How To Stop Making Harmful Decisions

How To Stop Making Harmful Decisions

Has this ever happened to you?

You get in the car to drive from some location to your home and before you know it you’re home.

You then ask yourself:  How did I get here?

If this has happened to you, you’re not alone.  This happens to most people on a daily basis.
What’s happening is you’re in a state of consciousness defined as level 1 by philosopher David Rosenthal and a host of psychology scholars.

First off though, what is consciousness?

Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself.   It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind.

Simply this means that you are aware of your actions and everything else around you.
Level 1 is part of a theory called a Higher Order of Thought (HOT).  Dating back to Aristotle, the theory states that there are two levels of consciousness.

According to the academic article, Consciousness: Being aware of your mental states, this means that;

consciousness is a two-tiered affair. One's mind is engaged with the world, as a driver's obviously must be, but that engagement is not conscious until one becomes aware of it. The nonconscious mental activity of driving is made conscious when the higher order awareness of it kicks in.

One of the main criticisms is that the HOT theory does not explain how a person goes from level 1 to level 2.  And if there is no causal relationship, how can one claim that they are two parts of one state; Other critics questions whether these are states of consciousness at all.

Whatever the debate in that World there is no denying that there is a distinct difference between the two states of awareness; In the first state you’re doing things that actually take an effort but is mostly done on autopilot (the fact that you’re actually doing something active separates it from a subconscious state).  In the second you’re aware of your thoughts and actions and even have the ability to purposely change your actions.

But the naysayers do have a point: How does one move from one level to another?

While I’m not a psychologist or philosopher, and while I don’t have the answer about how a person switches between the levels by themselves, it’s in my humble opinion that outside influences will help you.

What does that mean?

Well here’s an example; What position are you sitting in?  If you’re like most people, I just moved you from level 1 to 2 with a simple question.  You are now aware of how you’re sitting because of an outside influence (namely me!).

Now again in my humble opinion, I believe that a lot of the assumptions we make in life, live in level 1. Some of course live in our subconscious. Assumptions are important as it represents a shortcut our brains take to conserve energy.

But left unchecked, assumptions can be dangerous.

To use a well-known example, Coca Cola changed their formula for Coke in 1985, which studies showed customers preferred in taste to Pepsi.  When released to the public, however, it cause a massive customer backlash and became one of the worst marketing disasters of all time.  Their error:  Assuming that their existing formula didn’t have the loyal following that it clearly did.

In the same vain people make errors daily because they assume something.  Now a lot of assumptions of course make sense.  If it’s January and you’re in Alaska, it’s probably safe to assume that the weather will be cold.  But other assumptions need a higher level of awareness and that’s where the outside influence can help move you from level 1 to level 2.

Your 4^th challenge is to challenge an existing assumption.  More specifically, the assumption that retail prices cannot be negotiated.  For the next three purchases you make, try and negotiate a discount, or perhaps negotiate something to be added for free.  Write a Tryary of your experience, including how successful you are.