Exploring Hare and Tortoise Thinking for Effective De-escalation

‘Hare and tortoise thinking’ is based on the concepts shared by Daniel Kahneman in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, around how we make decisions in different situations, and how this thinking can affect the outcomes of that decision-making.

According to this premise, if we can adopt a ‘thinking slow’ approach, this allows us to be self-reflective and relational. Conversely, when we rush in because we want to solve the problem there and then, we run the risk of making poor or undesirable judgements.

The benefits of slowing down our thinking

Sometimes, we can react to a situation instead of taking a moment to really digest what is happening. In other words, we react rather than respond, and when we rush in, our fast thinking can’t always process the concepts in front of us.

By slowing down our thinking, we give ourselves time to access the procedures and the scripts we know are more helpful to us. This allows us to be self-reflective and think about our own behaviour and the effect this could have on a situation. We can respond rather than react.

When we approach a situation and think about how our behaviour and response can best support someone, it also helps us draw on our previous interactions with that person. We can build on the relationship and consider ways to encourage the person to slow down their thinking too, as the same thing is happening to them; they are also using their fast thinking when they are feeling distressed, upset or angry.

The effect of fast thinking

When we think fast, we risk overreacting due to the nervous system’s fight-or-flight response. The amygdala controls the emotional hub of the brain and is primarily involved in the processing of emotions and memories associated with fear, whereas our prefrontal cortex provides us with the capacity for logical thinking. The more stressed and anxious we are, the more likely our brain is going to revert to emotionally based fast thinking.

Of course, this can be useful in certain scenarios, such as life-threatening situations, but when we are supporting someone who is distressed, angry or scared, we need to be conscious of our response, take time to dynamically risk assess the situation, and approach it in a more logical, reflective and relational way.

How can we achieve slow thinking during a situation?

So how do we best manage this, if our fast thinking is emotional and instinctive and our slow thinking is logical and deliberate? Both have their place at different times, but being able to manage them is key to supporting those in our care, enabling us to devise the best tools and strategies.

If we can prepare ourselves well for situations and practise the scenarios and responses we prefer to use, we are more likely to revert to this and use our slow, logical thinking.

In training, we practise scripts and helpful things to say and do in scenarios with specific people we support, so we can use them more instinctively at times of stress and anxiety. This enables us to use our slow thinking to assess the situation. We can really look at the individual in distress, the experience they are going through at that moment in time and be more logical with our response.

Other strategies for slow thinking

Some other things we may do before rushing in are to have our own personal strategies, such as counting to ten, or using positive self-talk with a plan on how we can manage this.

By being self-aware, recognising how we are feeling, and acknowledging our emotional responses, we can manage our self-control and better self-regulate. If we can connect with our emotions, we can respond with logical thought.

With slow thinking, we can empathise much better. We can recognise the emotions in other people, and this allows us to be more aware, understanding, and more likely to come to a positive result. Our interpersonal communication becomes stronger, and we are more able to resolve conflict.

Moving away from assumption-based responses

Whilst having knowledge and experience is really useful in making risk assessments, we sometimes make assumptions with our fast thinking that each situation will be the same, rather than looking at experiences with fresh eyes.

Slow thinking enables us to examine aspects of a situation rather than making assumptions that a future event will be identical to a past event. We need to identify new information and focus on that, rather than reacting in the same way as before.

This is where we can be puzzle-solvers. By focusing on understanding what an individual is trying to tell us, we can change our behaviour rather than theirs and reflect on how our approach may affect both them and the situation.

Having a puzzle-solving culture allows us to explore different ways we can meet people’s needs, working collaboratively to find effective strategies together.

Please note: Team Teach Ltd does not recommend or endorse any specific resources, publications, training programmes, expert figures, or other information.