Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life by David DiSalvo
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Last annotated on February 16, 2014
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minds are what our brains do, but they’re also what other brains do; humans are mind-synced in ways we never realized.Read more at location 440
The path of least resistance is apathy. I hope to convince you that the “apathy of mind” camp is not a good place to set up your tepee. If you do, you can expect to be on the receiving end of the other side’s influence with ever-increasing frequency. The reason why is deceptively simple: they will be better thinkers than you.Read more at location 450
Here’s the headline version: we now understand the underlying principles of how our brains work and interact with our environments.Read more at location 475
At the core is an understanding that our brains house constellations of never-ending “feedback loops,” operating together as a conceptual engine that drives our thoughts and behaviors.Read more at location 478
this book has a pragmatic objective: to present the possibility of change.Read more at location 491
My experience as a science writer—and a public education specialist before that—inoculates me against buying into success formulas. I just don’t see the world that way, and that’s why I say that I write “science-help” instead of self-help. Science-help draws knowledge clues from research to understand problems and propose solutions.2Read more at location 493
I am not an “I found the answer!” sort of person, and this isn’t that sort of book. As I said up front, we’re undertaking a thought experiment together. We’re building our awareness, exploring ways to turn that awareness into action.Read more at location 496
But we always have to remember that science isn’t about answers. It’s about questions. If we’re going to use the tools of science to do the work of exploring, then we have to acknowledge the rules of science as well, the most important of which is that we do not fool ourselves into thinking we’ve “nailed it” once and for all.Read more at location 499
Does that mean we can’t discover truths, and, practically speaking, make use of them in our lives? Of course not; books like this one would never be written if that were the case. It simply means that we have to be careful about adopting a courtroom mentality—concluding that we’ve settled the case and can move on. Instead, I think we should hope to settle a few parts of the “case,” and also open brand-new ones— which will captivate us, moving forward, as much as or more than their
forerunners.Read more at location 502
What this tool does, in a word, is facilitate detachment from a problem. It allows us to step away and apart from whatever is vexing us, and by doing so to gain perspective that wouldn’t be possible to attain in the direct path of the problem.1Read more at location 536
To get the most from metacognition, we have to train ourselves to focus its power and forge the discipline necessary to stay focused despite distractions.Read more at location 545
To put a finer point on all of this: metacognition is our most powerful internal tool to adjust our thinking and improve thinking outcomes.Read more at location 547
Some of the ways this is accomplished—which we’ll discuss throughout the book—include:
• Influencing feedback loops, the engines of our adaptive brains • Addressing cognitive
distortions (also known as “thinking errors”) • Catalyzing neurochemical changes in the brainRead more at location 548
feedback loops are the very engines of our adaptive brains.Read more at location 557
Feedback loops operate in four distinct stages, each inextricably linked to the
next.Read more at location 562
To simplify how the brain accomplishes metacognition, it’s useful to think of a feedback loop that incorporates both conscious and unconscious components of the mind.Read more at location 607
In other words, information stored in The System can be retrieved or in a sense “checked out,” like library

The new unconscious isn’t free from the chaos of unfelt emotions, needs, wants, and desires—but what we now understand, after more than a half a century of intense research, is that the unconscious is more akin to a massive modular processing system than to a psycho-emotional abyss.Read more at location 649
This is where the discussion gets tricky. It’s tempting to believe that we can directly access and change what’s happening in the unconscious. But this is largely a misperception known as the “introspection illusion.”Read more at location 658
Introspection—literally “looking into oneself”—is not a waste of time, but it’s also not a magical key to unlocking the unconscious. Unfortunately, many self-help and new-age books would have us believe that introspection is such a key, and that learning new (or ancient) methods of introspection will get us what we want from our unconscious minds, as if on tap.Read more at location 660
Access to the unconscious is possible, but it is limited, and that’s not a bad thing. Evolution has installed a system of inestimable value in our brains called “automaticity,” which allows all of those unconscious modules we’ve been referring to (those and thousands more) to run without conscious
intervention.Read more at location 664
We are, in effect, training our brains to run the metacognition loop more often and more efficiently—and that is the essence of our brains’ adaptive ability.Read more at location 678
