Heuristic Bias
November 26th, 2008 Posted in Culture, Faith, Family, Jesus, LeadershipGood routines become bad routines if we don’t change the routine!
In his new book, Wild Goose Chase, Mark Batterson warns against one of the greatest dangers we face spiritually. It is learning how, but forgetting why!
One of the keys to spiritual growth is developing healthy spiritual disciplines, but one of the dangers to our spiritual growth is going through the familiar motions but forgetting why we do it. Batterson calls it “familiarization, habituation, and routinization.
Batterson teaches that we tend to think and act in patterned ways and states that “the tendency to think the way we’ve always thought or do it the way we’ve always done it is called Heuristic bias. It is an incredibly complex cognitive process, but the end result is mindlessness.” (pg. 59)
We end up doing things without thinking about them.
With Thanksgiving being a national holiday where we gather with family and friends and eat, is it possible that we do this routine without literally thinking about what we are thankful for? I hope not!
As we enter this holiday season, do something different! Change the routine in a way that will help you think about what we celebrate and who we worship.
Don’t be guilty of heuristic bias or simply “going through the motions”!
One Response to “Heuristic Bias”
By Shane Smith on Nov 28, 2008
Wow, how true. Intentionally changing routines sounds like a good idea to me; I’ll have to try that.