The Iceberg Theory And Our Decisions
Hemingway’s iceberg theory throughout history has been applied to different areas. Areas such as literary or human resources. Today we present this theory applied to the field of Psychology.
Hemingway’s theory in Psychology comes to say that we only attend what we perceive with the naked eye. The rest goes unnoticed, comparing it to an iceberg. That is, there is a conscious part of the information, but also an unconscious one. Now you will understand.
Imagine that you are traveling in a boat and that in the distance you see an iceberg, you look at it, and what do you see? just a mass of ice. But also, under that iceberg another gigantic mass of ice is hidden from view that maintains it and gives it solidity, as you can see in the image. This is the interesting thing, that part that is invisible to our senses.
The meaning of the iceberg theory
When we look at the reality that we have in front of our eyes, we see its surface, the visible, which according to the iceberg theory is only 20% of the total. What about everything else? That would correspond to the unconscious part, that other 80% of the total. With this we can reflect, sometimes, on the ins and outs of our mind and all its processes, of everything that we do not see.
As an example, think of the many times that we convince ourselves with an idea and that we stubbornly follow the easy path. This option would be the one that supports or favors our idea, we no longer try to find out if we are confused or wrong, but on the contrary, we only seek and defend information that supports our hypothesis.
Reasons why we do not see further
Why do we choose what invades us first or is more in line at that moment? Why don’t we try to prove that what we are opting for can be false? What is the reason that most of the time we do not discuss the costs or benefits of what we do?
Is it not because after making a sudden decision, new questions and problems come to light that we had not taken into account until now? Or perhaps it is due to the fact that we, human beings, choose the information that causes the least effort and that is related to our way of seeing life.
For example, we believe that a situation has been created by different issues, that is, my friend has told me such a thing because she wants to be like me, because she envies me, because she cannot bear that I am lucky in life … And actually, it may have been for many other causes. However, we are so convinced of what we have created that any comment that comes to mind will be related to our hypothesis without looking further.
Think that most of the time we handle hypotheses and conclusions based on the information we have, which is not even close to the total information that actually exists. And it is something that, precisely, the iceberg theory warns us about. Therefore, be cautious in our decision-making!
