Communication Illusion and Brain-Based Solution | Nikolaos Dimitriadis | TEDxUniversityofStrathclyde
Summary
TLDRThe speaker emphasizes the need to redefine communication beyond information exchange, advocating for a brain-based model that considers human behavior and emotions. They argue that traditional communication models, rooted in outdated views of human nature, often lead to the illusion of understanding without changing behavior. The talk suggests detangling communication from the expectation of shared meaning and focusing on influencing actions. It also touches on the role of technology in enhancing brain-based communication, encouraging a shift towards a more effective and holistic approach to connect with others.
Takeaways
- 🗣️ The main purpose of communication is not just to share meaning or achieve common understanding, but to influence behavior.
- 🧠 We need to adopt a brain-based model of communication that considers the full range of human cognitive processes, not just rational thinking.
- 🌐 The current communication model is outdated and often leads to the illusion of successful communication when actual behavioral change does not occur.
- 👶 Understanding and behavior are not always aligned, as seen in examples of children, teenagers, and adults who understand but do not act according to expectations.
- 🛠️ To improve communication, we should focus on changing behavior rather than just transmitting information or ideas.
- 🔄 The concept of 'homoeconomicus', which assumes rational decision-making, is flawed and does not reflect the complexity of human behavior.
- 🌟 Effective communication should involve sharing emotions, considering habits and biases, and making actions that align with intended behaviors.
- 📱 Technology can play a significant role in enhancing brain-based communication by providing real-time feedback on emotions and behaviors.
- 🌱 A shift in mindset is required to move away from the old communication model, which involves re-education and training for all levels of society.
- 🔧 Practical steps for better communication include dethroning thinking, sharing emotions, considering habits and biases, using the environment, making it easy, abandoning common sense, and speaking with actions.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of communication according to the speaker?
-The speaker suggests that the main purpose of communication is not just about sharing meaning or achieving common understanding, but rather about influencing behavior.
Why does the speaker argue that we need a brain-based model for communication?
-The speaker argues for a brain-based model because traditional models have failed to account for the complex inner workings of the brain, leading to misunderstandings and ineffective communication.
What does the speaker identify as the single most important problem with communication?
-The speaker identifies the illusion that communication has taken place as the single most important problem, as stated by Bernard Shaw.
How does the speaker describe the 'tyranny of the current communication model'?
-The speaker describes it as a regime that creates more problems than it solves by prioritizing thinking and rationality over other aspects of human nature.
What is 'homoeconomicus' and how does it relate to the old communication model?
-'Homoeconomicus' refers to a model of human nature based on 18th-century classical economics, which assumes rational decision-making and optimization of choices. The old communication model is based on this view, focusing on changing thinking and understanding.
Why does the speaker say that thinking does not necessarily drive behavior?
-The speaker argues that thinking is not always the precursor to behavior, as behavior can be influenced by emotions, habits, and impulses, which are not always rational.
What examples does the speaker provide to illustrate the gap between understanding and behavior?
-The speaker provides examples such as children not sharing toys despite agreeing to do so, teenagers wandering off into dangerous areas despite understanding the risks, and employees not increasing their performance despite agreeing to do so.
What does the speaker suggest as an alternative to focusing solely on thinking in communication?
-The speaker suggests considering the whole brain, including emotions, habits, and the physical environment, to create a more holistic and effective communication approach.
How does the speaker propose that technology can help in brain-based communication?
-The speaker proposes that technology like smart glasses that decode facial expressions in real-time or brain electrodes transmitting emotions can help improve communication by providing immediate feedback on the effectiveness of our messages.
What are some of the key points the speaker suggests for adopting brain-based communication?
-The speaker suggests detthroning thinking, sharing emotions, considering habits and biases, using the environment, making things easy, abandoning common sense, and speaking with actions.
What are the two possible outcomes the speaker hopes for from their speech?
-The speaker hopes that either the audience fully understands the concepts discussed but takes no action, or that they don't fully grasp the concepts but start considering behavior as an integral part of the communication process and change their communication behaviors.
Outlines
🗣️ The Purpose and Pitfalls of Communication
The speaker begins by expressing gratitude and enthusiasm for the TED presentations, then poses a fundamental question: why do we communicate? They explore the various forms of communication across different demographics and institutions, emphasizing the need for a new communication model that is brain-based. This model considers the inner workings of the brain during all stages of conversation, not just the dialogue itself. The speaker critiques the current model, suggesting it is outdated and leads to misunderstandings and illusions, as highlighted by Bernard Shaw's quote about the 'illusion that communication has taken place.' The speaker argues for a shift in focus from shared meaning to behavior, suggesting that our current approach targets the thinking part of the brain, which is ineffective.
