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Like School?
Because the Mind Is
Not Designed for Thinking
By Daniel T. Willingham unsolvable problems. If schoolwork is always just a bit too dif-
ficult for a student, it should be no surprise that she doesn’t like
Question: Most of the teachers I know entered the profession school much. The cognitive principle that guides this article is:
because they loved school as children. They want to help their People are naturally curious, but they are not naturally good
students feel the same excitement and passion for learning that thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, people will
they did. They are understandably dejected when they find that avoid thinking. The implication of this principle is that teachers
some of their pupils don’t like school much, and that they, the should reconsider how they encourage their students to think in
teachers, have great difficulty inspiring them. Why is it difficult order to maximize the likelihood that students will get the plea-
to make school enjoyable for students? surable rush that comes from successful thought.
W
Answer: Contrary to popular belief, the brain is not designed for hat is the essence of being human? What sets us
thinking. It’s designed to save you from having to think, because apart from other species? Many would answer
the brain is actually not very good at thinking. Thinking is slow that it is our ability to reason—birds fly, fish swim,
and unreliable. Nevertheless, people enjoy mental work if it is and humans think. (By “thinking,” I mean solving
successful. People like to solve problems, but not to work on problems, reasoning, reading something complex, or doing any
mental work that requires some effort.) Shakespeare extolled our
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL ZWOLAK
Daniel T. Willingham is professor of cognitive psychology at the Univer- cognitive ability in Hamlet: “What a piece of work is man! How
sity of Virginia and author of numerous articles, including his regular noble in reason!” Some 300 years later, however, Henry Ford
“Ask the Cognitive Scientist” articles for American Educator. To read more cynically observed, “Thinking is the hardest work there is,
more of his work on education, go to www.danielwillingham.com.
This article is excerpted from his new book, Why Don’t Students Like which is the probable reason why so few people engage in it.”
School? Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons. Content reprinted by per- They both had a point. Humans are good at certain types of rea-
mission of Jossey-Bass: www.josseybass.com. soning, particularly in comparison with other animals. But we
F
right. Your thinking system might not even get you close; your or education, the implications of this section sound
solution to a problem may be far from correct. In fact, your think- rather grim. If people are bad at thinking and try to
ing system may not produce an answer at all, which is what hap- avoid it, what does that say about their
pens to most people when they try the candle problem. attitudes toward school? Fortu-
If we’re all so bad at thinking, how does anyone hold down a nately, despite the fact that we’re not that
job, or manage his money? How does a teacher make the hun- good at it, we actually like to think. But
dreds of decisions necessary to get through her day? The answer because thinking is so hard, the conditions
is that, when we can get away with it, we don’t think. Instead, we have to be right for this curiosity to thrive,
rely on memory. Most of the problems you face are ones you’ve and we quit thinking rather readily. The
solved before, so you just do what you’ve done in the past. For next section explains when we like
example, suppose next week a friend gives you the candle prob- to think and when we don’t.
lem. You would immediately say, “Oh, right. I’ve heard this one.
You tack the box to the wall.” Just as your visual system takes in
a scene and, without any effort on your part, tells you what is in People Are Naturally
the environment, so too your memory system immediately and Curious, But Curiosity Is Fragile
effortlessly recognizes that you’ve heard the problem before and
provides the answer. Most people think that they have a terrible Even though our brains are not set up for very efficient thinking,
memory, and it’s true that your memory is not as reliable as your people actually enjoy mental activity, at least in some circum-
visual or movement systems—but your memory system is much stances. They have hobbies like solving crossword puzzles or
more reliable than your thinking system, and provides answers scrutinizing maps. They watch information-packed documen-
quickly and with little effort. taries. They pursue careers—such as teaching—that offer greater
We normally think of memory as storing personal events mental challenge than competing careers, even if the pay is
(e.g., memories of my wedding) and facts (e.g., George Wash- lower. Not only are they willing to think, they intentionally seek
ington was the first president of the United States). Your mem- out situations that demand thought.
ory also stores procedures to guide what you should do: where Solving problems brings pleasure. When I say “problem solv-
to turn when you’re driving home, how to handle a minor dis- ing” here, I mean any cognitive work that succeeds; it might be
pute when you’re monitoring recess, what to do when a pot on understanding a difficult passage of prose, planning a garden, or
the stove starts to boil over. For the vast majority of decisions sizing up an investment opportunity. There is a sense of satisfac-
you make, you don’t stop to consider what you might do, reason tion, of fulfillment, in successful thinking. In the last 10 years,
about it, anticipate possible consequences, and so on. You do neuroscientists have discovered that there is overlap in the brain
take such steps when faced with a new problem, but not when areas and chemicals that are important in learning and those that
faced with a problem you’ve already encountered many times. are important in the brain’s natural reward system. Many neuro-
That’s because one more way that your brain saves you from scientists suspect that the two systems are related, even though
having to think is by changing. If you repeat the same thought- they haven’t worked out the explicit tie between them yet.
