The Power of Common Sense
Common sense, also known as ‘common wisdom’ ‘good sense’ or ‘good judgement’ seems to be a scarce and rare commodity these days.
In theory, we all should have a degree of common sense that helps us navigate safely through life. But lately we hear more and more often news of people doing mindless acts, dying in accidents while taking selfies, exposing themselves or even friends to lethal dangers in actions that no one in their right mind would do.
Why is this happening? Is it sheer stupidity or is the world going bonkers?
Before we can reply, we first need to establish what is common sense.
Although common sense is as old as human kind, its definition as a concept has remained elusive throughout the centuries, with different philosophical, psychological and pedagogical takes about it.
In the XIII century, St. Thomas Aquinas included it along eyesight, smell, touch, hearing and taste as an additional sense of man, labelling it ‘common sense’ for the first time.
As such, common sense unifies the information we perceive through our five senses. These are processed by a compendium of psychological functions, such as perception, memory, judgment, deduction, logical reasoning and personal values.
However, at its most simple level, common sense is simply the ability to perceive the world around us and interpret it correctly.
Unlike logic, common sense is a set of basic rules already internalized by the individual, which act in immediate response, without need for second thought.
Common sense is based on a set of tried and true guidelines passed on from generation to generation, along with our own set of conclusions learned from experiences, and our human intelligence. All of these elements work together and help us to avoid problems or eventual dangers
Common sense allows us to combine different facts and actions or situations, and come up with a correct conclusion.
For instance:
Fact #1 - Fire burns
Fact #2 - Alcohol is a fire starter
Situation - I spill my shirt with beer while working the barbecue.
What do you think it’s most probable to happen? What would you do?
Lack of common sense impairs our critical thinking, our ability to take correct decisions, and our ability to foresee possible dangers (i.e. “If I get too close to the barbecue with a beer-drenched shirt, I may catch fire) as well as the consequences of our actions.
Scientists have found that common sense may reside in the frontal lobe of the brain, part of the executive system, the one responsible for our adequate social behaviour, planning and decision-taking.
People with damage in this brain region (due to an accident or due to genetics), will have difficulty to process data and act ‘reasonably’. Also those under the influence of psychotropic substances, alcohol or drugs.
Most of us have healthy brains and therefore should possess this ability. Why, then, the opposite seems to be the norm these days?
Part of it may be due to our attachment to technology.
Although it may seem trite to blame our modern technical gadgets, studies have demonstrated that this attachment works like an addiction that over time does change the way our brain works and processes information.
In simple words, due to the overuse of digital gadgets, the brain becomes lethargic, less attentive to our surroundings, and slower to react.
At the same time, our attachment to virtual reality - through social media, messenger, internet, streaming, video games, television, etc - may make us more detached from actual reality, that is, the events happening around our physical time-space.
This disconnection may hinder our capacity to weigh in the dangers around us, as well as the consequences of risky actions such as using our cell phones while driving or walking.
After all, our brains can only process one single reality at a time.
Another reason for the apparent reduction of common sense in our society may come from the increasing temptation to push the limits and break the rules.
Disregard of rules and conventions, and testing of our limits is common during youth, when we’re building up our sense of self, gauging our strengths, and when our brains are still developing.
In fact, the frontal lobe of the brain does not fully develop until around the age of 24.
It’s precisely in this age range where most of ‘lack of common sense’ accidents tend to happen.
Programs such as ‘Jackass’ and the widespread use of social media have gone hand in hand with an increment in daredevil stunts, giving the viewers - mostly impressionable youths - the false impression that the risk is minimal and finally discardable.
Over time these individuals may get used to break the rules and do risky things because, despite all advice not to do so, they’ve come unscathed every time.
Until they don’t.
Another cause for lack of common sense is the increasing isolation and individualization of our societies.
The social component of common sense, as a source and receiving end of its wisdom, is undeniable. Thus, an important factor for the lack of common sense lies in our detachment from traditional social contexts.
If the individual is not connected to the social group he or she is in, he or she will not be able to effectively function within it.
Being unable to read people’s emotions, lacking social skills to work in a group, the inability to empathise or accept other people’s views, etc, all of these may hinder our capacity to read the signs in our environment, act efficiently, and take the correct decisions.
However, you’re never too young to apply good judgment.
“You’ve so much common sense you’ll
probably do the right thing instinctively.”
-From “I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith.
Certain ‘common sense’ rules are directly associated to the environment where we live.
For example, people who’ve lived for generations in a snowy area have an almost second-nature sense of how to live along with blizzards, frost and ice, but they would probably not know how to live in a tropical area or what to do during a monsoon.
This difference in ‘common knowledge’ also transfers to certain cultural biases and conducts. Therefore, what is ‘obvious’ to one person in a certain culture, may not be so evident to someone foreign to that environment.
However, although some rules of common sense do have cultural boundaries, most of them are global, applicable regardless of culture, historical age or geographic location.
Can we learn common sense?
Absolutely! Common sense is an acquired ability, but learning it is a process that starts from an early age.
Parents and tutors provide children with basic guidelines of behaviour and practical advice, such as “don’t put your hands on the oven or you’ll get burned”, or “watch where you’re going”, each one of these becoming a building block for our common sense.
Failing to provide children with these basic guidelines of behaviour may make them more prone to accidents, problems of social adaptation, and errors associated with a lack of common sense.
Other sources of common sense at this educational stage include folk and fairy tales, fables, sayings and proverbs, educational videos, religious guidelines, traditional lore, etc.
Our own experiences and the lessons we draw from them also become building blocks to our personal common sense. With all these elements each one of us builds a ‘common sense library’ that helps us to navigate through daily life.
Some easy recommendations to develop our common sense include:
* Think before you act, instead of acting precipitously and based on fleeting emotionality.
* Listen attentively and consider what you’re hearing, instead of preparing your immediate retort.
* Think before you speak, instead of blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, which you may later regret.
* Put yourself in someone else’s shoes - it gives you a different perspective of a situation and it helps to develop your empathy.
* Consider the consequences of your acts, and weight all the possibilities before you jump to action.
* Pay attention to your surroundings and the signs it sends. For instance, if you walk texting you may become easy prey to thieves or dangers on the road, and may become an obstacle to others in your way.
Be mindful of your environment
Anyone can - and should! - use their common sense often, specially in crowded cities where we share limited space with many others, where there are constantly many things happening at the same time, and where we need to be more alert and mindful of ourselves and our surroundings.
Common sense is necessary to get along with others, to act effectively in society, to protect ourselves from accidents and dangers, to avoid unnecessary trouble and easily preventable situations.
Fortunately, common sense does not require a special ability or a superior intelligence, only attention and basic reflection on elementary facts, generally acquired during infancy.
Common sense is a tool accessible to all, free and easy to use. The more we practice it, the easier we’ll find to use it.
Why not start today?
Sources: Wikipedia, Psychology Today, La Guia 2000, CNN.
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