One researcher compared metacognitive awareness to a volume control: the higher we can raise the metacognitive volume, the more aware we are of possible thinking responses. Again, we formulate these thinking strategies in the theater of the mind—so to continue the metaphor, we’re not only turning up the volume, but also the screen resolution.Read more at location 685
to change and choosing directions that achieve better outcomes in our lives.Read more at location 700
We have to be ready to detach and assess a situation on the spot, because the dynamics of whatever is going on are probably moving too fast for anything but immediate action.Read more at location 718
My argument throughout this book is that finding and applying knowledge clues from solid sources gives us a metacognitive edge.Read more at location 722
metacognition loop is the process by which unconscious information (in “The System”) is looped into conscious mind space (the “mental theater”) and changes to that information are ultimately looped back into The System.Read more at location 755
we must resist the notion that we can gain on-demand access to the unconscious through introspection; believing we can do so is called the “introspection illusion.”Read more at location 757
awareness is the degree to which we use metacognition to select from “thinking strategies” that in turn influence our thoughts and behavior.Read more at location 763
What humans can do that these other species cannot is detach from their self-perspective and examine a situation that includes oneself from a position outside oneself.Read more at location 785
[My Note: gurdjieff: self remebering]
After reading that last paragraph, you may ask, “Well, that’s nice, but what if I get carried away by my impulse to act in the moment?” The answer is that all of us can change what happens next, although we’re admittedly more inclined to react from the older part of our evolutionary inheritance—our reactive limbic system, with its well-known fight-or-flight tendencies.Read more at location 798
much of our “theorizing” about what others think and feel occurs via the quick and automatic processes of the unconscious.Read more at location 810
Siegel’s work, which touched off a new field, “interpersonal neurobiology,” suggests that when we speak of “mind,” we are speaking of interrelationships between our brain, our mind, and others’ minds. In other words, mind is both internal and relational.Read more at location 819
Hence, our mind “emerges” from an ongoing internal and relational exchange.Read more at location 826
Consumer societies often acculturate us to believe that whatever “feels good” is worth pursuing—“feels good” in this case being a proxy term for instinct.Read more at location 853
Research has focused on the role of the inner voice in establishing a habitual inner dialogue—which is simply a psychological way to say that what we repeat to ourselves will eventually become the “reality” we perceive ourselves to be living.Read more at location 860
“Autonoetic” refers to the highest level of attainable self-awareness.Read more at location 878
In my definition, the autonoetic personality has very little use for autopilot when it comes to the things he or she can consciously influence.Read more at location 881
there are distinct benefits to becoming an autonoetic personality,7 including: • Higher levels of creativity • Heightened ability to apply learned knowledge • Enhanced adaptability in how we think about problems • Better task performance (in our jobs, at school,
etc.)Read more at location 887
well-educated inner voice is trained to speak from a position of detachment, while an uneducated inner voice speaks from a position of reactive emotion.Read more at location 907
our brains are the product of biological evolution, but that which our brains create generates the nonstop whirlwind of cultural evolution. Ironic, isn’t it, that we must adapt to a world created by the most complex example of evolutionary adaptation on the planet?Read more at location 954
Pragmatic adaptation refers to how we must adapt our thoughts and behavior to negotiate our way through the world our brains created.Read more at location 956
When we’re particularly concerned that something could go very wrong if we’re not careful, our brain’s natural threat response causes anxiety levels to increase and attention to be diverted toward the perceived threat.Read more at location 964
The quality of the information in our feedback loops is of paramount importance, as is the way we handle
the information.Read more at location 968 B00FIP4CF6 145224 Note: Add a note
Just in the last ten years, research has discovered that not only can our personality change, but that a change in personality can contribute more to our life satisfaction and happiness than a change in our job, our marriage, or where we live.6Read more at location 988
A prolonged period of resting state could contribute to the onset of depression.Read more at location 1047
our brains misinterpret information (evidence), resulting in a distortion of feedback loops—and this, in turn, hampers our ability to adapt.Read more at location 1058
achieving part of your goal now may set you up for achieving more of it later.Read more at location 1111 • Delete this highlight     • Undo deletion
B00FIP4CF6 166669 Note: Add a note
