17 Thoughts on How People Think

Brief 

Most people are subject to narrow lanes of thinking, incomplete knowledge and a society that demands binary outcomes rather than probabilities, writes Morgan Housel. Housel offers 17 observations on human thinking, including how optimism and pessimism influence our actions and how we enjoy unique points of view only if they match ours.

Insight

Each has seen something different and thought something unique. Most know something you can’t fathom, and you have experienced stuff they wouldn’t believe.But so many behaviors are universal across generations and geographies. Circumstances change, but people’s reactions don’t. Technologies evolve, but insecurities, blind spots, and gullibility rarely does.

This article describes 17 of what I think are the most common and influential aspects of how people think.It’s a long post, but each point can be read individually. Skip the ones you don’t agree with and reread the ones you do – that itself is a common way people think.

1. Everyone belongs to a tribe and underestimates how influential that tribe is on their thinking.Tribes are everywhere – countries, states, parties, companies, industries, departments, investment styles, economic philosophies, religions, families, schools, majors, credentials. Everyone loves their tribe because there’s comfort in knowing other people who understand your background and share your goals.

But tribes have their own rules, beliefs, and ideas. Some of them you might disagree with; some are even abjectly terrible. Yet they remain supported because no one wants to risk being shunned by a tribe that’s become part of their identity. So people either willingly nod along with bad ideas, or become blinded by tribal loyalty at how bad the ideas are to begin with.

2. What people present to the world is a tiny fraction of what’s going on inside their head.The Library of Congress holds three million books, or something like a quarter of a trillion words.But then you remember, that’s just what’s been publicly shared, recorded, and published. It’s a trivial amount of what’s actually happened, and an infinitesimal amount of what’s gone through people’s heads.