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Reaction Paper #1: We Are Cognitive Misers

            A class discussion idea that particularly struck me as intriguing was the idea that we are “Cognitive Misers.”  I didn’t know what the word miser meant, let alone how it was being used in conjunction with the way that we think, so this concept was wholly unfamiliar.  Being a Cognitive Miser entails thinking “frugally” in order to conserve mental energy and we do this by way of shortcuts that we have grown to accept as our first-resort method of critical thinking.  We use heuristics and schemas to quickly decide how we should handle information coming in, but by consequence these short cuts are not always fully accurate and there is much room for error.  My initial question was, if we aren’t using these trained ways of thought what are we using?  But this just proves the point in itself; I was quickly jumping to the idea that there was only one way of thinking.  The alternative to using heuristics would be to deliberately think, harder than we need to when we use our normal shortcuts. 

            Sometimes when I am faced with a large To Do list, or when I have multiple things on my plate that need processing, I will either avoid doing them all together and will ultimately accomplish very little, or I will have to sit down and make lists and think of the ways to be most productive and effective.  In this case I have to put myself in very specific environments that are conducive to deeper thinking and I have to be entirely dedicated to the end result.  Most often I find myself doing this when I pray.  While I usually shuffle through my day merely chasing stray thoughts here and there to wherever they might lead me, praying involves thinking through my life’s largest issues and struggles in an intentional way that allows me to see hidden facets that I had not thought of before.  I’ve been noticing, as I get older, how much more difficult it is for me to stay disciplined enough to do this every day, let alone multiple times a day.  Through our study of Cognitive Misers I can now see why this is not a natural tendency—because it requires incredibly large amounts of deliberate thought.  I do, however, delight in the fact that the hard work pays off and with the help of some divine intervention, multiple good decisions have been born from dedication to this process.