demanding task again and again, it will eventually become It’s notable too that the pleasure is in the solving of the prob-
automatic; your brain will change so that you can complete the lem. Working on a problem with no sense that you’re making
task without thinking about it. When you feel as though you are progress is not pleasurable. In fact, it’s frustrating. And there’s
“on autopilot,” even if you’re doing something rather complex, not great pleasure in simply knowing the answer either. I told
such as driving home from your school, it’s because you are you the solution to the candle problem; did you get any fun out
using memory to guide your behavior. Using memory doesn’t of it? Think how much more fun it would have been if you had
require much of your attention, so you are free to daydream, solved it yourself—in fact, the problem would have seemed more
make. Only then does the player engage Here’s a classroom-based example. experiment, scientists are especially
reasoning processes to select the best Take two algebra students—one is still a interested in anomalous (that is, unex-
among several candidate moves. little shaky on the distributive property, pected) outcomes. Unexpected outcomes
Psychologists estimate that top chess whereas the other knows it cold. When indicate that their knowledge is incom-
players may have 50,000 board positions the first student is trying to solve a plete, and that this experiment contains
in long-term memory. Thus, background problem and sees a(b + c), he’s unsure hidden seeds of new knowledge. But in
knowledge is decisive even in chess, whether that’s the same as ab + c or b + order for results to be unexpected, you
which we might consider the prototypical ac or ab + ac. So he stops working on the must have an expectation! An expecta-
game of reasoning. problem, and substitutes small numbers tion about the outcome would be based
That’s not to say that all problems are into a(b + c) to be sure that he’s got it on your knowledge of the field. Most or
solved by comparing them to cases you’ve right. The second student recognizes a(b all of what we tell students about
seen in the past. You do, of course, + c), and doesn’t need to stop and scientific thinking strategies is impossible
sometimes reason. Even in these situa- occupy space in working memory with to use without appropriate background
tions, background knowledge can help. this subcomponent of the problem. knowledge.
Here’s an example. Do you have a friend Clearly, the second student is more likely The same holds true for history,
who can walk into someone else’s kitchen to successfully complete the problem. language arts, music, and so on.
and rapidly produce a nice dinner from Here is one more key point about Generalizations that we can offer to
whatever food is around, usually to the knowledge and thinking skills. Much of students about how to successfully
astonishment of whoever’s kitchen it is? what experts tell us they do in the course think and reason in the field may look
When that person looks in a cupboard, of thinking about their fields requires like they don’t require background
she doesn’t see ingredients, she sees background knowledge, even if it’s not knowledge, but when you consider
recipes. She draws on extensive back- described that way. Let’s take science as how to apply them, they actually do.
ground knowledge about food and an example. We could tell students that –D.T.W.
cooking. when interpreting the results of an
W
environment moved one’s intelligence up well—not a future professional, perhaps, hat does all this mean for
or down a bit within that range. A real but better than 98 percent of the education? If intelligence were
turning point in this work came during population, let’s say. all a matter of one’s genetic
the 1980s with the discovery that IQ Now notice what has happened. These inheritance, then there wouldn’t be much
scores over the last half century have were identical twins, raised apart. So if a point in trying to make kids smarter.
shown quite substantial gains. For researcher tracked down each twin and Instead, you’d try to get students to do
example, in Holland, scores went up 21 administered some test of basketball skill, the best they could, given the genetically
points in just 30 years (1952–1982), based she would find that both were quite determined intelligence they had. But
on scores from Dutch military draftees. good, and because they were raised that’s not the way things are. Intelligence
This is not an isolated case. The effect has apart, the researcher would conclude that is malleable. It can be improved.
been observed in over a dozen countries this was a genetic effect, that skill in So, what can you do for slow learners?