Thinking errors are difficult to identify and check before they do their damage because their source material—automatic thoughts—have been “bubbling up” from our unconscious for most of our lives.Read more at location 1119
Indulging thinking errors for years establishes neural patterns in our brains.Read more at location 1123
It’s not necessarily that multiple external problems are “happening” to you all at once, but quite possibly that you’ve wandered into a patch of difficult-to-manage thinking distortions that have skewed your view of what’s going on in your life.Read more at location 1159
what matters in the moments of self-evaluation is how the thoughts feel. If they feel true, and if they continue to hold sway over consciousness, your behavior will fall in alignment with those thoughts.Read more at location 1179
there had to be a few crucial moments of detachment during which the percolating negative thoughts were paused and reviewed. It’s in this space that metacognition happened and the outcome changed.Read more at location 1186
Pausing, evaluating, and challenging are bricks in a much more challenging road—but only by taking that road can we hope to achieve balance between the poles. Without balance, automatic thoughts push us around and we default to escape the discomfort.Read more at location 1189
BEING EGO-SYMMETRIC IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING “COLD” AND UNEMOTIONAL— INSTEAD, IT’S ABOUT BEING IN BETTER CONTROL OF HOW NEGATIVITY AFFECTS OUR ABILITY TO ADAPT AND THRIVE.Read more at location 1203
change is more important to well-being than external socioeconomic and demographic
variables.Read more at location 1221
errors—often the product of erroneous information percolating from the unconscious—can distort feedback loops and hamper our ability to adapt.Read more at location 1224
Cultural evolution, we said, is the product of our brains—which, ironically, are the product of millennia of biological evolution, a dynamic that moves far more slowly than cultural evolution.Read more at location 1237
To successfully adapt to the demands of cultural evolution, we must have access to feedback; it’s the very key to our pragmatic forward progress.Read more at location 1238
Our metacognitive abilities are distinguished from the self-awareness of other species by our ability to mentally detach from the immediate situation to observe our thinking, as if from a position outside ourselves.Read more at location 1247
This higher-order level of detachment is, as far as we know, unique to humans, and it provides us with tremendous capabilities that we often take for granted.Read more at location 1250
disciplines embodied by a good journalist is crucial to the effective practice of metacognitive: 1) acting quickly, 2) relying on solid sources, 3) asking the right questions, 4) following the story where it leads, and 5) not glossing over inconvenient facts.Read more at location 1253
The crucial question, we said, is whether the inner voice is speaking from a metacognitive “soapbox,” or if it lacks the detachment of metacognition and is speaking from instinct and untethered
emotion.Read more at location 1256

We made the distinction between an “educated” and an “uneducated” inner voice, and emphasized the need to educate our inner voice to lead us to better outcomes in our lives.Read more at location 1257
The term “narrative thread” has been used by philosophers, psychologists, and novelists—among others— to describe essentially the same thing: how we hold our “selves” together in a more or less unified way as we proceed through our lives.Read more at location 1266
The use of “selves,” in quotation marks, instead of “self” is intentional, because more and more research indicates that the “I,” or self-identity, in our minds is not one coherent entity, but a composite of interplaying self-identities.Read more at location 1267
At times this interplay is erratic, at other times in sync—but the crucial point is that the unified “I” within is a useful illusion that our brains foster on our behalf.Read more at location 1269
Our brains developed this centering mechanism to keep us focused on our prime evolutionary objectives: to avoid threats and pursue rewards.Read more at location 1274
We can observe how important this adaptive mechanism is by studying schizophrenics—those whose brains are unable to draw the narrative “threads” together to regain the unified sense of self most of us possess. In this case, the “threads” are flailing in disparate directions, failing to find the central harnessing point that would pull them into a coherent self-identity.Read more at location 1278
The best evidence uncovered by cognitive science so far suggests that we are not just one “self”—we are composite “selves”—but our brains adaptively foster a unified sense of self (the “I” within the “You”) because that is the most effective means to survive and thrive in this world.Read more at location 1283
External scripting contributes to the running scripts we refer to on a daily basis, which are a combination of external influence (much of which we have already internalized) and genetic
propensity.Read more at location 1296
For example, the external scripting from our employer may direct us to be more extroverted in our interactions with coworkers and clients, but that scripting must meld with our genetic propensity to be an introvert.Read more at location 1297
