Clean Run - April 2017 - 9

beings-System 2 thinking-we are
quite often using only System 1 thinking,
which is both emotional and geared toward finding the first and simplest answer.
This is important for us to recognize not
only in ourselves, as it affects our financial, political, relational, and dog training decisions, but in our dogs as well.
Trainer Steve White says dogs are the
best cost-benefit analysts on the planet.
His statement may be slightly hyperbolic-there are a lot of efficiently lazy
creatures out here-but the underlying
message is true: Dogs will find the fastest and simplest solution to a problem if
they can.
So do we.

Framing

Framing is the use of other situational
information, even wholly unrelated information, to form opinions, interpretations, or reactions. This can be very
simple, such as in the figure below.
This common visual trick is a perfect use
of framing to suggest an interpretation.
The ambiguous center figure is more
reminiscent of the number 13 than of
the letter B, yet when put between an A
and a C it is immediately interpreted by
the brain as the letter B. The other letters
prime the brain for a quick and easy interpretation, which fits a familiar pattern
and requires the least mental exertion.
It's important to note that it happens
without your conscious knowledge-
you didn't look at the image and think,
"Well, that center figure could go either way, but I'm going to guess it's a B
based on surrounding text." You glanced
at the image and made a quick and invisible interpretation.
The cautionary tale to be derived from
this is equally obvious; suggestions rule
our interpretation. If someone says a dog

is aggressive, we perceive that dog's behaviors through a filter more likely to interpret ambiguous data as aggressive. Or
we filter a dog's behaviors through the
impression we have of its breed ("aggressive" or "social" or "slow" or "just
like a Border Collie").
Familiarity supplies much in framing.
What we have been frequently exposed
toeven if it is wrong, or even if we know
it is wrong-is recalled more easily than
less familiar information, and so System
1 supplies it more quickly for our unconscious judgments. This is how superstitions and oft-repeated but wholly unsupported statements take root-everything
from latent racism to breed bias-and
most dangerously, influence us invisibly.
But framing occurs in many less obvious
ways as well. Kahneman describes study
participants changing the pace of their
walk based solely upon reading sentences
seeded with words like Florida and bald
and wrinkle, having nothing to do at all
with age or speed or mobility but in conglomerate subconsciously suggesting
the elderly population. This unconscious

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - April 2017