteristic.

Other times, however, generalizations can be harmful. I may meet a suspiciously looking and conceited man, who is wearing glasses. I then meet a second man with glasses who treats me poorly. Shortly thereafter, I meet some third person, again an unpleasant spectacled man. The Mr. Generalization in me decides, “People who wear glasses are weird, bad and it is best to avoid them”.

And then an excellent man enters my life, and has a potential to change my life and make it better. But, ouch, he is wearing glasses. Due to my generalization I fail to see who he really is, decide I don´t like him, and thus lose a unique opportunity in my life.

Mr. Generalization emotionally concentrated on only one feature – glasses, while other characteristics, such as skills and personality were simply omitted (just like in the case of the hot surface).

To avoid harming ourselves, we must be aware of the concept of generalization. Our brain won´t change, so we cannot turn off, destroy, or eliminate generalizations. However, we can consider at important decision making times whether or not our generalizations are really applicable to a specific thing, event, people, etc.

Filtering and substituting

A certain psychological institution in New York shot a 10-minute-long promotional video about the city. A part of it was a very short, maybe 2 second long shot from the New York subway. A dirty and obviously drunk or stoned white man was obnoxious to another fellow traveler…a clean and smartly dressed black man. Later, this video clip was shown to a group of predominantly white, middle class New Yorkers. To the question, if they noticed anything interesting about the clip involving the subway system, 80% recalled seeing the sequence. They all answered identically that there was a drunken black man bothering a white man.

The mechanisms of filtering and substituting work together very often. The filter simply blocks the acceptance of a truth, and the person behaves as if that truth didn´t exist. In comparison to filtering, substitution creates something that does not yet exist in our brain. Mostly, it is not correct, but the person accepts it as fact.

Both mechanisms work more intensively, when a person drifts further from a neutral emotional balance. The more happiness and relaxation a person feels, the greater the effect of filtering becomes. When emotions are cheerful, everything else looks better than it truly is. The expression of wearing rose-colored glasses is often used to describe the state. The more anger a person feels, the more he focuses on the perceived cause of the anger. This applies particularly to the mental states of depression and fear.

When absorbing information from the surrounding environment, the three-misperception mechanisms – first impression, generalizations, and filtering & substituting – are present. When all three are active and applied, an enormous misperception of reality can occur. Be aware, as this occurrence repeats continuously in our history.

Test B – Analyzing Our Brain´s Illogical Perceptions – Mulitple Choice Questions

1. In our brain:

- a) Perceptions are emotionally tested by various senses in different ways

- b) All perceptions are tested first emotionally and then rationally

- c) Different perceptions go through different parts of the emotional brain and converge in one particular part of the brain

- d) Senses are occasionally misperceived

- e) I don't know

2. An emotional test of our brain is:

- a) A complex, structured undertaking

- b) A simple bi-polar process of positive - negative

- c) A correction of rational analysis

- d) Fast or slow, depending on the general type of personality

- e) I don't know

3. The consequence of first impression is usually:

- a) An unjustified preference/criticism of someone

- b) The ability of humans to quickly inspire and motivate themselves

- c) A misperception of reality

- d) An inability to make a strong second impression, different from the first

- e) I don't know

4. Generalizations are harmful, when we judge that

- a) All blondes are dumb

- b) Black people in New York are more criminally inclined than whites

- c) The human brain will remain unchanged for some time yet

- d) People with glasses are arrogant and conceited

- e) I don't know

5. In comparison to filtering, substituting is:

- a) More creative

- b) More deforming

- c) Less deforming

- d) Neither better nor worse, it depends on the situation

- e) I don't know

The key is in the appendix 2 of this book.

Test C - Medicine against Concerns

It is said that 90% of the discomfort at a dentist office is derived in our mind, and only 10% is caused by actual physical pain.

Perhaps, it wouldn´t be out of place to ask ourselves whether this percentage proportion does not apply to other situations as well, such as upcoming conflict at a workplace, etc. It might even apply to all uncomfortable situations in general.

Concern is an emotion that combines fear and depression. Fear in its original sense was solvable – a hunter attacked by a tiger could run away or fight. Sometimes the end result was not fortunate for the hunter, but the fear situation was resolved quickly.

Now we encounter a different kind of fear, longer lasting and undefined that leads to depression. When the emotion of depression becomes comfortable in our brain, the mind starts hypothetically displaying all possible catastrophic possibilities - what if this or that happens. A person then becomes shattered not by the actual happening of an event, but by thoughts of what could eventually occur.

For example, can we suffer serious injuries in a car accident and not be able to work the rest of our life? It can of course happen. But usually an ambulance arrives within a few minutes of the accident and we receive immediate medical help. However, what if the ambulance does not come in time, or what if the doctors fail? If that happens, then there will be proper insurance coverage to help. But what if the insurance company goes bust? Well, it might have risk hedging. But what if something happens to break the hedging down?

Responsible people tend to be very worried. But people with strong imagination worry twice as much. With every catastrophic vision the internal voice starts to scream, “No, it cannot happen, it would be horrible”. The conflicting subconscious (this is its objective quality) goes on, “What if it really happens?” Don´t forget that the subconscious is the ultimate boss. Concerning thoughts are destructive and paradoxically often happen to be the cause of the real occurrence of our visions (although normally we should be able to distract ourselves from it).

Subconscious cannot be out-jockeyed, and therefore the first step to avoid trouble is to analyze the worst-case scenario that could happen and accept it.

Can my house burn down just after I paid off my loan? Yes, it can. But if it burns down, I should be glad I survived it. Can I become disabled? Yes, I can. I will have to put up with new situations, but I will not have to go to the office that I hated. Can I get divorced? Yes, I can. It will be difficult, but I will gain independence and freedom. Can my car blow up when I drive it? Yes, it can. So, I will die; but it would happen one day anyway and this kind of death would happen quickly, at least. Let's admit the fact that we can´t play God, and unfortunately it is beyond our ability to protect ourselves from certain happenings.

In the second stage, we should realize, that although anything is possible, most catastrophic events are unlikely, and therefore we shouldn´t worry about their consequences.

Not to upset the conflicting subconscious, it is better to provide yourself with this consolation in a form of a question, “Do you really think this catastrophe could surely happen?” The conflicting subconscious will reject this as a naive, rhetorical question.

The third stage should fit like a glove to the qualities of our subconscious. An internal question, “Is constantly worrying about a catastrophe somehow lessening the probability of its occurrence?” The answer is more than negative, because worrying is not only unnecessary, but also extremely counter-productive.

So, the field is now cleared for the fourth stage and more questions: “Are there other possibilities of how an event can play out instead of the catastrophic one? Can I do something concrete to lower the probability of a catastrophe happening, and to increase the probability of other options?”

The fifth stage is based on an old song that states “keep working to keep your troubles away”. Hard work improves our perceived worst scenario and makes us happier.

An always-appropriate slogan states “everything in moderation”. Concerned people have stronger feelings of responsibility most of their time. They find extremely difficult to feel easy-going, generous, and irresponsible. My advice is not to go to the opposite extreme, but to achieve a balance and try to maintain it.

Is the feared event in fact a mere detail, which 9 out of 10 people never have to worry about? If the answer is yes, then drop it from your mind and substitute it with more useful and pleasing content.

Is the event justifiably feared? If so, then strengthen your ego and fight it. Even better, try to occupy your mind with optimistic thoughts, have a long healthy sleep (not just now, though), get some fresh air and sun, perhaps exercise. The more you sink into thinking about it, the stronger the feelings of concern and worry become.

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