Humans are naturally predisposed to thinking in a straight line. Our attitudes and behaviours do not behave linearly together. This is part of the reason that cracking societal challenges like not saving for the future and not taking care of our health when we are younger have become what's called wicked problems. Though we rank saving highly it is not linearly correlated with our behaviour.
Like many biases, we can help to protect ourselves from this one and others by increasing our awareness of our default linear way of thinking and building our non-linear thinking muscles. There's actually a really cool initiative called Ocean Tipping Points that is demonstrating this between stressors and ecological response.
This was an instant a-ha moment for me when thinking about the reporting that I've heard on mortality rates of whales in the St. Lawrence peaking this year. All of the media coverage has presented a storyline of baffled individuals wondering about what could be so different from last year. This viewpoint assumed a linear relationship. If the relationship isn't linear though, it's easy to imagine how something small changing in the environment this year could be exponentially impacting the whales.
Until I read this Harvard Business Review that inspired this post, I was drawing the same conclusion as those who were reporting on what's happening in the St. Lawrence. My natural tendency for linear thinking was reinforced by the news stories. Others were validating my assumptions. That's probably the trickiest part of the trap of our default to linear thinking. Along with trying to help others see beyond their assumptions as well.
Being a Force for Good 