Instinctual Thinking

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Hope you had a Merry Christmas! Enjoy this next installment of how to fix our thinking problem by clarifying our four distinct ways of thinking. Lots of us get sentimental around the holidays, so there’s no better time to delve into instinctual thinking.

Observe and mimic

As animals, we follow our instincts, observe and mimic. We underestimate how influenced we are by what we observe. Our species—Homo sapiens—evolved larger brains and more sophisticated vocal anatomy than our predecessors, enabling us to communicate complex ideas through words. But our predecessors—Homo erectus—accomplished much despite their lack of language. They drew art and symbols, crafted tools and weapons, they mastered fire and they organized into communities. Our species began with knowledge of all of these elements of human society, before we invented the words and grammar to describe them. Wordlessly, our ancestors conveyed how to be successful humans, including cooking, hunting, raising families and living in tribes, through observation and mimicry, over thousands of generations.

We still learn this way. Our DNA contains the basic human design, but our species has always augmented that recipe with a sophisticated set of imitated human behaviors we learn from observation: how to use tools, communicate, and behave together. Babies learn very quickly by observing their families, before they learn any words. Parents pantomime behavior they expect their babies to mimic, such as opening our mouths while spoon-feeding. And throughout our lives now, we learn more behaviors while watching videos than when reading, because unconscious observation is the primary way our species has always learned.

Instinctive versus instinctual

Instinctive implies inherited behaviors, like our instincts to survive or reproduce. All humans are the same species, so we share the same physiology and basic emotions. Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise are all easily recognizable human emotions, because our faces express them with eyebrows or lips moving up or down, jaw or cheeks flexing or relaxing, and eyes widening or tightening. These emotions are genetic, universal, unconscious, and evolved over thousands of generations, because communicating our emotions visually helps us thrive.

Instinctual—as I define it—includes both the traits we are born with and adds what we unconsciously learn as humans. While some facial expressions are genetic, others are learned through observation and mimicry. Often our genetic traits are indistinguishable from our unconsciously learned behaviors, so it’s useful to group them both together as instinctual.

Instinctual motives

Think about what motivates you.  Are you devoted to your family, your significant other, your friends or your pets?  Are you working to make your life more comfortable, to enjoy good food, and to have fun?  Do you make an effort to dress well for an event, for colleagues or for any gathering?  Do you wish you were more appreciated, recognized or admired?  Is being in a relationship where you can share your feelings and spend time together intimately important to you?  Do you enjoy supporting your local sports team and cheer when they win?  Afraid of dying?

These are all normal, powerful instinctual motives.  In many cases, the thinking is simply, “I want it, it feels good, so that’s what I’m doing.”  It does not matter whether it is conscious or unconscious, whether it reflects a physiological need or an evolved group behavior, whether you are intelligent or well-educated, or whether you are following the crowd or leading it.  If the root cause of your motivation is physiological or determined by your social needs, then what drives you to think and act the way you do is instinctual.  

Instinctual behavior

Most people primarily behave instinctually, without really thinking. Does such categorization offend you?  Do you want to object, argue or fight about it?  Do you suspect that you are being judged or having your status questioned? Are you preparing to say that all humans are this way and nobody is any better?  Then thank you for confirming. You instinctively feel threatened by a mere description and want to fight about it.  Rather than dispute what drives us, we should welcome our instinctual motives and behavior as what makes us human. There’s nothing inherently wrong with satisfying our basic needs, protecting our child, flirting, or needing group approval.  Our species would not survive without those instincts.

Instinctual motivations are what cause most of us to get out of bed, to groom, eat, exercise, work, rest, have fun and spend time with each other. Instinctual motives drive most actions, longterm habits, rituals, and even desire for change. Without that fire in our gut, most of us would not take that first step to accomplish anything. Instinctual feelings can also depress us, make us give up too soon or paralyze us with fear or doubt. Whenever we interact with others, we take in non-verbal cues and react instinctually, straightening our backs, baring our teeth in a smile, maintaining eye contact while extending an open hand. We instantly adopt a posture of helpfulness, defensiveness, confidence, aggression, flirtation or curiosity.