Perhaps, instead, the true meaning of pragmatically adapting in this case is to realize that we are in the
wrong job.Read more at location 1305 B00FIP4CF6 195736 Note: Add a note
If we force-adapt to those situations over and over again, we’ll eventually burn out.Read more at location 1307
The same goes for any number of life scenarios where an external script that radically counters our natural style is placed in front of us. We try to internalize it, but making it “fit” is tedious, if not
torturous.Read more at location 1309
That’s what makes identifying external scripts so important—seeing them clearly can provide the impetus for making better decisions.Read more at location 1315
In this way, our self-narratives are always changing in subtle or substantial ways. Narrative is never static. And, as we have discussed in previous chapters, our brains are never static. Our personalities are never static. We are forever in a state of flux,Read more at location 1329
WE EFFECTIVELY USE METACOGNITION TO INFLUENCE FEEDBACK LOOPS, WE CONSCIOUSLY INFLUENCE OUR SELF-NARRATIVE, AND WE FOSTER A GREATER ABILITY TO PRAGMATICALLY ADAPT. WE ARE NOT RIDING THE WAVES OF HAPPENSTANCE—WE ARE USING THE ADAPTIVE POWER OF OUR BRAINS TO DIRECT OUR PATHS TO THE

ABSOLUTE BEST OF OUR ABILITIES. WE ARE, IN A SENSE, ACTIVELY WRITING OUR NARRATIVE INSTEAD OF WATCHING IT BEING WRITTEN FOR US WHILE WE CRUISE ON AUTOPILOT.Read more at location 1350
scripts are both internal and external, and they exert great influence on us daily—usually without conscious assessment. They “run” below the surface of consciousness.Read more at location 1361
most of our brain’s processing doesn’t occur in what we call “conscious mind space.” It happens in a vast
unconscious System.Read more at location 1411 B00FIP4CF6 211707 Note: Add a note
In a sense it is mechanistic, because our brains and bodies are, in a manner of speaking, organic machines.Read more at location 1438
By autonoetic, I mean that they’ll attain a higher degree of self-awareness. Research shows that becoming more autonoetic has several benefits, such as higher levels of creativity, heightened ability to apply learned knowledge, and more adaptability in terms of thinking through
problems.Read more at location 1454
“Adaptation breeds success.”Read more at location 1463
Simply spending a lot of time thinking about something is no guarantee that all of our anguished processing will result in the best outcome.Read more at location 1513
it’s a miser in that it won’t allow the body to consume additional energy without a good reason. A “good reason” is defined in this case as a goal with a reasonable chance of success. For your brain to approve dispensing more energy to accomplish whatever task is in front of you, something has to “click.” That something happens in our conscious mind space, and it’s called belief.Read more at location 1557
Here’s the simple fact borne out by reams of research: until we believe that we can do something, we are not allotted the resources to do it.Read more at location 1562
Hope is the belief that our situation can and will improve no matter what, and when we fully embrace it, our brain responds with a deluge of mental energy to enable reaching the hopeful outcome.Read more at location 1568
Belief is an essential brain changer; without it, your brain will not provide the resources required to accomplish whatever is in your sights.Read more at location 1581
we aren’t able to hold in consciousness all of the contradictory aspects of the self without psychologically fragmenting and losing a necessary sense of control.Read more at location 1621
our brains’ reward centers can be overwhelmed with “want” to the point that a deluge of dopamine handicaps our capacity to consciously evaluate and control the pursuit.Read more at location 1653
“Motivated people succeed. Overmotivated people fail.”Read more at location 1656
we are equipped with the ability to tune down the reward center before dopamine floods its circuits and makes controlling the outcome increasingly difficult.Read more at location 1657
when we understand the working parts of the reward feedback loop, we increase our chances of preventing overmotivation. The most critical part is the perceived, expected benefit of reaching the goal (reward).Read more at location 1662
the very act of consciously tempering expectations will slow the loop’s velocity.Read more at location 1665
The first element is background feeling—the emotional setting, if you will, for all emotional experiences. Psychologists David Watson and Lee Anna Clark describe this as stream of affect.Read more at location 1675
the stream of affect that sets our daily emotional background.Read more at location 1680
Stream of affect leads to the next level of emotional intensity: mood state.Read more at location 1681
Mood state leads to the most intense level of emotional experience—the onset of an emotion. Emotion is not synonymous with “emotional experience,” but is rather a specific, usually short-term event that manifests in response to a trigger. Triggers can be external to the self or internal (such as deeply felt trauma relived through memory).Read more at location 1685
As Dr. Shelley Carson describes in her book Your Creative Brain, complete control by an emotion is called “emotional hijacking.”Read more at location 1691
At this point, the action tendency has become an “action imperative,” and when that transition is made, we have little control over our emotionally driven actions.Read more at location 1693
