The Elephant and the Rider - Deepstash

The Elephant and the Rider

The brain has two independent systems at work at all times.

  • First, there’s the emotional side. It’s the part of you that is instinctive, that feels pain and pleasure.
  • Second, there’s the rational side, also known as the reflective or conscious system. It’s the part of you that deliberates and analyzes and looks into the future.

Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Happiness Hypothesis, says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Change is only possible when both Rider and the Elephant come together. 

829

5.71K reads

CURATED FROM

IDEAS CURATED BY

lindtho

Media buyer

The idea is part of this collection:

How To Start a Running Habit

Learn more about leadershipandmanagement with this collection

Proper running form

Tips for staying motivated

Importance of rest and recovery

Related collections

Similar ideas to The Elephant and the Rider

Intuitive and reflective thinking

Intuitive and reflective thinking

  • Intuitive and automatic: This kind of thinking is quick and feels instinctive. You duck when a ball is thrown at you unexpectedly.
  • Reflective and rational: This thinking is deliberate and self-conscious. You use this system when you ha...

The battle between reason and emotions

To understand the conflict between our good intentions and our contrary impulses, we can look at the dual process model. Our behavior are divided into two categories:

  • The rational mechanisms, managed by the reflective system.
  • The emotional mechanism...

Creativity And Awareness

Creativity And Awareness

The practical application of creativity requires the help of our logical left side of the brain.

Although we perceive that our creative right side of the brain is solely responsible for all of our creative ideas, it is not. Creativity requires a particular level of understanding of the kno...

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Personalized microlearning

100+ Learning Journeys

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates