Cognitive Barriers to Innovation

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Cognitive Barriers to Innovation

byGray Somerville

December 7, 2015

www.launchpathinc.com

Most of us experience challenges with innovation. A recent finding reveals that the deep foundations of these challenges are embedded in the way our minds work.

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In his best-selling book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explains an understanding that emerged from his thirty year study of the way our minds work, how we perceive reality, and how we achieve judgments.

Thinking Fast and Slow


The Two “System” Theory of the Mind

Kahneman calls this the Two “System” Theory of the Mind.

(“System” is in quotations to highlight its use as a metaphor: our brains don’t have different anatomical structures, but the way our mind behaves can be thought of as two systems.)


Let’s Meet the Two System Characters

“SYSTEM 1”

Represented by Erin Hannon of The Office: Gung-ho, fast, confident, intuitive . . . but can’t always be trusted to make a rational judgment

Portrayed by “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski: Quite smart and good at doing complex calculations . . . but LAZY

“SYSTEM 2”


Historically, we thought of our minds as a thinking process we could actually observe; for example, when we’re doing a math problem or making a complex buying decision. But a new understanding of the way System 1 works has emerged from the recent work of cognitive psychologists. Let’s take a closer look.

“SYSTEM 1”

A New Understanding of SYSTEM 1


Associative Memory

Perception, Intuition, Heuristic Judgment, Memory

Monitoring for Cognitive Ease--constantly scanning for norm violations and threats

How “System 1” WorksSystem 1 is made up of three different key functions:


The Core: Associative Memory

Associative Memory

We use our associative memory when we automatically link one thing with another. For example, we might associate the word ball with the word bat.


The Power of Associative Memory

This vast network of associations has a more dramatic effect on our perception of reality than we first realized. For example, after being exposed to words associated with old age like cane, walker, or nursing home, etc., people will actually walk more slowly.


Associative Memory

The Next Layer Out:Perception, Intuition, Heuristic Judgment, Memory

These functions are outgrowths of associative memory. Intuition is at work when we walk into a room and can immediately tell that someone has been talking about us. Heuristic judgment is when we are able to say that one thing is like another.


Associative Memory

The Outer Layer:

Monitoring for Cognitive Ease

System 1 constantly scans the environment for any norm violations or threats to its state of cognitive ease. If everything makes sense and feels normal, then System 1 lets things go as they are. If not, it raises the alarm.


Your “System 1” In ActionTo see an example of System 1 at work, consider the image below:

Immediately, your System 1 at a single glance has looked at this image and made a judgment of what it sees.


Interestingly, people see two different images. Some see a rabbit; others see a bird. When you now reconsider the image, your System 2 is at work—called into action to audit the immediate and confident judgment of the image made by System 1.

Your “System 2” In Action


How the 2 “Systems” Work Together

StimuliWe are constantly bombarded by stimuli even if it’s something as subtle as the almost imperceptible noise of the heating and air-conditioning system whirring in the background.


Step 1: What’s Going On?

What’s going on?

Stimuli

System 1 is constantly monitoring that stimuli and basically asking: What’s going on? Is everything okay? Does everything feel normal? Does it all make sense?


Step 2: Should I Get System 2?

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?

Stimuli

If anything happens that raises any kind of concern at all, System 1 asks the question: “Should I engage System 2 or not? Should I raise the alarm?”


Step 3: Is System 2 Available?

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?

Is Sys 2 available?

Stimuli

If System 1 thinks it should get System 2, then it must ask, “Is System 2 available?” Unlike System 1, which has limitless capacity, System 2 has limited capacity.


Step 4: System 2 makes a judgment

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?

Is Sys 2 available?

Stimuli

So if System 1 detects something that needs to engage System 2, and if System 2 is available, then System 2 will be prodded off the couch and called into action to step in and make a judgment.


Step 5: System 2 Unavailable

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?

Stimuli

Is Sys 2 available?

However, if System 2 is not available, then System 1 will make the call without System 2. For example, when you are sending a text message, you cannot also be making judgments about an oncoming car because System 2 is unavailable.


Step 6: Did System 2 Request an Audit?

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?

Did Sys 2 request audit?

Stimuli

If System 1 did not detect anything that it felt required System 2, and, therefore, decided not to ask System 2, the next question is, “Did System 2 request an audit?”


Step 7: System 2 Requests an Audit

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?


Stimuli

System 2 has the ability to intervene, inject itself, and require a closer examination of the situation and make the final decision .


Step 8: No Audit? System 1 Makes Call

What’s going on?

Should I ask Sys 2?


Stimuli

If System 2 did not request an audit, then System 1 makes call.


This Is the Revelation:What’s

going on?Should I

ask Sys 2?

Stimuli

MOST OF OUR JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE WORLD HAPPEN

LIKE THIS.

Most of the time, System 1 has done all of the thinking for us, and we haven’t engaged System 2 at all.

Is Sys 2 Available? Did Sys 2 request

audit?


This creates a perpetual state of affairs that Dr. Kahneman calls

WYSIATIWHAT YOU SEE IS ALL THERE IS

WYSIATI


WYSIATI at work

Do yousee any

opportunities?

Nope.

We go about our business, thinking that we are seeing the entire scene when, in fact, we are looking at the world through narrowly framed periscopes and missing opportunities that we’re practically tripping over.


Fine, If You Live on the African Savannah

LION! RUN! FOOD! RUN!

The way our mind works would work if we lived in a primitive state and our critical decision-making for survival boiled down to detecting imminent threats and running away or detecting opportunities like food and running towards them.


But it’s tough to cope with thisOur complex, technical, and subtle world makes it hard for our two system minds to cope.


Or this . . .

IdeateIdentify & Prioritize Design Test &

AdaptImplement

or Abandon

The Innovation Process

Even innovation which seems a simple process of identifying and prioritizing our opportunities, ideating possible solutions, designing, testing, adapting, and implementing or abandoning our best idea is too much for System 1.


So what do we do?What do we do when we live in a world that demands innovation in order for us to be successful, and yet we are fighting our nature and our environment every single day that we are trying to do it?


Implement a system.

The Answer Is

We must build a crutch, a tool, to aid our minds to allow us to see the opportunities and innovate successfully.


The LaunchPath Innovation SystemA good example of an Innovation System that is simple, practical, and

affordable that organizations can implement looks something like this:


LaunchPath Innovation

The LaunchPath Innovation System lays out the key steps and identifies key roles of the innovation process. By using a system such as this, organizations can overcome the cognitive barriers that would otherwise prevent them from realizing their opportunities so that they can innovate successfully!

For more information about how LaunchPath Innovation helps SMBs affordably, continuously, and successfully innovate visit our website, www.launchpathinc.com, or contact us at [email protected].

http://www.launchpathinc.com/

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Cognitive Barriers to Innovation