A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently
In the last decade, a revolution has occurred in the way that scientists think about the brain. We now know that the decisions humans make can be traced to the firing patterns of neurones in specific parts of the brain. These discoveries have led to the field known as neuroeconomics, which studies the brain's secrets to success in an economic environment that demands innovation and being able to do things differently from competitors. A brain that can do this is an iconoclastic one. Briefly, an iconociost is a person who does something that others say can't be done.
This definition implies that iconoclasts are different from other people, but more precisely, it is their brains that are different in three distinct ways: perception, fear response, and social intelligence. Each of these three functions utilizes a different circuit in the brain. Naysayers might suggest that the brain is irrelevant, that thinking in an original, even revolutionary way is more a matter of personality than brain function. But the held of neuroeconomics was born out of the realization that the physical workings of the brain place limitations on the way we make decisions. By understanding these constraints, we begin to understand why some people march to a different drumbeat.
The first thing to realize is that the brain suffers from limited resources. It has a fixed energy budget, about the same as a 40 watt light bulb, so it has evolved to work as efficiently as possible. This is where most people are impeded from being an iconoclast. For example, when confronted with information streaming from the eyes, the brain will interpret this information in the quickest way possible. Thus it will draw on both past experience and any other source of information, such as what other people say, to make sense of what it is seeing. This happens all the time. The brain takes shortcuts that work so well we are hardly ever aware of them. We think our perceptions of the world are real, but they are only biological and electrical rumblings. Perception is not simply a product of what your eyes or ears transmit to your brain. More than the physical reality of photons or sound waves, perception is a product of the brain.
Perception is central to iconoclasm. Iconoclasts see things differently to other people. Their brains do not fall into efficiency pitfalls as much as the average person’s brain. iconoclasts, either because they were born that way or through learning, have found ways to work around the perceptual shortcuts that plague most people. Perception is not something that is hardwired into the brain. It is a learned process, which is both a curse and an opportunity for change. The brain faces the fundamental problem of interpreting physical stimuli from the senses.
Everything the brain sees, hears, or touches has multiple interpretations. The one that is ultimately chosen is simply the brain's best theory. ln technical terms, these conjectures have their basis in the statistical likelihood of one interpretation over another and are heavily influenced by past experience and, importantly for potential iconoclasts what other people say.
The best way to see things differently to other people is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before. Novelty releases the perceptual process from the chains of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgments. Successful iconoclasts have an extraordinary willingness to be exposed to what is fresh and different. Observation of iconoclasts shows that they embrace novelty while most people avoid things that are different.
The problem with novelty, however, is that lt tends to trigger the brain's fear system. Fear is a major impediment to thinking like an iconoclast and stops the average person in his tracks. There are many types of fear, but the two that inhibit iconoclastic thinking and people generally find difficult to deal with are fear of uncertainty and fear of public ridicule. These may seem like trivial phobias. But fear of public speaking, which everyone must do from time to time, afflicts one-third of the population. This makes it too common to be considered a mental disorder. It is simply a common variant of human nature, one which iconoclasts do not let inhibit their reactions
Finally, to be successful iconoclasts, individuals must sell their ideas to other people. This is where social intelligence comes in. Social intelligence is the ability to understand and manage people in a business setting. ln the last decade, there has been an explosion of knowledge about the social brain and how the brain works when groups coordinate decision making. Neuroscience has revealed which brain circuits are responsible for functions like understanding what other people think, empathy, fairness, and social identity. These brain regions play key roles in whether people convince others of their ideas. Perception is important in social cognition too. The perception of someone's enthusiasm, or reputation, can make or break a deal. Understanding how perception becomes intertwined with social decision making shows why successful iconoclasts are so rare.
Iconoclasts create new opportunities in every area from artistic expression to technology to business They supply creativity and innovation not easily accomplished by committees. Rules aren't important to them. Iconoclasts face alienation and failure, but can also be a major asset to any organization. It is crucial for success in any field to understand how the iconoclastic mind works.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 558, Rule ID: CANT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'can't' or 'cannot'?
Suggestion: can't; cannot
...rson who does something that others say cant be done. This definition implies tha...
