In today's post, I'd like to share 4 common yet hidden bad habits.

They are "hidden" because they rely heavily on the underlying principles of the brain, lying beneath our conscious awareness, making them difficult to detect and notice.

However, if left unchecked, they can affect our mental clarity and thinking, slowing down our growth and development.

I hope today's article will offer you some inspiration.


1. Information Degradation
You’ve probably heard the saying, "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth."

But what I want to tell you is that it doesn’t take a thousand times—just a few repetitions will do.

In my book Opening the Mind, I mentioned an effect called cognitive fluency. A common phenomenon is that a piece of false information, as long as it appears a few times in front of us, will gradually make us lose our vigilance and more easily accept it unconsciously.

Why does this happen? The reason lies in the brain's underlying need to conserve energy. Whenever a piece of false information appears as new, the brain will send a signal of alertness, prompting us to carefully scrutinize it to determine how to fit it into our "predictive framework."

But once the information appears a second or third time, it shifts from being new to becoming familiar. The brain then reduces the resources allocated to it significantly—this makes sense because if the brain were to allocate full resources to analyze every bit of information, it would quickly become overloaded.

As a result, after encountering a piece of information several times, the brain’s familiarity with it increases, and vigilance decreases. We might vaguely remember it, but we won’t consciously think about or analyze it.

At this point, as soon as a situation related to it arises, it’s easy for us to subconsciously recall it, apply it, and use it to solve problems.

Once this happens, the information has been internalized and transformed from an external piece of data into part of our stance and viewpoint.

And that makes it even harder to break free from it. Any attempt to scrutinize and analyze it will be blocked by our subconscious defense mechanisms, making it difficult to penetrate.

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In summary, the process of making the brain believe a piece of false information involves three steps:

When it first appears, it doesn’t trigger enough vigilance in us;

It appears multiple times, roughly three to five times, allowing us to remember it;

After we’ve remembered it, a similar scenario arises, enabling us to call it up.

Therefore, from the analysis above, we can conclude that to accurately identify false information from the vast sea of data and exclude it from our minds, you actually only have one chance: the very first time you see it.

Once you miss this opportunity, it blends in with a large amount of other information, making it much harder to detect and filter out.





Therefore, when we emphasize "critical thinking," it essentially boils down to this: when we encounter information that concerns us, we should first assess its reliability, determine whether we should adopt or accept it, and avoid allowing false information to "pollute" our cognition.

There is an overwhelming amount of content on critical thinking, and it cannot be fully explained in just a few articles. Here, I’ll share a few small techniques I personally use.

Assessing the Facts and Sources:

Does the information provide evidence for the facts it presents? Is the evidence from a reliable source? Does it offer a way to verify the information?

Assessing the Perspective and Position:

Does the information stand from a particular viewpoint, defending a certain perspective, and providing a one-sided view? Or does it try to offer a more comprehensive perspective?

Assessing the Purpose and Outcome:

Does the information help you make better judgments and become more calm, or is it intended to stir your emotions, provoke, or create division?

These three techniques may not guarantee that you can determine the validity and reliability of every piece of information 100% of the time, but they will certainly help you put a question mark on doubtful information, stay alert, and avoid unconscious blind acceptance and trust.



2. Cognitive Blunting

I often see people with a certain habit: when they encounter a new piece of knowledge, they instinctively say, "Isn't this just XXXX?"

Here, "XXXX" is usually a knowledge point they already know. They have a deeply ingrained thinking habit: whenever they come across something new, they always try to find the closest match from what they already know and equate the two.

This is called cognitive blunting. In psychology, there's a concept called "cognitive style," which can be divided into cognitive blunting and cognitive sharpening.

What's the difference between the two? When you encounter new information, blunting means you tend to amplify its similarities with old information, classifying it as part of the same category. On the other hand, sharpening means you are more likely to focus on its differences, tending to distinguish it from similar things.