By understanding these points in the emotional experience feedback loop, we can engage conscious control well before reaching the action-imperative stage.Read more at location 1695
The important thing is not to avoid the experience of intensely felt emotion, but to try our best to honestly

forecast where our emotional state is going.Read more at location 1698
A moral reminder can be an actual, physical reminder in your daily planner, or a mental note that you
refer to often.Read more at location 1741
The most salient point Ariely makes is that we lie to ourselves as much as or more than we lie to others. His work is of critical importance to knowing how to identify self-deception before we are swept up in it.Read more at location 1742
Judgmental heuristics are essential to our survival, but can also predispose us to faulty decision making. Knowing when a judgmental heuristic is being exploited educates our thinking and improves future outcomes.Read more at location 1809
Since glucose is the brain’s primary energy source,Read more at location 1829
Two techniques are especially crucial: thought stopping and thought
postponement.Read more at location 1845
“Whenever you find your thoughts cycling (going over and over), distract yourself from them. Get up and do something else.”Read more at location 1863
whenever you align your thoughts and actions with a belief that helping someone else is worthwhile, you’ve initiated an impromptu brain sync with that person’s brain—and by doing so you’ve infused his or her brain with a sense of belief that success is attainable.Read more at location 1883

When we witness positive action to help someone succeed, our brain registers the event as evidence of our capability to do the same. In other words, helping someone succeed becomes an attainable “reward” (in cognitive-science parlance), and we actually start looking for opportunities to attain
it.Read more at location 1886
This is excellent brain medicine because it builds neural connections around altruistic belief; in a very real sense, our brains grow from the experience.Read more at location 1888
The frequent outcome of this biochemical relay is mental paralysis. “Too much” is translated as “too risky” and “too dangerous,” and you experience a system-wide stoppage.Read more at location 1898
The best option may be the least obvious: restart, anywhere. Just to be clear, this isn’t an appeal to the dubious virtue of randomness; it’s a solid strategic change in thinking to undercut mental paralysis.Read more at location 1903
Strategy is chiefly composed of two options: (1) that which we choose to do, and (2) that which we
choose not to do.Read more at location 1906
That progress will yield accomplishment—however small—that will in turn spawn more progress.Read more at location 1909
if your input shuttle for achieving a goal lacks the critical, emotionally relevant component of belief, then the feedback loop is drained of octane from the start.Read more at location 2036
My experience has been that sometimes you have to let the energy flow for a while without too firm a sense of direction and see if focus emerges organically.Read more at location 2086
Research suggests that alcohol’s effect on dopamine is more significant for men than women, which may account for men drinking more than women on average.Read more at location 2115
Over time, with more drinking, the dopamine effect diminishes until it’s almost nonexistent. But at this stage, a drinker is often “hooked” on the feeling of dopamine release in the reward center, even though they’re no longer getting it. Once a compulsive need to go back again and again for that release is established, addiction takes hold.Read more at location 2118
Though their career paths may have swerved here and there, they’ve remained connected to the initial challenge—that all-important motivating “juice”—that compelled them toward their
field.Read more at location 2146
I wish that more people would realize that if they dig way back into their personal histories (and I mean way back, well into childhood), they’ll connect up with some extremely important reminders.Read more at location 2152
People who genuinely love their jobs have done this—in fact, they’re usually doing it all the time—and are in touch with that kid who loved to write, or tell stories, or envision amazing buildings.Read more at location 2156
Portfolio thinkers know that their careers will always combine positives and negatives. The crucial thing is, they don’t choke on the negatives and they don’t get too high on the
positives.Read more at location 2165

And people who love what they do recognize that if a company or firm or nonprofit—whatever—ceases to provide an adequate venue for doing what they love, then it’s time to move on.Read more at location 2192
Respected achievers own their role on the team instead of trying to explain why their responsibility should be less than the others.Read more at location 2339
As participants’ thinking improved with practice—even after optimal muscle function was achieved— they expended less energy.Read more at location 2366
running and other forms of exercise can do things for the brain we’re not even sure the best of modern
pharmacology can do.Read more at location 2395
It is no exaggeration to call The Developing Mind a masterwork.Read more at location 2574