Our instinctual desires choose how we entertain ourselves: action, comedy, crime, horror, drama, porn, romance or thriller.  We often behave this way at work, when we decide where to sit during the meeting, who to team up with and whether to seek out or avoid confrontation.  Our desire for recognition, to be attractive and to dominate others are common human traits, and they drive our behavior more than other ways, whether we are conscious of them or not.  

Instinctual thinking

The different ways of thinking are primarily distinguished by motive. Instinctual thinking is driven by instinctual motives, consciously or not. We may not be aware of our unconscious motives, but we still feel them. They drive us to act instinctually, including displaying complex social behaviors, towards an instinctual goal, regardless of how much we initially realize what’s really driving us. Later, we often become aware of our instinctual motives simply by observing our behavior. Awareness helps us improve our instinctual behavior, through conscious instinctual thinking.

Those who have a finely tuned sense of instinctual motivations or who send all the right signals have social advantages over those who miss social cues or give off weird signals. Unconsciously we judge each other by tone of voice, stance, handshake and a look in the eye. If they appear confident, then we believe them. Do they remind us of others who were good or bad to us? Who appear to be winners and losers? Our internal instinctual drives often determines who we fear, flatter, imitate, join or avoid. Once aware of the instinctual games we all play, we can control our own instincts, influence the behavior of others and even influence group dynamics on a large scale. In this way, the dominant rule, and the subservient follow.

Instinctually-oriented folks feel in their guts that this is how the world works.

Rideau Canal

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A series of locks allow small boats through Jones Falls below on the lovely historic river and canal connecting Ottawa to Kingston in Canada. In season from mid-May to mid-October, the boats tie up on the dock to the right and wait their turn, perhaps staying or getting something to eat at the 1870s lakeside Hotel Kenney. Chaffey’s Lock is another of the many pretty, historic locks, and it has a fancy hotel, a lock-master’s fort—in case the Americans try to invade by canal—, and a swing bridge that rotates on a wheel to let tall boats clear the lock.

The canal is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. There are a couple dozen locks between Ottawa and Kingston Ontario built almost 200 years ago to facilitate trade and travel between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. Today, giant cargo ships stick to the main St Lawrence Seaway, but that shift left a dozen or more adorable “timeless” little villages along the original canal route. Small boats still use this canal to avoid heavy barge traffic, dangerous currents and because it’s beautiful and fun. Much of the canal is short sections that connect a series of lakes, including Lake Rideau. If you visit the town of Westport, I recommend dinner at the atmospheric old Cove Inn, which often has live music.

All Parks in North Atlantic, Zero Carbon

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I recently completed visits to all national park units in New York and New England. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont each count only 1 unique park. Maine has 4, including the only National Park in the region. Massachusetts has 14, and New York has 21 unique park units, plus 2 shared with the Mid Atlantic region and 2 world heritage sites. The multi-region Appalachian and North Country scenic trails start/end in the region, and the New England scenic trail crosses Connecticut and Massachusetts. Follow the links for more, including affiliates, heritage areas and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route.

Connecticut’s star is Weir Farm, a lovely historic artist home in a rural community. Coltsville is pending. Both heritage areas are shared with Massachusetts: Last Green Valley and Upper Housatonic. Three trails pass through Connecticut: Appalachian, New England and the Rochambeau Route.

Maine has Acadia National Park, France Perkins, Katahdin Woods & Waters, and Saint Croix Island. All four parks showcase the state’s pine woods, clear waters and scenic views, while Perkins celebrates the woman in charge of the New Deal and Saint Croix tells the story of the first French settlers. If you want to hear French spoken, you can visit the Acadian Culture partner village area in the far north, where I hiked as a boy. Mt Katahdin is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The coastal area from Acadia to Saint Croix Island is part of the Downeast Maine heritage area, including the bridge to Campobello in New Brunswick Canada.