Psychologist Harry Morgan discovered that people who have a sharpening cognitive style often have a more accurate understanding of new knowledge and are better at connecting new information with old knowledge. This may be because they organize their knowledge encoding and storage more systematically.

Conversely, those who habitually blunt their thinking tend to mix knowledge characteristics in a disorganized manner and have a more chaotic storage of knowledge. They often oversimplify key features of knowledge and overlook the differences between similar but distinct things, leading to a very vague retrieval of information.



Over time, this can easily lead to the following outcomes:

This method works well for others, but why doesn't it work for me?
This concept seems so simple, so why can they think so deeply about it?
We were exposed to the same things, but why can others apply it to solve real problems, while I can't think of anything at all?
The reason lies in the fact that people who experience cognitive blunting haven't truly grasped and internalized new knowledge. Instead, they simplify and compress it. It may seem like this saves brain storage space, but it hasn't truly been digested.

Some may argue: isn't learning about applying new knowledge to old knowledge, about drawing inferences from one instance to another? Yes, but there's a fundamental difference here: cognitive blunting means equating A and B, asking yourself, "Isn't B just A?"

The truly effective connection looks like this: What is the relationship between A and B? What are their similarities, what are their differences, and what situations or problems do they each apply to?

This is a manifestation of cognitive sharpening: it's not about staying at the level of "What does it resemble?" but rather further examining and questioning "What exactly is it?"

The principle behind this is simple: cognitive sharpening means you need to invest more resources to truly understand a concept, so your brain will more firmly remember this understanding and more precisely place it within the corresponding framework.

Cognitive blunting, on the other hand, is essentially a form of laziness. It tries to achieve better results with fewer resources—but in most cases, this only backfires.

So, the next time you instinctively ask, "Isn't this just XXXX?" be mindful of this and replace it with, "How is it different from XXXX?"

This is the key to truly learning something.


Three, Negative Reinforcement
The brain operates on a fundamental principle: our actions and reactions to things actually shape our perception of them.

What does this mean? Let’s take an example: when you see an article you like, and you like, comment, or share it, what does that mean? Is it just telling others, "I like this article"?

Actually, it’s more than that. This behavior sends a deeper signal to the brain, instructing it to reinforce a belief: I like this kind of article.

For example, your initial level of liking it might have been 50. After liking it, it becomes 51. If you see something similar and like it again, it becomes 52… and so on.

In other words, our attitudes toward different things are not fixed from the beginning. They are constantly shaped and refined by our repeated behaviors.

The brain is essentially a Bayesian machine. It starts with an initial model of the world, and then, through our repeated actions, judgments, and decisions, it continuously adjusts this internal model, making it more refined and accurate.

Thus, our lives are not primarily shaped by a few major decisions, but by the subtle, repeated behaviors we perform every day.

However, many people make the common mistake of having a goal, a desired direction to head toward, but continuing to act based on habits that are completely contrary to their goals.

For example:

You want to become someone full of action, but you struggle for half a day just to get out of bed;
You want to become a deep thinker, but spend your free time scrolling through short videos and social media feeds;
You want to be a decisive person, but your usual phrase is "Whatever, it’s fine..."
This is like negative reinforcement for the brain, pushing it in the direction you don’t want to go. How could success be achieved this way?

It’s like I often say: many people who are prone to anxiety often fall into this vicious cycle:

Because they’re prone to anxiety, they easily feel insecure;
Because they feel insecure, they constantly scan their surroundings for potential threats, always considering the worst-case scenario;
As a result, they become more fearful of these uncertain worst-case situations, which creates more anxiety...
This is also a process of negative reinforcement: because they fear anxiety, they try to increase control to avoid it, but because they realize how many things are out of their control, they end up increasing their anxiety instead.



To change this state, what you need to do is turn negative reinforcement into positive reinforcement.

