- Take a look at this Lego structure.
Note that it's a solid base down here
and then a singular support piece,
before finally, on top,
we have this flat singular roof light piece.
It's almost like a one-legged table up at the top.
And now I'm gonna take this little Lego figure
and put him dangerously
just underneath the overhang that is not supported.
Now, how would you change this structure,
assuming it was real so that I could put
a heavy masonry brick on top of this corner,
without this structure collapsing onto the figure?
Danger, danger!
If you do it successfully, you'll earn $1.
Okay, rich!
But every extra piece you use costs you 10 cents.
Now, many suggest putting support blocks here or here.
And I'll tell you why that's really interesting
in just a minute.
But first I want you to take a look at this puzzle.
Your goal is to make it completely symmetrical,
both horizontally and vertically
by switching any of the squares,
while making as few changes as possible, as fast as you can.
Let me show you a couple more and I want you to think
of your decision as fast as possible.
What would you do to make these symmetrical?
Okay, one final question.
What would you do personally to improve
or make this mini golf course better
without spending a ton of money?
What's really interesting about all these puzzles
is that when you ask people to do them,
the majority tend to add to the puzzles
in order to solve them.
In the Lego example, people are most likely to add a block
here or here for extra support.
Around 59% of people choose to add something.
And in the block puzzle, people tend to add green squares
instead of taking them away.
On the mini golf course, 79% of people choose to add to it
as opposed to taking something away.
But the truth is in a lot of these cases,
subtraction is just as valid of a solution
if not more efficient.
With our Lego model,
by simply removing this single piece here--
Ah!
The entire structure becomes supported
at no additional cost.
And by taking away green blocks,
you can reach symmetry just as easily.
This is actually a known phenomenon in humans.
We tend to find additive solutions to problems,
even when subtractive solutions are more advantageous.
Now, of course, the title of this video,
depending on which one I chose,
may have tipped you off and impacted your decision.
Regardless, studies have shown this pattern exists
in the majority of humans.
And it's not just math problems.
Have you ever tried to declutter your home?
You know we all have this drawer where everything goes
that you don't know where it goes, no judgment.
Most people jump to buying more things
to help organize and manage the mess
instead of simply paring down
or getting rid of things you don't need or use anymore.
When university presidents ask for suggestions
that would allow the university
to better serve its students and community,
only 11% of responses involve removing
an existing regulation, practice or program.
And this kind of problem solving is often the cause
of extra red tape and unnecessary positions
being added to institutions,
new rules being added instead of taken away,
or in the case of your own work,
more words being added to your essays
instead of editing it down.
People create New Year's to-do resolutions
instead of to-don't resolutions,
and even watch more YouTube educational videos
instead of further distilling what they already know.
But I'm not complaining about that last one,
like, please keep watching our videos.
You can distill your knowledge at another time, okay?
The most interesting part of these studies
was that they realized it's not that we think
subtractive solutions are not as valuable,
but there's actually a bias in the human mind
where we simply don't think of them as often.
In those exact same studies,
when researchers more specifically prompt people
that they can add or subtract pieces,
the percentage of subtractive solutions increases,
meaning humans have a natural bias to ask,
"What can I add here?"
This is known as a heuristic,
a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems
and make judgements quickly and efficiently
instead of having to mentally process every situation fully.
But that doesn't mean it's always right,
or the best solution, it's just a quick one.
And this mental shortcut can actually be overcome
with some extra cognitive effort.
So why are we like this?
One theory suggests that subtractive solutions
may just be less appreciated.
You might get less credit for them,
you might feel less creative,
and you may face social or political implications
if all you're doing is rolling back
somebody else's decisions.
That's kinda like criticizing a solution
without making your own.
Not to mention the brain may assume the other pieces
or things are there for a reason.
Say you're coding, I literally don't understand coding
so please bear with my fantasy version.
You don't wanna delete some segment of code
that you inherited,
not knowing what ungodly errors might pop up.
So working in an additive form may feel less risky.
Finally, there's something called the sunk-cost bias,
where you're more likely to continue something
you've invested money or time into,
regardless of signs that you should stop.
What's even more interesting is that in these studies,
the number of people using additive solutions
increased when they were under cognitive load.
So if they were doing the block puzzle and they were told
that they had to turn their head clockwise
the entire time they were doing it,
more people would use additive solutions.
Why am I randomly outside, you may ask,
it's 'cause I thought adding
more dynamic to the video would make it better.
Yes, I'm a hypocrite.
This entire bias has changed my mindset so much
and I cannot stop thinking about it.
The amount of time I have spent adding extra meetings,
extra emails, putting more in a script
instead of refining it,
and even in my personal life,
just adding things all the time
in order to solve things is wild.
And I definitely suggest you think of your own life.
It may even be why culture
has come up with popular phrases like "Less is more,"
or people like Marie Kondo became so famous.
We need these little reminders
to combat our natural instincts to add things.
And I mean, why spend more money
and affect your financial situation,
when you could just be reminded to pause
and evaluate whether a subtractive solution
might be equally or better suited to your problem?
It also rings true for human consumption in general.
We all know we have a sort of addiction to consumption.
We're taught having more money,
more stuff, more status is good,
that the economy or corporations should grow indefinitely,
even at the cost of people and the environment.
We're facing unprecedented climate effects
from this consumption pattern already.
And while a lot of the additive solutions
are super exciting and necessary like solar and wind,
there's a much bigger conversation around simply using less.
All this to say that next time you're faced with a problem,
just take a second and pause,
and remember that less is more,
or it's at least worth considering as a solution.
We actually chatted to one of the lead researchers
studying this phenomenon over on our podcast,
channel on screen or link in the description,
where we go over even more strategies on the science of less
from his book "Subtract," and how it can help your life.
Now, if you need some help subtracting
the excess from your life,
and you wanna focus on the important things,
then today's sponsor, Skillshare, is perfect for you.
And they're offering the first 1,000 people
who click the link in our description
a free trial of Skillshare premium membership.
They actually have an awesome class right now
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Build a System that Brings Out Your Best by Thomas Frank,
which will guide you
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through mindset, environment, and delegation.
I've also taken a ton of other courses from animation
to Photoshop, to nature photography,
and now even TikToK courses.
I'm getting old, I need help on TikToK.
But honestly, there are just so many different options.
It's really an online community where you can learn
something brand new from the comfort of your own home,
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For the first 1,000 of you
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you will get a free trial of premium membership.
Every time you check out our sponsor or try them out,
it helps our show, so we appreciate it a lot.
Make sure you like this video, subscribe,
and we will see you next time for some more science.
Peace.