All of Massachusetts’ parks are historic, even Boston Harbor Islands and Cape Cod seashore, where the Pilgrims landed. Boston, New Bedford Whaling, Salem Maritime and Saugus Ironworks all predate the Revolution. My hometown site of Minute Man focuses on the Revolution, and Adams, Boston African American, Longfellow-Washington, and Springfield Armory cover both the Independence War and later periods. Blackstone and Lowell cover the Industrial Revolution. And Olmsted and JFK cover more recent history. The Bay State also shares the Blackstone, Essex, Freedoms Way, Last Green Valley and Upper Housatonic heritage areas, the Appalachian and New England scenic trails and the end of the Rochambeau Route. If you love America, you must see its beginnings.

New Hampshire is home to the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ studio and marvelous sculpture garden. Freedoms Way heritage area is shared with Massachusetts, and the Appalachian Trail crosses the state.

New York’s many historic sites begin with the Oneida portage at Fort Stanwix and the African Burial Ground in New Amsterdam (before the British captured the Dutch settlement and renamed it after the Duke of York). Federal Hall and St Paul’s Church illustrate the fight for freedoms that launched the Revolution. Fort Saratoga was a key turning point in that war. Hamilton Grange and Van Buren’s home reveal early American leaders. Castle Clinton and Governors Island preserve harbor forts. Harriett Tubman’s home in upstate New York teaches how she guided slaves to freedom and led a daring raid during the Civil War. Grant’s Memorial honors his service to our country as both general and president. Three sites are devoted to Teddy Roosevelt: his birthplace, inaugural site and Sagamore Hill. Women’s Rights are honored in Seneca Falls and at Eleanor Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park, near FDR’s home and their neighbor’s modest Vanderbilt Mansion. And last, but not least, the historic Stonewall Monument stands proudly in the city.

Also in New York, Fire Island seashore, Gateway Recreation (shared with New Jersey) and the Upper Delaware River (shared with Pennsylvania) all preserve nature. The Kate Mullany, Lower East Side Tenement and the Thomas Cole sites are great affiliates to visit. The Champlain Valley, Erie Canalway and Niagara Falls heritage areas have miles to explore. The Appalachian hiking trail, John Smith Chesapeake water trail, North Country scenic trail and the Rochambeau Route pass here. New York also has the only world heritage sites in this region: Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Guggenheim and the Statue of Liberty.

Rhode Island protects our religious liberty at Roger Williams and affiliated Touro Synagogue, and the state preserves our mill town history at Blackstone, which extends into Massachusetts within a broader eponymous heritage area. The Rochambeau Route begins here.

Vermont is home to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller experimental forest, not far from where the Appalachian and North Country scenic trails meet.

Gateway National Recreation Area

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Gateway is multifaceted, but for me the most important part is the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge above. Here there are migratory and year round birds, butterflies, trails, groves of trees and pleasant views. The contrast between the busy planes of JFK and the mute swans could not be more striking. Although the road noise limited my birdsong app, I still lost count at a dozen species. With more time, I would have kayaked around to see more birds.

But for folks interested in other things, the park includes Forts Hancock, Tilden & Wadsworth, beaches, parks and more, spread out over western Long Island, Staten Island and Sandy Hook peninsula in New Jersey. The Sandy Hook unit has miles of beautiful beaches (below with NYC skyline view) and paved bike trails to enjoy.

What’s the Big Idea?

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So, we agree we have trouble thinking. What can we do about it?

The Basics of Thinking

Humans think four distinctly different ways: instinctually, rationally, morally and creatively.

  • Instinctual thinking is how we feel human, and it includes all our evolved drives and behaviors, even some complex, internalized group dynamics.
  • Rational thinking is what we learn in school and often use at work: fact-based, methodical logic and calculating profits.
  • Moral thinking is what we should have learned as children and should still apply to every important decision we make: right and wrong, good versus evil, long-run over short-run.
  • Creative thinking is how we come up with new ideas: imagination, invention and inspiration.