🧠 Rethinking Human Nature and Communication
The speaker delves into the historical context of the 'homoeconomicus' model, which posits that humans are rational decision-makers capable of cost-benefit analysis. This model, rooted in 18th-century economics, is deemed inadequate for today's complex world. The speaker advocates for a holistic view of communication that includes not just thinking but also emotions, impulses, and gut feelings. They argue that behavior, not understanding, should be the focus of communication, and that thinking is often an afterthought rather than a precursor to behavior. Examples are provided to illustrate the disconnect between understanding and behavior, such as children's actions contradicting their stated intentions, teenagers ignoring parental advice, employees not meeting performance goals, and consumers not purchasing products they claimed to want.
🌟 The Illusion of Understanding in Communication
The speaker emphasizes that communication should not be deemed successful solely at the point of information exchange, as this risks the illusion of understanding, which can lead to unmet expectations and failed goals. They argue that behavior must be considered to truly assess the success of communication. The speaker discusses the ongoing 'revolution of the brain,' where new fields like neuromarketing and neuroeconomics are emerging, all of which stress the importance of considering the brain in communication strategies. The speaker provides several points for adopting brain-based communications, including dethroning thinking, sharing emotions, considering habits and biases, using the environment, making processes easy, abandoning common sense, and speaking with actions.
🛠️ The Future of Brain-Based Communication
In the final paragraph, the speaker calls for a change in mindset and the re-education of various societal roles to adapt to brain-based communication. They envision a future where technology, such as smart glasses that decode facial expressions or brain electrodes that transmit emotions, will enhance our communication abilities. The speaker concludes by posing two potential outcomes of their talk: either the audience understands the concepts but takes no action, or they internalize the message, discuss it, and begin to integrate behavioral considerations into their communication. The speaker expresses a preference for the latter, as it signifies true progress and a collective achievement in communication.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Communication
💡Brain-based model
💡Shared meaning
💡Behavior
💡Homoeconomicus
💡Neuropolitics
💡Neuromarketing
💡Emotions
💡Habits
💡Biases
💡Common Sense
💡Actions
Highlights
The main purpose of communication is questioned, prompting a reevaluation of why we communicate.
A brain-based model for communication is proposed as an alternative to traditional models.
The illusion of communication is identified as a significant problem, stemming from unmet expectations.
The outdated homoeconomicus model is critiqued for its overemphasis on rational thinking.
Communication is redefined as being more about behavior than shared meaning or understanding.
Examples are given to illustrate the gap between understanding and actual behavior in communication.
The importance of considering the whole brain, not just the thinking part, in communication is emphasized.
The tyranny of the current communication model is discussed, highlighting its inefficiencies.
The role of emotions in driving behavior and the importance of sharing emotions in communication are highlighted.
The influence of habits on behavior and the difficulty of changing them through communication alone are discussed.
The need to be aware of biases in communication and how they affect our thinking is pointed out.
The environment's role in communication and how it interacts with our brain is explored.
The importance of making communication easy and not hindered by complex processes or rules is stressed.
The concept of abandoning common sense in communication to avoid unintended effects is introduced.
Speaking with actions is suggested as a more effective way to communicate with the parts of the brain that drive behavior.
The potential of technology in aiding brain-based communication is discussed, with examples of real-time emotion decoding.
A call to action for re-education and training to adapt to brain-based communication is made.
The speech concludes with a choice for the audience: to understand the concepts or to act on the insights shared about communication.
Transcripts
thank you thank you so much how are you
good did you enjoy the presentations up
to now yeah me too so many amazing
topics in uh Ted speeches up to up to
now all around the world right so many
interesting people trying to reach out
to us share communicate their ideas but
the basic question is and the main
question I want to address with you
today is is what is the main purpose of
communication and by this I simply mean
why do we communicate why do we talk to
each
other why do we send so many messages
through our mobile devices every day why
do parents talk to kids why do teachers
talk to students institutions do it as
well why do governments talk to their
citizens and why do uh companies talk to
their employees Brands to their
customers
the whole point is that we are in a
crossroad and in this Crossroad we have
to make a choice for 20 years now I'm
trying to find the answers to these
questions what I found up to now is that
if we are to consider Communication in
its true form we have to change the
model that we are
using and the new model we need to adopt
is a brain based model
by this I mean that we need to take the
inner workings of our brain into account
when we before during and after
conversation not only what happens
during the conversation that's not the
whole story now we didn't know this for
a very long time but I have to say no
more no more look at the world around
you do you like what you see do you
think that the current communication
model works if it worked it would be a
much better place so we need to go to
this change and we have a choice to make
and the choice is the following either
we will start understanding the brain
better and adapt this new style of
communication that will make us more
effective and efficient in what we're
trying to say or we will continue using
the old Communications model and
continue having the
misunderstandings confusions and
illusions that we have been doing up to
now I can summarize best the problems of