throughout the world, including the basketball is largely determined by one’s Recognize that they probably differ little
United States.* Not all countries have genes. But the researcher would be from your other students in terms of their
data available to be tested—you need mistaken. What’s actually happened was potential.† But they probably differ a
very large numbers of people to be sure that their genes made them tall, and good bit from your other students in
that you’re not looking at a quirky being tall nudged them toward environ- what they know, their motivation, their
subset—but where the data are available, ments that included a lot of basketball persistence in the face of academic
the effect has been found. These practice. Practice—an environmental setbacks, and in their self-image as
increases in IQ scores are much too large effect—made them good at basketball, students. I fully believe that these
to have been caused by changes in genes. not their genes. students can catch up, but it must be
Some of the increase may have come Now think of how that might apply to acknowledged that they are far behind,
from better nutrition and health care. intelligence. Maybe genetics has some and that catching up will take enormous
Some of it may have come from the fact small effect on your intelligence—it effort. To help slow learners catch up, you
that our environment has gotten more makes you a little quicker to understand must first be sure that they believe that
complex, and people are more often things, or your memory a little bit better, they can improve, and next you must try
called on to think abstractly, and to solve or it makes you more persistent on to persuade them that it will be worth it.
unfamiliar problems—the exact sorts of cognitive tasks, or it simply makes you
things you’re often asked to do on IQ more curious. Your parents notice this, 1. Praise Effort, Not Ability
tests. Whatever the cause, it must be and encourage your interest. They may Students should think of their intelligence
environmental. not even be aware that they are encour- as under their control, and should know
But how does that fit with previous aging you. They might talk to you about that they can develop their intelligence
research, which indicated that intelli- more sophisticated subjects than they through hard work. Therefore, you should
Excerpted with permission from chapter 8 of Daniel T. *James R. Flynn, “Massive IQ Gains in 14 Nations: †
This is not to say that students don’t have learning
Willingham’s new book, Why Don’t Students Like What IQ Tests Really Measure,” Psychological Bulletin disabilities. Some do. This discussion does not apply to
School? See page 13 for more information. 101 (1987): 171–191. students with learning disabilities.
can, I think it’s smart to assign work to individuals or groups of Experience (New York: Harper
students that is appropriate to their current level of competence, Perennial, 1990). The author
and/or to offer more (or less) support to students depending on describes the ultimate state of
interest, when one is completely
how challenging you think they will find the assignment. Natu-
absorbed in what one is doing to the point that time
rally, one wants to do this in a sensitive way, minimizing the
itself stops. The book does not tell you how to enter this state
extent to which these students will perceive themselves as yourself, but is an interesting read in its own right.
behind the others. But the fact is that they are behind the others;
giving them work that is beyond them is unlikely to help them Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (New York: W. W.
catch up, and is likely to make them fall still further behind. Norton, 1997). This book covers not only thinking, but
emotion, visual imagery and other related topics. Pinker is a
Change the Pace wonderful writer, and draws in references from many
academic fields, and from pop culture. Not for the faint-
Change grabs attention, as you no doubt know. When you hearted, but great fun if the topic appeals to you.
change topics, start a new activity, or in some other way show
that you are shifting gears, virtually every student’s attention More Technical
comes back to you. So plan these shifts and monitor your class’s Alan Baddeley, Working Memory, Thought, and Action
attention to see whether you need to make them more often or (London: Oxford University Press, 2007). Written by the
less frequently. originator of the working memory theory, this book summa-
rizes an enormous amount of research that is consistent with
Keep a Diary that theory.
The core idea presented in this article is that solving a problem Wolfram Schultz, “Behavioral Dopamine Signals,” Trends in
gives people pleasure, but the problem must be easy enough to Neurosciences 30 (2007): 203–210. A review of the role of
be solved yet difficult enough that it takes some mental effort. dopamine, a neurochemical, in learning, problem solving, and
Finding this sweet spot of difficulty is not easy. Your experience reward.
in the classroom is your best guide. But don’t expect that you will
Paul J. Silvia, “Interest—The Curious Emotion,” Current
remember how well a lesson plan worked a year later. When a
Directions in Psychological Science 17 (2008): 57–60. The
lesson goes brilliantly well or down in flames, it feels at the time author provides a brief overview of theories of interest,
that we’ll never forget what happened; but the ravages of mem- highlighting his own, which is similar to the account provided
ory can surprise us, so write it down. Even if it’s just a quick here: we evaluate situations as interesting if they are novel,
scratch on a sticky note, try to make a habit of recording your complex, and comprehensible.
success in gauging the level of difficulty in the problems you pose
Daniel T. Willingham, Cognition: The Thinking Animal, 3rd
for your students. ☐
ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 2007). This is a college-level
textbook on cognitive psychology, and can serve as an
For Further Reading
introduction to the field. It assumes no background, but it is a
Less Technical textbook, and so although it is thorough, it might be a bit
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal more detailed than you would want.