Some people fall neatly into one of those four categories and consistently use the thinking methods appropriate to each.

  • Skilled instinctual thinkers are conscious of their own instincts, motives, desires and drives, those of others and the dynamics of how they typically play out.
  • Skilled rational thinkers use accurate facts and apply consistent logic and organized methods to solve problems.
  • Skilled moral thinkers take the long consequential view and judge on firm principles established to promote the general good, to set priorities and proactively intervene.
  • Skilled creative thinkers break rules, make imaginative leaps and invent to create beauty, find a new direction and change the world.

In theory, masters of multiple ways of thinking would approach every challenge beginning with proper motive, use the appropriate techniques, and achieve the right goal. Faced with a multifaceted problem, the master would rapidly run each thinking technique, then consider each conflicting solution, explore possible options, understand why, organize relevant details, arbitrate, optimize and prioritize to choose the best solution and course of action. But honestly, who does all that well?

What Goes Wrong?

Most of us aren’t sure how we think, let alone how the people we interact with think. We may get in an argument, because we’re trying to make a rational recommendation and the other person is trying to make a moral argument. Our creative solution may not work, if everyone just continues doing things by habit. And worst of all, relatively few people think using any consistent method.

In practice, few, if any, have been taught about all four different ways of thinking systematically, have been trained to use them all, know how they each differ and conflict with each other, and consistently apply them all correctly. Even if you are lucky enough to have a liberal arts college education, with degree requirements including ethics, creative arts and psychology & sociology, likely you still specialize in one way of thinking, knowing just enough about the other ways to get your thinking into trouble.

Unfortunately, the rest of us rely on a shifting, ad hoc hodgepodge blend of ‘thinking’, unaware of motives, dishonestly ignoring inconvenient facts, over-ruling our better judgement, and repeating the same old mistakes. We are driven by our instincts, we rationalize to suppress our guilt over having acted badly, and we can’t imagine trying a new path.

Since each way of thinking is different in motive, technique and objective, any blended thinking technique is flawed and unreliable. Just because we stumble into a jumbled solution, doesn’t mean that we’ve got our thinking straight. Think of it this way: you may know how to cook, play tennis and put together an outdoor grill, but you wouldn’t stir nuts and bolts into your chili with a racquet. It’s similarly wrong to let your instinctual thinking take over your moral judgement or bias your rational analysis or reduce your artistic creation into a common cliché. Every tub must stand on its own bottom. Each way of thinking must operate independently to work best. Only then, can they be combined with integrity.

Next Steps

Now that you get the general idea, every other Thursday, I’m going to review a method of thinking, discuss ways to improve it, or consider a relevant case, and then we can move on to mastery. We don’t need to excel in every way of thinking, but we do need to sort out when to use which and not muddle them together willy-nilly. Until we realize what’s wrong with our thinking, we won’t fix it.

The rest of the schedule stays the same for now, with visits on Monday, summaries etc. every other Thursday, and photo summaries every other Saturday. Ciao!

Cape Cod National Seashore

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The park extends from the fist to the elbow, from around proud Provincetown to historic Chatham Harbor, and there’s much to see and do. For me, the quintessential experience is to find an isolated stretch of beach and walk until the birds far outnumber the people. I saw dozens of grey seals swimming right near the shore or lying on the rocks just off the beach. It’s difficult to get to any beach without passing a lighthouse, but if you want to climb one, your best shot is Highland Light (above), the first one commissioned on the Cape by one George Washington.

There are about a dozen named trails too, and I’d recommend hiking near Fort Hill, where you can see the Penniman House, get a great view of the marsh, and spot many different birds. With the aid of a birdsong identifier, I counted 18 different species in one day, including the rare Indigo Bunting and an uncommon Willow Flycatcher.