this old communication model by a very
interesting statement by Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw said that the single most
important problem with communication is
the illusion that he has taken place I
will leave a little bit this to syn
in he didn't say one problem of
communication he didn't say the fifth
problem of communication he said the
single most important problem of
communication is the illusion that it
has taken place in my experience I
understood that this illusion comes from
the moment of our expectation about our
Communications so the key question for
me is when we communicate what do we
expect if we expect to achieve shared
meaning common understanding agreement
in some comments Concepts that we
discuss about then we will have a
problem and we will have the illusion
that Bernard show was talking about but
if communication is not about shared
meaning or common understanding then
what is it
about this is a very simple question but
the answer has changed my life and I
hope it will change yours we currently
live in a
tyranny the tyranny of the current
Communications model it's a regime and
as with every regime it creates more
problems than the one that it solves
what is this tyring of the community
communication model we have singled out
one specific part of our brain the
thinking rational more executive part of
our brain and having at the top of the
priority in our communication list so
when we communicate we actually Target
the thinking of the person we talk to
should be this the case and you see
parents teachers managers governments
when they talk to their counterparts
they try to change their thinking they
try to share some meaning or to achieve
some understanding but does this work
well it doesn't work because it is based
on an now outdated model of human nature
this old communication model it's
actually based in a view of human nature
which we now call homoeconomicus
homoeconomicus is based on 18th century
classical economics thinking in a very
simple world with very limited
information very limited choices very
limited understanding about the brain
and an overconfidence I would say about
rational thinking and hard science we
developed a model of human decision
which says the following every human
being is capable or should be capable in
taking the right decision by m making a
cost benefit analysis and optimize the
choices that we
make if we are not performing this
rational thinking and optimizing our
decision making then we are kind of
stupid
and we have to modernize the human being
to put it into the small box of
rationality and thinking now the hom
economicus model was always
scientifically wrong but maybe it
fitted a simple a simpler world than the
one that we live
today but if you compare our world today
with a world of 300 years ago you will
see that it's completely different so we
did to change the models and this change
of models asks us to move from the top
of priority in our communication list
understanding and replace it with
behavior we need to start looking at
Communication in a more holistic way and
not just thinking because at the end of
the day as human beings we have gut
feelings we have emotions we have
impulses and of course we have thinking
but singling out thinking it's a very I
would say even lazy approach to
understanding human nature so we need to
take make a much more holistic
inclusive and I would say effective way
of communication so communication is
about behavior and it's not about
understanding this was very shocking
when I I realized the simple truth but
it changeed everything but you might ask
me come on Nikos what are you talking
about doesn't that thinking comes first
so you have to think
something decide and then behave
shouldn't it work like that of course it
could go like that if you were a
homoeconomicus any homoeconomicus
here maybe a professor of economics in
the back I see you know raising his
hands so that's the whole point thinking
is not necessary for a behavior actually
thinking is many times an afterthought
and the behavior comes first and I will
give you I will share with you some
examples of in order to to illustrate
better what I'm trying to say
how many of you have
kids few so kids at around three and a
half to four years old they understand
they have the ability to understand
socializing and the importance of social
relations so you talk to your kid and
you say are you going to share this toy
with your friends when they come home
yes of course I'm going to share my
toy um do you like when other kids do
not share the the toys with you no I
don't like that at all so you want to be
friends with our GID so you will share
your toys yes of course I will share my
toys and then these friends come at home
your kid doesn't share the toy and the
war you know
erupts um also a
teenager talking to his parents he fully
shares the worries of his parents
concerning a trip abroad school trip
abroad he understands that he should not
wander off in dangerous
areas sure enough when they when he
visits this place abroad and with a
little bit of peer pressure he wander
off to this dangerous but to his mind
very intriguing places employees a
manager comes to your department says
come on guys this week this month we
have to give 110% of our performance
this is very important for our bottom
line this is very important for our
department let's do it everybody says
let's do it agree shakes hands nod and
then the month comes and nobody or very
few people increase their their behavior
their performance and last but not least
in an area of expertise have been
dealing for for a long time you invite
customers in a focus group I don't know
if you ever participated in any Focus
Group so you invite consumers in a focus
group and and you demonstrate a new
product and consumers fully understand
and fully grasp fully grasp the the the
new features of this product compared
with the old one they're actually
enthusiastic they say yeah if this
product hits the mar Market I will go
and buy it and then when the product
hits the market nobody buys it and it
flops so you see understanding and
behavior that two different things so
parents managers marketeers in these
cases that example they all agreed
understood each other shared meaning
they had common understanding but was
this the whole story when they went out
in their real life then chaos erupted
and of course the actual Behavior took
place which was not the intended
Behavior so is it job well done for
these people when we discuss and analyze
