Today I wanted to relate this TED video, Rethinking Thinking, to writing. As writers, we manipulate our readers. It sounds harsh, and maybe even evil, but it’s true. We mislead, give partial information, put a red herring in your path, and leverage any device or technique we can to control the readers thoughts and to achieve the desired outcome or effect. So, what does that have to do with this video? Well, this video outlines how humans think, and how we make assumptions based on our preferences and our experiences. Here is a list of the thought process stages that we go through as we experience life.
- Raw data and observation
- Filter
- Assign meaning
- Make assumptions
- Develop conclusions based on our assumptions (add emotion)
- Adjust our beliefs about the world around us
- Take action
As writers, how can we leverage this information in our stories? I believe comedians use this to set up jokes, and we use them to set up our readers to deliver a payoff. I was going to give an analogy, but there is a really good one in the video. Leave your comments below and share your insight into how you can use this to manipulate your reader 🙂
