Our brain is like a primitive neural network.

In the past few months, my observations of myself have increasingly supported the model, the idea of ​​which came to my mind in the spring. I decided to share these considerations with people.



Our psyche is an extremely complex aggregate. There are many different mechanisms in the head, both in the realm of the conscious and the unconscious. There is a logical mind that we all use every minute in almost all situations of our life. But besides this, there are very simple basic mechanisms.



In particular, things that often happen in my head remind me of the work of a simple neural network that learns primitively through feedback. If something happens to us that pleases us, then the “rating” of all the decisions we have taken before it and all the circumstances that happened before is automatically raised. Conversely, if something unpleasant happens, then these “ratings” are lowered.



For example. I go home from the store and choose one of several possible routes. They are all roughly equivalent in time and convenience. But today I went to one of them and met a girlfriend there, whom I had not seen for a very long time, and was incredibly pleased to meet. What am I noticing now? The next time I go home, I want to go again on the route I took then. He involuntarily seems to me more pleasant, although I don’t aspire specifically for this meeting, and, logically, I understand that the probability of meeting her in any other place is almost the same.

')

Another example. I play poker and two aces come to me. I put a lot of chips in the bank, but in the end I lose the hand to my opponent, who collected three eight, and fly out of the tournament, which was important for me. I am upset and disappointed, and from now on I can see that now I don’t like the hand with two aces. And for some reason I no longer want to wear sunglasses on the game and sit out on that chair at the table. I logically understand that all this has no direct connection with a potential loss. After all, mathematically, two aces are a profitable hand, and sunglasses and the chosen chair do not have a big impact on the game. But an unpleasant event occurred, and my brain automatically lowered in the rating everything that precedes it.



Or take a sore subject - procrastination. In fact, what do we do when we postpone some business? We postpone not necessarily unpleasant business. But still today we put it off until later and decided to watch a cool movie. And tomorrow they postponed it again and decided to wash all the dishes and clean up the room. Every time we do that, we get positive feedback from the choices made. We watched the film - got pleasant emotions, - “I did everything right,” the subconscious thought. We cleaned the house, got satisfaction from ourselves, and again encouraged the choice made. The rating of postponing our business grows and grows. What happens? On the third day, when we try to take on the most important thing, we will automatically want to postpone it some more.



On the one hand, this basic mechanism helps us learn in the new environment. On the other hand, his greater tendency to generalization can really interfere.



What is the conclusion?



First of all, as with any unconscious mechanism of our psyche (as with complexes, for example), the most important point is to realize that it is. Watch how it works. It makes no sense to get rid of him, because he is not only harmful, but also useful. Yes, and hardly get rid of such a basic mechanism. But to use it for their own purposes - it is possible. And in general to realize that because of him our “preferences” can be far from objectivity and even absurd, and treat them accordingly.



For example, think carefully about the next time you decide to postpone some business, in return for receiving satisfaction from another. Be aware of the consequences. :)