Wizard Dogs and What They Can Teach Us About How To Think

You’re sitting in a restaurant with a couple of friends that you haven’t seen in some time. It’s a square table for 4 in an open venue in which there are many customers seated nearby. The mood is light, maybe a little vibrant. The acoustics are such that if you lean in you can clearly hear the musings of all the patrons at the tables immediately surrounding you. This is a familiar setting, yes? Now, there is a gentleman seated with two acquaintances at the table to your immediate right. He speaks with a clear, elevated, voice of authority as if he firmly supports and believes in what he is saying. The subject of the conversation is… POLITICS! Now don’t close out your tab just yet! We haven’t gotten to the important stuff! I’d imagine that many of you felt a visceral reaction to the subject of the gentleman’s conversation. For some of you it was likely that you wanted to pounce immediately like a coiled tiger in the jungle. For others, it was dread and maybe even some standing hair on the back of your neck.

Before I lose you all in a web of turbulent, emotional, reactive chaos. I want to introduce you to two of the guiding principles of CTRG and why I believe that they are a crucial remedy for the all too familiar scenario above (and many, many others). The two concepts are bounded rationality and resource theory. I’m going to keep it light and fun because I don’t want to bore you or lose your interest in this pivotal space. I give you my word that if you stick with me to the end and keep an open mind that you will be able to pull some flavor out of this that directly suits your palate.

There are two major things working against all of us in the modern era. They are information overload via the internet coupled with our limited physical and cognitive abilities.

Bounded Rationality: Bounded rationality describes how people make decisions that differ from perfect rationality because of their limited mental capacity, time, and available information. Instead of trying to make the “best” choices, people often settle for satisfactory choices. For example, if someone needs shoes for a wedding and can only find a perfect fit by visiting 10 different shoe stores, it might make sense to buy poorly fitting shoes because of their limited knowledge of the retail environment.

Resource Theory: Resource theory is the concept that only limited resources are available for information processing. For example, if you’re driving on paved roads in optimal weather conditions it’s going to demand less mental and physical resources than if you’re driving at night in a blizzard. Either way, if you drive long enough you will deplete all your resources. (Think of resources in terms of mental and physical energy)

If we know at the very least that these two concepts play an integral role in how we process information, then how do they apply to the hot-blooded restaurant situation above? Well, if you consider that both you and the politically opinionated gentleman are subject to the same information and resource limitations then you can conclude that you will both be equally inept at making an informed conclusion on whatever the subject at hand is. Therefore, we are united in our limitations, problem solved! Not so fast you say, it’s not that simple. I am inclined to agree with you. However, just because something is difficult does not make it any less true. It’s difficult because it’s not common practice to approach our exchanges from a lens of bounded rationality or resource theory. Our need to be correct coupled with a juicy high from instant gratification does not allow us ample space to properly examine and debate issues. Further, if you’re truly considering bounded rationality in your decision making you will quickly realize that many of the hot topic issues are not fit for debate at all.

Allow me to explain this just a bit further, as bounded rationality and resource theory suggest, there is no way that we can consider all the nuance and idiosyncrasies that encompass even some of our local issues let alone massive political/foreign affairs exchanges.

My hope in sharing these concepts is that I can sneak a gap into your conscious the next time that you feel the blood start to boil on an issue that is likely to be way out of our contention. Better yet, if we can approach each other on the common ground that we are all highly limited in both information and resources then we will be having a fundamentally different conversation from the start. So, you ask, “How am I supposed to have that conversation with someone who is inflamed with passion over said issue?” If you understand the concepts as I’ve laid them out it will be incumbent upon you to recuse yourself from engaging in these impassioned debates, use a more calculated lens when receiving information from the media source of your preference, and at the appropriate time teach others about the concepts listed above.

This is not a free pass for those in power to make incoherent decisions on the policies that we are all subject to. It’s also not a free pass in our relationships. We don’t have the luxury of throwing our hands up and saying, “Well they are just limited and don’t know any better.” It’s a new/old way to approach each other and our issues altogether. Do not forget that those in the highest offices are subject to the exact same limitations. Some of the most brilliant polymaths we have are on record stating that the (insert issue of the week here) is beyond their comprehension. This is why many of our higher-level decisions go awry. There are severe consequences to ignoring our limitations.  It’s not always because of mal intent but rather a fundamental impossibility of the issue at hand. There is no possible way for one person or even a group of people to consider all the nuances of some of the issues that arise in large societies. However, I do believe that if we at the very least take a pause and use the lens of bounded rationality from the ground up it will have a net benefit. At the very least it may spare us from exerting our precious resources in areas that are quite frankly undeserving of them.  

I thought CTRG was a dog training business? Well, we are and much, much more! As you can see the work that we do with our four-legged friends has the potential to directly impact our two-legged compatriots. Dogs have this knack of tempering our expectations and sobering our judgement. I’ll bet some of you were quite surprised to find out that we use theories from behavioral economics in dog training! Dogs traverse a multiplex of academic disciplines and are one of the few areas that we get to observe theory playing out in real time. Told you dogs were smart! Little behavioral science devils they are! Still think it’s all hogwash. Read Canine Ergonomics The Science of Working Dogs by William Helton…it’ll blow your mind!

Thanks for reading. Well wishes to you and your family,

Scott

Canine Training Research Group

Pilat D., & Sekoul D. (2021). Bounded Rationality. The Decision Lab. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/bounded-rationality

Helton, W. (2009). Canine Ergonomics The Science of Working Dogs. Crc Press.