Kunal Profile picture
Mar 29, 2020 18 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Are you familiar with the concept of herding / herd mentality?

It's when people people follow and copy what others are doing instead of making their own decisions.

I'm sure you see it a lot around you.

You do it too.

In a different way.

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Here's a simple example of herding. (Poetic that we are discussing herding during these times lol)

Imagine if you're out to eat and see a couple of people queueing up outside a food joint.

"This must be a good place", you think to yourself and join them in the line.
Another person walking by sees three people queueing up outside the restaurant and thinks "This must be a great place", and joins the line.

More and more people keep joining the "herd" this way.
It's very common in the world of investing where people are heavily influenced by market trends, often leading to huge bubbles or devastating crashes (like we're seeing right now.)

If you're reading this, you are probably smart enough to think for yourself and avoid groupthink.
And yet, all of us regularly fall prey to herding behaviour. In a slightly different way, which Dan Ariely refers to as Self Herding.

Self Herding is our tendency to follow the same decisions we have made in the past.
Most of the times, we make decisions based on our feelings or circumstances at that point, and then justify it with logic. Also, a lot of our decisions are arbitrary.

And the next time we are in a similar situation, we refer to our actions in the past for subconscious guidance.
Most of our "preferences" develop this way.

We "line up" behind our initial experience and herd ourselves.

This goes not only for our actions but also our beliefs.
Once we believe something is good or bad based on our own previous behaviour and experience, we tend to reinforce that belief by repeating (or avoiding) that behaviour.

We also have a tendency to cherry-pick information that confirms our existing beliefs (Confirmation Bias).
Come to think of it, so many of our unalterable past decisions were likely affected by passing emotions.

And consequently, so many of our current and future decisions are influenced by feelings we don't even remember.

Self-herding is dangerous because it can be a slippery slope
It is almost harmless to try a cigarette once.

But that's how people go down the slippery slope of becoming an addict.

(Over two-thirds of people who try one cigarette become, at least temporarily, daily smokers)
A lot of our decisions have slow feedback loops, and at times we don't realize the consequences of our actions until it's too late.

And the more we invest (money, effort, time) in an idea or habit, the harder it gets to change our ways.
Our first decisions resonate over a long sequence of decisions.

They might seem inconsequential at that point, but first decisions lay down the neural groundwork that will bias your future decisions.
"Lives we have crafted so carefully are largely just a product of arbitrary coherence. We made arbitrary decisions at some point in the past — and have built our lives on them ever since, assuming that the original decisions were wise."

— Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational
The idea of self-herding is similar to that of commitment/consistency bias.

We have an instinctual desire to stay consistent with our prior actions and beliefs. And also with our self-image.

No one likes being a hypocrite.
Once we have adapted a label (ex: "I'm lazy"), our behaviour tends to become consistent with that label.

So be careful about the labels you adapt. They can become self-fulfilling prophecies.

And hey, you're free to adapt whatever label you want. Pick labels that will serve you.
Anyway, here's the big takeaway:

Train yourself to question your repeated behaviours and habits.

And your beliefs.

How did it develop? Does it still serve you?
The first decision is crucial. Give it an appropriate amount of attention and thought.

And remember, question everything. Everything.
I regularly write about the functioning of human mind (via emails).

Read this letter to see if you want to sign-up: dismantledmind.com/invitation

Onwards and upwards

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