I’ve been having a lot of anxiety lately, and this is exactly the sort of thing I needed to help me (my System 1) remember how silly it is. Thank you for writing it.
If your anxiety really is disproportionate, then I’m happy that I could help. But I always try to keep an eye out for people misinterpreting what I’m trying to say to harmful effect, and I want to say that you should really make sure that your anxiety is unwarranted. Sometimes you really should be anxious. My best example is whether or not you should hide that you’re afraid when riding in a car with someone. You can make someone a worse driver by distracting them with fearful reactions when your fear is unwarranted, but if they’re really a bad driver, and they really do need to know that their driving is reckless, and they’re the sort of person who’s willing to improve their driving, then you should signal your fear.
Another thing that I’m considering writing on later is that you probably shouldn’t think of the relationship between Types 1 and 2 as adversarial, or think of Type 2 as the normatively superior Type. Sometimes Type 2 is the silly one. I find myself considering it more and more plausible that many people receive an understanding of dual-process theories that can actually be harmful.
I’ve been having a lot of anxiety lately, and this is exactly the sort of thing I needed to help me (my System 1) remember how silly it is. Thank you for writing it.
If your anxiety really is disproportionate, then I’m happy that I could help. But I always try to keep an eye out for people misinterpreting what I’m trying to say to harmful effect, and I want to say that you should really make sure that your anxiety is unwarranted. Sometimes you really should be anxious. My best example is whether or not you should hide that you’re afraid when riding in a car with someone. You can make someone a worse driver by distracting them with fearful reactions when your fear is unwarranted, but if they’re really a bad driver, and they really do need to know that their driving is reckless, and they’re the sort of person who’s willing to improve their driving, then you should signal your fear.
Another thing that I’m considering writing on later is that you probably shouldn’t think of the relationship between Types 1 and 2 as adversarial, or think of Type 2 as the normatively superior Type. Sometimes Type 2 is the silly one. I find myself considering it more and more plausible that many people receive an understanding of dual-process theories that can actually be harmful.