For example, if you want to become a calm, composed, and serene person, you can start with a small action:

When you’re having an argument with someone and you feel like getting angry, yelling, being sarcastic, or insulting the other person... try to stop for a moment, take four deep breaths, wait for 10 seconds, and then express your point of view as calmly and friendly as possible.

The goal of this behavior isn’t to persuade the other person, nor is it to win the argument. Its significance lies in signaling to the brain, I want to become a calm and composed person. Please shift my personality and emotional response in that direction.

It’s the same with everything: if you want to become a certain kind of person, strive to live according to that model. Even though your current lifestyle might still be somewhat far from the "desired state," every action, habit, and judgment you make each day is gradually moving your brain closer to it.

By turning negative reinforcement into positive reinforcement and viewing each action in your life as an opportunity to train and strengthen your brain, you can truly make effective changes.


Four, Self-Undermining
Many people tend to procrastinate, often due to a reason they aren’t even aware of: to sabotage themselves.

At first, this might sound absurd: How could anyone want to mess things up? Who would intentionally ruin something?

But in reality, this is a common yet hidden psychological mechanism. Here's how it works:

There’s something I feel I should do well, something I must do well, but deep down, I lack the confidence to do it well. As a result, I subconsciously procrastinate.

By postponing the task, I can reassure myself: “I’m capable of doing this, I just haven’t done it yet.”

Similarly, if I delay the task until the last minute and the result isn’t great, I can comfort myself with: “I could have done this well, but I ran out of time.”

For example, we may have an idea, plan, or goal, but we don’t take action. The deeper reason may be that as long as we don’t act, we can hold on to the comforting illusion: “I have the ability; if I just do it, I can do it well.”

But once we take action, we might face many obstacles and realize that we overestimated our abilities. We discover that we’re not as great as we imagined... and the illusion shatters. We realize that we aren’t as capable as we thought.

This mechanism is called self-handicapping, and it’s essentially a form of self-undermining: to avoid the disillusionment of “I can do this,” we consciously weaken our own efforts, letting things turn out poorly to maintain the belief that “I could have done it well, if only circumstances had been different.”

What’s the root cause of this? Simply put, it’s an overestimation of ourselves and excessive confidence. This confidence is not based on actual ability, but rather on the belief that “I should be able to do this.”

We first create an idealized, perfect self-image, and then, to preserve that self-image, we unconsciously sabotage ourselves.

At its core, this is a fear of accepting the real self—one that may not be as perfect as imagined. We fear that our true abilities will be exposed, that our ideal self-image will be shattered, and that the gap between our ideals and reality will be revealed.

But does maintaining this false self-image serve any purpose? Actually, it doesn’t. We achieve nothing and do nothing. We simply feel better internally, but that’s all.

So, what’s a better approach? It’s to let go of unrealistic expectations and "idolization" of ourselves. We must remind ourselves: life is long, and we always have room for growth. How well we do now doesn’t define us, but failing to give our best now is a missed opportunity for growth.

Once you shift your focus away from immediate success and failure, and look at the bigger picture—three, five, or even ten years down the line—you’ll see that these momentary wins and losses are just fleeting moments in the grand scheme of life.

So, consider every decision as an opportunity to train yourself and keep growing. If you avoid it, you’re giving up on that opportunity for growth.

This is the true loss.


Casual Chat Time
To briefly summarize today’s article:

Habit 1: Information Degradation
Repeated exposure to false information can lead you to unconsciously believe it.

Solution: Use critical thinking and question the information when you first encounter it.

Habit 2: Mental Blunting
Habitually equating new knowledge with old knowledge can lead to incorrect understanding.

Solution: Focus on the differences, not the similarities.

Habit 3: Negative Reinforcement
When your daily actions don’t align with your goals, it leads to inefficiency and frustration.

Solution: Pay attention to every small behavior, using it as an opportunity to train your brain.

Habit 4: Self-Undermining
To maintain an inflated self-image, people may subconsciously procrastinate and avoid tasks.

Solution: Face and accept the real you, treating every action as an opportunity for growth.