But none of these chaps offer a better metaphor for how the brain works (and how we ought to use it) than the masculine fictional double act of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is Sherlock Holmes’ friend, assistant and sometime flat mate, and the first-person narrator of all but four of Holmes’ stories. The binary act of Holmes and Watson was the major influence on Maria Konnikova’s book Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, which unpacks contemporary psychology and critical thinking. The focus of the tome is that the brain operates using two contrasting systems: Konnikova calls them System Holmes and System Watson. Most people operate on System Watson: they are into typecasting or pigeonholing and are quick to judge, pushed by unwitting signals.

Source: Philippine Star July 21, 2019 16:00 UTC