7/19/2017 Which Way is This Bus Going?

his Bus Going? Why Adults Fail and Kids Pass This Simple Test | Eric Bailey, MLOD | Pulse | LinkedIn

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National Geographic

Which Way is This Bus Going? Why Adults

Fail and Kids Pass This Simple Test
Published on April 12, 2017

Eric Bailey, MLOD Follow

1,962 199 524
President of Bailey Strategic Innovation Group

The test is simple, looking at the photo above, answer one question: Which direction is
the bus heading?

The options are:

a) The bus is traveling to the left

b) The bus is traveling to the right

c) Can't tell

The reason that children are able to answer this question at a rate of about 80% is due an
oft ignored distinction in intelligence. I am talking about "Crystallized" and "Fluid"
intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is the information and understanding that comes
from years of knowledge being reinforced through experience. Crystallized intelligence
can help in solving complex problems with missing information, because experience
will help fill in the gaps. (Check out the light switch quiz.) If information were like
water, then information that has been used over and over again starts to turn into a solid
by forming crystals. Eventually, that information becomes fully ‘reliable’ and becomes
a solid, like ice. Reliability in this case is simply the brain's trust in the information
based on experience, not necessarily that the information is accurate.

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Fluid intelligence, on the other hand, is the type of intelligence that allows us to take in
new information, process it rapidly, and act on it. This is often called ‘street smarts.’ It
is called fluid because it flows like liquid water, not particularly concerned about where
it has been or where it ends up. Fluid intelligence is what we use when we are
navigating a new city, we take in the new world around us and do our best to make
sense of it. If we used crystallized intelligence to navigate a new city, we would try to
relate what we are seeing to what we are used to seeing in our home city. Which is why
some of us get lost in new cities. We expect certain things to be in certain places - like
we're used to seeing them.

The reason that the bus test is so easy for children and difficult for adults is because in
the first years of our lives, all we have is fluid intelligence. The world itself is new, so
our world view is fluid as we learn how to interact with it. As we gain meaningful
experiences, we establish more and more crystallized intelligence. Then at about 14
years of age, our balance of fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence evens out. As
we mature, we trust in our experience more and develop crystallized intelligence more
rapidly than we do fluid intelligence.

As adults try to solve the bus test, the answer is unclear because we believe that there
isn't enough information that we can cross reference our bank of crystallized
intelligence. So we look harder to gather more information to spark our knowledge. At
this point, most adults figure that it must be a trick, and there is some obscure visual
information that we are not seeing, so we look harder and scrutinize every single
detail. Adults look for mirrors and traffic lane lines, we look at the bumpers and
scrutinize the windows. Throughout this entire process, adults are taking in more and
more information and analyzing it for clues. This process is commonly referred to as
“Analysis Paralysis.” Did you fall into Analysis Paralysis?

It's Going That Way!

Children, on the other hand, look at this image and respond to the first visual clue that
they see (or expect to see but don't) and draw a conclusion. “It’s going That Way” they
say as they point to the left.

(update: Thank you to my many friends in Great Britain, India, and South Africa,
representing the 34% of the world that drives on the left side of the road... They pointed
out to me that children in those countries would be pointing to the right)

The children continue, “There is

no door, so the door must be on
the other side, which means it’s
going that way.”

If the bus were going to the

right, the door would be in our

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7/19/2017 Which Way is This Bus Going? Why Adults Fail and Kids Pass This Simple Test | Eric Bailey, MLOD | Pulse | LinkedIn

view. Children spend less time analyzing every fine detail and rely on their fluid
intelligence to help them solve the problem quickly.

This is interesting, but why should I care?

The obvious lesson is that our adult brains are tuned to relate current events to past
experiences so that we can make sense of the world. This serves us well in areas that we
find replicable success (history repeats itself). Where this can get in our way, and where
leaning on our fluid intelligence is important, is when we are faced with new and
complex problems which require new and unique solutions. Far too often we get stuck
in analysis paralysis and fail to act because we are trying to find the right clue to unlock
our thinking.

The second, and less obvious lesson is that when we are faced with a difficult problem,
and we are unsure of a clear solution, we often fall into one (or more) of these three
reactions.

1. We get frustrated and give up.

2. We confabulate (read: make up) logic to support our guess of an answer.

3. We dig in our resolve and vow not to rest until we’ve solved the problem (ironically
making it harder and harder to see the answer).

Think about how you reacted as you read through this article. Did you realize that I
didn’t give the answer until about five paragraphs in? How did you feel? Did it frustrate
you? Did you stare at the image longer than you should have, hoping for a clue to
appear? Did you skim each paragraph until you found the answer? All of these reactions
illustrate different ways that we can behave when we are up against a difficult problem
that requires creative solutions.

The next time you find yourself staring at a problem, paralyzed by analysis, remember
to think like a child. If the door isn’t there, it must be on the other side.

For more science-explained in 2 minute videos check out my video series at

www.TheWalkingMeeting.com - Leadership lessons in 2 minutes.

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Eric Bailey, MLOD

President of Bailey Strategic Innovation Group Follow
6 articles

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199 comments Newest

Leave your thoughts here…

Vinodh Sharma 2h
Chief Executive , FIFTH AVENUE GROUP, & MANAGING DIRECTOR, FIFTH AVENUE HOTELS & RESORTS
Very insightful article. illustrates that education and experience close as many doors as they open!
Like Reply

Edina Racz 5h
Senior Accounts Payable and Treasury Specialist
Depends which country we talking about. I think the clue is in door is on the other side.
Like Reply

There are 197 other comments. Show more.

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