Iconoclast

Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently by Gregory Burns was my first read on the interesting concept of neuroscience to get an idea of how our human brain works. An Iconoclast is defined as the person who attacks settled beliefs and perhaps, we all are aware of this definition. Now, interestingly, I found that there is a a neuro-scientific approach to explain this iconoclastic behavior which made me look at this behavior in a positive way.

Per this research, our brain has three natural roadblocks that hamper the innovative thinking:

Flawed Perception.
Fear: Fear of failure/public ridicule/unknown.
Inability to influence others.

I thought about my past experiences, when I couldn't make an iconoclastic (or bold, out of the box) decision and found that a good majority of the times, at least one of the above roadblocks was at work. I will try to summarize some key takeaways from this book to remove these roadblocks. But remember that you would need to read the book as the research experiments and the detailed examples will enable you to grasp these takeaways :

• In order to think differently, try to perceive things differently. And remember that vision is not same as perception. Perception is a product of mind and brain, not eyes.
  


• The most likely way you will perceive something, will be consistent with your past experience. So provide your brain something it has never processed earlier to force it out of predictable perceptions.


• Imagination comes from the visual system.


• Brain takes shortcuts to preserve the energy, also called efficiency principle.


• Repetition of same tasks/activities/places leads to diminished neural responses by our brain, called repetition suppression. So, keep bombarding your brain with new experiences to force your brain out of its categories.


• Brain remodels itself under stress and remembers the unpleasant experiences. ('So, while time heals the wound, as far as brain is concerned, scars remain")


• Use cognitive reappraisal technique to regulate the expression of fear. "This simply means reinterpreting emotional information in such a way that the emotional component is diminished." Essentially, it means manage the situation through your EQ.


• Fear interacts with the mind's perceptual system and alters the decision-making process. Especially, "the fear of social isolation is deeply woven into human brain."


• The Law of Large Numbers: "The human brain is so susceptible to the opinions of others that it is willing to disregard its own visual inputs." How to deal with this: Isolate yourself and think independently, associate with like-minded individuals, develop a tough skin, don't force yourself to come to a unanimous decision.


• Networking with non-iconoclasts: Social intelligence has two key aspects: familiarity and reputation."Increase the world's familiarity with you and develop a reputation so that people are drawn to you." E,g.: Small World Experiment. Know the connectors of the society and use your networking skills to gain public exposure. "Iconoclast eventually needs to make his audience comfortable with his idea".