^^^^
Line 4, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... people march to a different drumbeat. The first thing to realize is that the b...
^^^
Line 5, column 409, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...formation in the quickest way possible. Thus it will draw on both past experience an...
^^^^
Line 5, column 435, Rule ID: PAST_EXPERIENCE_MEMORY[1]
Message: Use simply 'experience'.
Suggestion: experience
...way possible. Thus it will draw on both past experience and any other source of information, su...
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Line 6, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... perception is a product of the brain. Perception is central to iconoclasm. Ico...
^^^
Line 7, column 184, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Iconoclasts
...uch as the average person's brain. iconoclasts, either because they were born that way...
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Line 7, column 388, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... is not something that is hardwired into the brain. It is a learned process, whic...
^^
Line 8, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ing physical stimuli from the senses. Everything the brain sees, hears, or tou...
^^^
Line 9, column 124, Rule ID: THE_SUPERLATIVE[4]
Message: A determiner is probably missing here: 'brains the best'.
Suggestion: brains the best
...that is ultimately chosen is simply the brains best theory. ln technical terms, these conje...
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Line 9, column 144, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Ln
...hosen is simply the brains best theory. ln technical terms, these conjectures have...
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Line 9, column 294, Rule ID: PAST_EXPERIENCE_MEMORY[1]
Message: Use simply 'experience'.
Suggestion: experience
...r another and are heavily influenced by past experience and, importantly for potential iconocla...
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Line 10, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ial iconoclasts what other people say. The best way to see things differently t...
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Line 11, column 184, Rule ID: PAST_EXPERIENCE_MEMORY[1]
Message: Use simply 'experience'.
Suggestion: experience
...e perceptual process from the chains of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgme...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 14, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...sts do not let inhibit their reactions Finally, to be successful iconoclasts, i...
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Line 15, column 225, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Ln
...nd manage people in a business setting. ln the last decade, there has been an expl...
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Line 17, column 186, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: aren't
...asily accomplished by committees. Rules arent important to them. Iconoclasts face ali...
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Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, briefly, but, finally, first, however, if, may, so, third, thus, well, while, as to, for example, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 49.0 13.1623246493 372% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 7.85571142285 127% => OK
Conjunction : 29.0 10.4138276553 278% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 30.0 7.30460921844 411% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 64.0 24.0651302605 266% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 109.0 41.998997996 260% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 33.0 8.3376753507 396% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 4683.0 1615.20841683 290% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 896.0 315.596192385 284% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.2265625 5.12529762239 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.47112959947 4.20363070211 130% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.97728846469 2.80592935109 106% => OK
Unique words: 410.0 176.041082164 233% => Less unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.457589285714 0.561755894193 81% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1430.1 506.74238477 282% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.60771543086 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 19.0 5.43587174349 350% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 11.0 2.52805611222 435% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 1.0 2.10420841683 48% => OK
Conjunction: 10.0 0.809619238477 1235% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 5.0 4.76152304609 105% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 53.0 16.0721442886 330% => Too many sentences.
Sentence length: 16.0 20.2975951904 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 48.4471724199 49.4020404114 98% => OK
Chars per sentence: 88.358490566 106.682146367 83% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.9056603774 20.7667163134 81% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.09433962264 7.06120827912 30% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 9.0 4.38176352705 205% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 16.0 5.01903807615 319% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 19.0 8.67935871743 219% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 15.0 3.9879759519 376% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 19.0 3.4128256513 557% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0942713401486 0.244688304435 39% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0210209946571 0.084324248473 25% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.035281882322 0.0667982634062 53% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0446576785102 0.151304729494 30% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0341823690278 0.056905535591 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.7 13.0946893788 89% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 55.24 50.2224549098 110% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.44779559118 118% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 11.3001002004 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.76 12.4159519038 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.34 8.58950901804 97% => OK
difficult_words: 222.0 78.4519038076 283% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 12.0 9.78957915832 123% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 10.1190380762 83% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 10.7795591182 111% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Maximum five paragraphs wanted.
Rates: 56.1797752809 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 5.0 Out of 9
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.