The iceberg theory and our decisions

Hemingway’s iceberg theory throughout history has been applied to different areas. Areas such as literature or human resources. Today we present this theory applied to the field of Psychology.

Hemingway’s theory in Psychology says that we only pay attention to 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 part. Now you will understand.

Imagine that you are traveling on 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, beneath 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 what is interesting, that part that is invisible to our senses.

The meaning of the iceberg theory

When we look at the reality 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 sometimes reflect on the ins and outs of our mind and all its processes, everything that we do not see.

As an example, think about the large number of times that we convince ourselves of an idea and that we insist on following the easiest 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 look for and defend information that supports our hypothesis.

Reasons why we don’t see beyond

Why do we choose what first invades us? or is it more appropriate at that moment? Why don’t we try to verify that what we opt for may be false? What is the reason that most of the time we do not debate 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 maybe it’s because we humans we usually operate with a cognitive economy program by which we choose that information that causes us 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 reasons, that is, my friend has told me such a thing because she wants to be like me, because she is envious of me, because she can’t stand that I am lucky in life… And in reality, It could have been for many other reasons. 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 the iceberg theory precisely warns us about. Therefore, Be cautious in our decision making!

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