Cognitive Dissonance and the “Orient” in OODA
By admin ~ December 29th, 2008. Filed under: Martial Methodology.
In listening to lectures by Boyd on OODA, he emphasizes that we should be concerned with the data our Observations are providing. Simply put, Are our observations about what is going on around us correct? Have we considered alternative view points and perspectives? Are we “Orienting, (the second “O” in OODA) on the right things?
In our practices as Martial Artist we constantly work with the same people day in and day out, in a way it becomes comfortable, convenient, and polite., it happens to all of us. I believe we have a natural tendency to become myopic as well. If we are to get ahead of the OODA loop of our opponents we need to make sure we are indeed oriented correctly.
One of the frustrations you run into when training at about the mid blue belt to purple belt level in BJJ is that you start to stagnate. I think this occurs because of this very reason. We have been training for several years with the same people in the same situations. We learn our dojo mates moves and habits and they learn ours. We then go to a competition and we get beat! We start to question our training and if we have what it takes to get better! (Ask me how I know!)
The next real growth will occur if we can break this cycle of Dissonance and push through. You will then begin to grow and expand again!
Anyway, the above video has absolutely NOTHING to do with Martial Arts, but listen closely to what is being said, and see if you can transfer the concept to your practice. Being aware that this is going on all the time is key to expanding your personal practice and getting better! Make sure that you have mechanism in your training to provide constructive feedback that is impartial and objective as possible. I think if you replace the Words “Ford” and “Chevrolet” With say “Aikido” and “BJJ” for instance, that you could see how this relates
On a philosophical note, reducing dissonance would essentially be habit 5 of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits- ”Seeking to Understand Before Being Understood”.. I talk about the 7 habits in another post, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Budoka
As usual, I hope you will take time to provide your thoughts, experiences, and feedback as it relates to this topic.
OODA as a concept sounds insightful—and certainly marketable; but, consider: is there is any area in life where we do not OODA? Even the decision to study OODA or to post about OODA is the outcome of OODA. My observation of your post, orienting to my views, deciding to respond, and responding? That’s OODA, too.
Yet things do go wrong—in the sense that other than the desired outcome occurs. How can a bad result occur from a good theory? Cognitive dissonance theory happens here: In retrospect, we always seem to have leeway to assert that we were not properly oriented (due to imperfect information, or whatever else); the theory, we assert, remains sound. We would have succeeded if only…
Here’s an opportunity to check yourself for cognitive dissonance (or, “OODA-itis”): Can you describe a situation where an OODA-based SOP produces a result contrary to the one desired? Bonus points if you can describe such an occurrence that is the result of an OODA loop that cycles too quickly.
Interesting perspective. I will have to ponder on this for a while! Thanks for the comments!
I agree OODA is applicable in every area of life. OODA simply codifies it into a process so that we can talk about it and analyze what we are trying to improve against the cycle.
I think what is important from a martial arts standpoint is that we consider it, and we somehow account for a feedback mechanism in our training to ensure that we are correcting it as we go.
This became apparent to me in a shocking way several years ago when I as a 12 year student of martial arts had my ass handed to me by a 4 month Modern Army Comabatives Student with no prior background. Talk about dissonance that day!
The bottom line is that I had fallen into the trap in my prior studies because my training regime did not account for this issue.
I have since fixed this and work hard on making sure that it does not happen again!
OODA and Zen (not the fat golden statue and incense business, but the real essence of the mental work) seem similar to me. It would appear that one objective in common is to be conscious of the tendency to lose oneself in habit. OODA applied to an arbitrary process (e.g., martial arts training, factory production line management, jet fighter combat, etc.) creates the habit of checkpointing—ensuring that the practitioner is “awake” to what he is doing. In that sense, I like it a lot.
I have to consider something else that you mentioned in the last day or two on AikiWeb, though—basically, that when I do something not quite expected, I am forcing the opponent to reset his OODA loop before he can get to Act. That’s interesting, too; but, I can also imagine situations wherein I don’t want to reset the opponent’s OODA—I’d prefer him to lull into habit. Of course, to do that, I have to be more “awake” than my opponent—or, in OODA, maybe that means I’m cycling faster?
Interesting stuff
Even though you may not disrupt it, I think you are ahead of it since you are letting him continue his process while you work yours….assuming that you are ahead, which if you are in control of the situation, you are ahead.
[...] of confusion about what just happened and usually experience a fair amount of Cognitive Dissonance (see this post on the topic) and in many cases will irrationally come to the conclusion that his fight strategy was okay, he [...]