On Being Rational
In the West we like to think of ourselves as intelligent. The popular view of intelligence, or at least one interpretation of it, is that we are in control of our actions and we do things having considered the consequences of our actions. As far as most people are concerned, this could hardly be further from the truth. The problem is that the emphasis in education is on rational, logical thinking – what I call ‘left-brain’ thinking. We have neglected the development of ‘right-brained’ thinking and as a result most people are influenced in ways they don't understand. These influences are intentional and unintentional.
There is a method that hypnotist use called a ‘Post Hypnotic Suggestion’. One the hypnotist has put the person (the subject) under a suitably deep hypnotic state, the Post Hypnotic Suggestion is made by telling the subject that after they wake up the hypnotist will say or do something (the trigger) to which the subject will respond in a particular way (the response). For example, the hypnotist may say that when they pick up their coffee cup from the table (the trigger), the subject will go into the kitchen and wash their hands (the response). On coming out of hypnosis, the subject will remember nothing of the suggestion but when the hypnotist performs the trigger (picking up the coffee cup) the subject will respond as previously suggested. When asked why they got up to wash their hands they will invariably make some excuse (typically comments such as: ‘I realized that I had coffee on my hands’; ‘I went into the kitchen to get some milk and thought I would wash my hands while I was in there’). Rarely will people say that they didn't know or will recall the suggestion.
People in the advertising or marketing professions know how particular social groups can be influenced by triggers. They know that the image of the self-confident, fit and active woman who can juggle work and family with ease will appeal to particular demographic; the image of the latest fashion will appeal to another. Politicians use similar techniques: law and order phrases will appeal to some people, social welfare will appeal to others. Not only do few think about what is being said but the tendency is that people respond to set phrases more and think rationally less. Political correctness is about banning certain types of phrases regardless of whether they are true or not. A politician who remarks that a particular racial grouping is different in ability would be committing political suicide, even if factually such a statement were true. The emotional response is considered more important than any rational consideration of the statement.
I recently saw a practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) doing a demonstration. The program organisers arranged for 5 students to take part in an experiment. Each student sat down at a desk with the practitioner who had a sheet of paper with 5 shapes. I think they were a square, a circle, a star, a diamond and pentagram. The student had to choose one shape and write the name of the shape into a sealed envelope. The NLP practitioner said he could get every student to select the star. The interviews were filmed and although it was apparent that there was no obvious coaxing, each student did select the star. They asked the NLP practitioner how he did it and had made some points. When going through the list of shapes he paused on mentioning the star; he made a star shape with his fingers and used other body language and subtle language cues to subliminally emphasis his point. The students were obviously unaware of how they were being influenced. Sales professionals often use NLP techniques in order to influence their clients.
The more ‘rational’ we think we are, the more we can be influenced by subtle techniques because our rational side is able to convince us that what we are doing is the correct course of action. To become true controllers of our destiny we have to expand our consciousness so that these subtle influences become obvious.
This is not to say that we should reject our rational side. On the contrary, used correctly rationality helps us to keep other aspects of psyche in check so that our emotions and instinctual drive don't run amok. When not used correctly logical and rational arguments can be used to justify the most atrocious behavior. So called ‘intellectuals’ purport to use rationality to form their views. Usually, however, such people simply use logic to justify views that were formed as a result of influences that they don't understand.
