{"id":41607,"date":"2018-02-13T18:06:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T00:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abound.college\/finishcollege\/?post_type=advice&p=41607"},"modified":"2023-03-17T09:35:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:35:42","slug":"going-slow-to-go-fast-avoiding-the-rankings-detour","status":"publish","type":"advice","link":"https:\/\/abound.college\/finishcollege\/advice\/going-slow-to-go-fast-avoiding-the-rankings-detour\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Slow to Go Fast: Avoiding the Rankings Detour"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Super Bowl and the College Football Playoff in our rearview and March Madness approaching, now is a prime time to remind ourselves that rankings are the human brain\u2019s favorite catnip. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is hardly news to you,\u00a0especially if you\u2019ve ever clicked on an article with a headline that began \u201cTop 10 \u2026\u201d And if those lists were something like \u201cTop 10 Rappers of All Time,\u201d \u201cTop 10 Things to do in Austin,\u201d or \u201cTop 10 Ways to Reduce Stress,\u201d you risked little by detouring down one of the Internet\u2019s favorite rabbit holes. <\/span><\/p>\n

But a top 10 list involving colleges isn\u2019t just another benign detour, especially if you\u2019re a prospective student. These are lists designed to trick your brain into believing that a complex decision can be a simple one. <\/span><\/p>\n

And your brain <\/span>desperately<\/span><\/i> wants to believe that. (In fairness, your brain has <\/span>a lot going on<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his 2011 best-seller, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span><\/i><\/a>, Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, divides our thoug<\/span>ht processes into two categories: fast, intuitive, and emotional (\u201cSystem 1 Thinking\u201d) \u00a0vs. logi<\/span>cal, rational, and conscious (\u201cSystem 2 Thinking\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

System 1 thinking involves associating new information with existing patterns, or thoughts, rather than creating new patterns for each new experience. System 1 also produces th<\/span>e quick, gut reactions and decisions <\/span>that govern most of our lives<\/span><\/a> — like<\/span> (gulp!) returning to college.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this <\/span>short video<\/span><\/a>, Kahneman discusses the perils of assuming you\u2019re in System 2 thinking when you\u2019re really in System 1 — essentially, being overconfident. Wars, business failures and lawsuits and other calamities have been the result, Kahneman says, of overconfidence, or people\u2019s assumption that they were expert enough about a situation to apply fast, System 1, thinking to it.<\/span><\/p>\n