If you have a bike, consider taking the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which is a high-quality dedicated bike trail through about 1/3 of the cape, and there are also other decent bike lanes and bike trails. My first bike trip here a few decades ago, extended the length of Cape Cod, plus the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, returning by ferry from Provincetown to Boston. When I last visited the lighthouse above, it stood where I stood to take the photo above, because the highland cliffs are eroding at several feet per year, forcing them to move the lighthouse in the intervening decades.

Visiting in shoulder season, rather than July-August, helps avoid miserable traffic and exorbitant hotel rates. There are also lots of good seafood shacks, still one or two cheaper motels, some campgrounds, and lots of nature. Wellfleet is well known for oysters, and the fried clams here are the best I’ve had. I’m still on a quest to find the best lobster roll, and I suspect it will be lifelong. Though speaking of seafood, I would be careful swimming around here, as great white sharks prowl along the shores.

North Atlantic National Heritage Areas

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There are ten heritage areas in New York and New England, and all of them protect places frequently described as beautiful, historic and quaint. Growing up in the region, I am biased, but I highly recommend visiting all of them.

  • Blackstone River Valley NHC, explore the mill towns that defined the Industrial Revolution
  • Champlain Valley NHP, hike in the canyons of the Adirondacks on this route to Canada
  • Downeast Maine NHA, catch the first rays of sunrise on the scenic coast of Maine, have tea in Campobello, and learn about the Acadians near St Croix IHS
  • Erie Canalway NHC, take five looking for a mule named Sal, and sing a few bars
  • Essex NHA, wander the old streets of Salem past Hawthorne’s house of the seven gables and go see the 17th century Saugus Ironworks
  • Freedom’s Way NHA, see where the Minute Men fired the shot heard round the world and the small towns where they lived and dreamt revolutionary ideas
  • Hudson River Valley NHA, FDR, Van Buren, Vanderbilt, Saratoga, St Paul’s, Thomas Cole…
  • Last Green Valley NHC, step back into an authentic 19th century village (below)
  • Niagara Falls NHA, besides the obvious, visit the Old Fort and learn some history
  • Upper Housatonic NHA, visit Edith Wharton’s historic Mount in the Berkshires

Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area

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The Housatonic River runs down the western edge of Massachusetts through Connecticut, and the heritage area is shared by both states. Connecticut gets the best natural areas—the bogs, fern filled cobbles (hills) and pine forests—and Massachusetts gets the best historic places. My childhood schooling is filled with stories from the Berkshires, so I wanted to revisit The Mount (above) in Lenox Massachusetts most of all. And how much improved it is! But that’s getting far ahead of the story.

The Mohicans lived here first, and before the Revolution, English settlers swapped land with them. Some of the first to learn to speak the native language were missionaries, and Rev John Sergeant’s house in Stockbridge can be visited during the summer. After Independence, the Shakers settled in Pittsfield, and their living history museum is recommended too. The old mill of the company that makes the paper for US currency is in Dalton. Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote here around 1850, and Melville’s Pittsfield home can be visited too. W.E.B. Du Bois was born and raised in Great Barrington, and there’s a walking tour in addition to his homesite, not far from Simon’s Rock, which has an excellent program dedicated to Du Bois.

Edith Wharton built the Mount in 1902 and wrote many of her most famous books there. Her maiden name was Jones—as in the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”—and her husband was related to the business school. She had already rebuilt Lands End on the Cliff Walk in Newport RI, making Interior Design a profession when she co-wrote a book about it. Gilded Age women were not supposed to be progressive writers, but Edith Wharton was, becoming the first woman to win a Pulitzer for Fiction in 1921 with The Age of Innocence.

When I visited the Mount as a child, the girls’ equestrian school there had just closed, and the once magnificent home was falling apart. I remember adults being much concerned with marble fireplaces collapsing, whether a Shakespeare company might help save it, or whether it would be demolished for condos. I liked the formal garden but little remained of the famous author who lived there. But thanks to some devoted preservationists, including a collection saved by a book dealer in London, the home and library have been gloriously restored. Highly recommended.