The Collector’s Fallacy and Reward Dependency
Dear Zettlers,
During a coaching session, I talked about a specific incarnation of the Collector’s Fallacy: Buying books and never reading them.
My client correctly identified part of the cause for his behavior: He is using a Kindle to read. There, it is super easy to buy a book. So, when he sees a book that seems interesting, he buys it straight away. Part of the cause of this behavior is easy access.
But we need to go deeper to understand what is the complete causal chain and then correct it.
The true reason is the almighty dopamine.
Dopamine doesn’t get released when you get rewarded. It gets released when you made a positive prediction error. Dopamine gets released when you are positively surprised by an event.
When you get what you expect, then you don’t get dopamine. Your brain then tries to predict the unexpected event: What did you do? How did you feel? What was in the environment? It tries to answer these questions to transform the unpredicted positive event, into a predictable outcome of your actions. If it succeeds, dopamine did its job and is no longer needed. The brain tries to learn the cues that lead to the reward.
Now the dopamine release was moved one step earlier in the causal chain.
If the brain understood what cues to look for to obtain the reward, the cue and not the reward itself is the unexpected positive event. You might not get surprised by the reward when you understood the cues. But you still get surprised when the cue arises. Now, the brain tries to learn the cues for the cue. If it succeeds, not even the cue leads to a dopamine release, but the cue for the cues.
This is part of the process your brain creates a map with various paths to rewards. Metaphorically speaking, your dopamine gets released at the edges of the map. When you then enter known (predicable) territory, dopamine quiets down.
Let’s take this knowledge to the problem of knowledge work, specifically reading:
- Learning and understanding in itself is surprising. You don’t know what you actually learned when you never learned it. Remember the first time you rode a bike, stuck a handstand, or learned a new skill in general? This feeling of positively surprise is in part the result of the dopamine release. So, the brain tries to predict access to these learning events. (the same happens, btw., if you work in your Zettelkasten and discover a new connection or have an idea as a result of it…)
- One access is reading. If you read books, from time to time, you learn something interesting and, rarely, even something mind-blowing. Dopamine gets released. The brain tries to predict reading now…
- Access to reading is access to books. Creating access to books is a predictor of reading. Now, discovering a new book and buying it is the cue that results in a dopamine release.
A Kindle is a specific environment with various cues.
Your attention will be pulled towards the cues for the reward. This is where you feel excited.
So, over time, you train yourself to get more and more excited about finding and buying books then reading it, let alone processing it to create deep learning experiences.
It feels like you have difficulties to concentrate on a book. You might wonder why reading was so much fun when you were younger and now seems to be less rewarding. Or a mismatch between the initial excitement for a book and your excitement to actually read it.
How can you solve this issue? The actual implementation is highly individual. So, I present you a couple of my measures.
- I read physical books. This disconnects the context of reading from the context of exploring book options.
- I focus on processing. Reading in itself is a low intensity activity compared to actually processing the ideas. So, I make it a point to create space in my calendar to obtain the actual good, the deep insights, I am seeking.
- I try to avoid buying books as much as possible. Instead of buying a book, I put the bibliographical data in my Rumen (formerly known as my second brain). This is less rewarding and therefore not only saves me a couple of bucks, but also protects me from the downstream effects on my ability and motivation to focus.
- I conditioned my processing environment positively. When I started my deep work session, I used various tools to create excitement and intensity. I drank copious amounts of coffee, just during my deep work sessions. I used different types of music to elevate my experience. I focused intensively, so I had frequent deep learning experiences. I processed mainly books that I was intrinsically motivated to process. These measures were not planned to condition my processing environment, but in hindsight explain in part why I love processing so much.
What’s the verdict, then? Developing a holistic perspective on your knowledge work habits is key to either solve problems or get to the next level.
The psychology of knowledge work should be front and center in the discussion. Take the Collector’s Fallacy, for example. This concept is far more powerful than most people realize: A frequent question is: “What do I do with stuff that is interesting, but not important, like random facts?”. After reading the above, you could diagnose the underlying problem. Unimportant stuff is not engaging enough to create the psychological intensity that is necessary to actually create value.
The answer to the previous question is: “Reduce activities that produce unimportant information. These activities are called distractions.”
Live long and prosper,
Sascha