and we're in a room and we have to agree
if we have this kind of interaction even
with a very transparent Direct sophistic
ated feedback mechanisms can we be
satisfied that we achieved communication
without taking into account Behavior
afterwards well I think not because
communication cannot be considered as
successful at the point of information
exchange if you consider successful in
the moment in the moment of information
exchange we are running the risk of what
Bernard Shaw said having the illusion
that we succeeded with our communication
and leaving the room very
happy okay so if it is not about
information exchange it's about behaving
accordingly and I believe that this is
what Bernard Shaw tried to say the
illusion of communication is the
illusion of understanding however
Behavior has to be taken into account
and this illusion is causing a lot of
pain both personally and
collectively how many crying kids and
disappointed parents how how many unmet
organizational goals how many broken
hearts and broken relationships how many
wasted advertising campaigns and
products that hit the market and flop
all these all these symptoms are
actually symptoms of the old
Communications model which caus us to
waste a lot of energy a lot of time and
a lot of money okay so we are changing
this we're actually living in a
revolution of the brain where of course
it's a work in progress daily we learn
more about the brain but maybe you have
heard some of these new terms like
neurom Market marketing and my my
friends and colleagues in sales brain us
a pioneering Mark marketing neurom
marketing agency they have they have
worked with 100,000 Executives around
the world or new leadership and my my my
very good friend and colleague Dr
Alexander pyos we are actually
coauthoring at the moment a book on
applied Neuroscience for leaders very
exciting topics neuropolitics
neuroeconomics neuro education neuro
design as I said there is a lot of work
in progress here but all these people
Prof professionals dealing with this we
all have something in common the fact
that we cannot ignore the brain when we
design our our activities or our
Communications because thinking does not
drive
behavior in the bottom line thinking
does not drive Behavior we cannot single
out the specific part of the brain what
we call the executive part of the brain
the the frontal lob in on the Neo cortex
that does just one job the thinking the
analysis and consider this as the
highest purpose of communication
okay
thinking is important I would say it's
even
necessary okay but alone cannot do
anything so how to I would like to give
you some few um uh points that uh I hope
that they will help you help you to come
up to speed with brain-based
Communications first of all we have to
Dethrone thinking we have to change our
mindset on concerning Communications and
start considering the whole approach
which is of course including Behavior
second we have to share emotions when
you are you are discussing with somebody
instead of thinking of sharing a
concept of transmitting an idea why
don't you think of transmitting an
emotion first of all it will make the
conversation more more memorable and
second it will drive Behavior faster
third consider people's habits you might
agree something with someone but habits
are very strong and they don't change so
easily fourth consider your biases both
your your own biases and the B with the
people that you talk to your thinking is
not as clear as as we would like it to
be we have all these shortcuts like
stereotypes that influence our thinking
we have to be aware of this we have to
scan and use the environment our brain
has involved over millions of years to
interact with the natural environment
and the physical environment around us
when we communicate do we consider this
pH physical environment and how it
interplays with our
communication six we have to make it
easy we might give a very clear
direction to somebody to do something
something but then maybe our procedures
our rules our processes might be making
actually very difficult might be putting
barriers for them to do what we have
mutually intended to do seven we have to
abandon Common Sense many times when we
create messages in a common sense way
these messages have exactly the opposite
effect than the one that we have
initially wanted to do so be very
careful of com because which part of the
of the brain creates Common
Sense okay the executive part and eight
we have to speak with actions the oldest
part of the brain the one that sit below
the neocortex are actually the ones that
drive behavior and guess what these
parts of the brain cannot speak because
the language skills of the brain is on
our neocortex on our new brain so we
might be do a lot of talking but the
real parts of the brain that drive
Behavior cannot understand any anything
from this talking so better to speak
with action so what's
next I believe that we have to do two
things first of all to change the
mindset we need urgently to re-educate
retrain from parents to teachers
University professors people that run
businesses institutions organizations in
order to get rid of this tyranny of the
old model second I think that technology
will help us to become better in
brain-based Communications imagine that
you're wearing smart glasses that have
the ability to decode in real time the
facial expression of the people you talk
with and then show you what are their
feelings are what are their emotions are
of course they have to wear the
same even more scary imagine that you're
in one part of the world with some
electrodes on your brain transmitting
raw emotions to your loved ones in
another part of the
planet or images okay all these are not
science fiction they're happening
now if I had to choose two possible
outcomes from my speech today the first
you fully understood what I talked about
your your rational part of the brain is
very happy and has a clister clear view
of all the concepts that were involved
but you did nothing about it or second
you didn't give much thought of what I
talked today but tomorrow you may be
talked about this with your friends
search a little bit about the topic
change the way that you post information
online at most most
importantly you started considering
Behavior as a integral part of the
communication process then of course I
would choose the latter because only
then we have achieved something and we
have achieved This Together only then we
communicate thank you so much
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