If you have a personal computer or mobile device, you’re familiar with operating systems. They all have the same purpose, which is to manage a device’s software and hardware and allocate resources so we can use it effectively.
Our personal operating systems have a similar purpose, in this case to provide an interface between ourselves and the external world (as well as between System 1 and System 2) and to allocate mental resources.
Because the brain is predictive, it is always asking the question What should I do next? If it had to sift through all possible responses to each and every situation before initiating action, we wouldn’t be able to function. (See the quote by social psychologist Timothy D. Wilson at the end of the newsletter.) Our brain wouldn’t know what to pay attention to or how to interpret our experiences—or what and how much to remember.
While memory generally works the same way for all of us, Teal OS (Operating System) values the past more than Green OS or Purple OS. So someone with Teal OS has more synaptic connections for past events and recalls them more frequently because, to use Daniel Kahneman’s words, it has a more robust “remembering self.”
Mechanical Systems vs. Complex Adaptive Systems
PC operating systems are usually “pre-installed” or “pre-loaded.” The same is true of personal operating systems: we’re born with certain tendencies, preferences, and automatic responses. But there’s one huge difference between computers and people. Personal computing devices are mechanical. Their operating systems can function or malfunction. They can become corrupted, in which case they need to be repaired, reloaded, or replaced. But they can’t adapt or expand or incorporate elements of other operating systems.
People are not mechanical; we are complex adaptive systems. That means our operating systems can—and do—adapt in response to our experiences, desires, actions, and intentions. We can learn to access elements of the other operating systems that we consider useful. In fact, the value of understanding our own operating system is threefold:
- Self-awareness and increased personal agency
- Appreciation and compassion for others
- Access to different ways of interpreting and responding to situations and events
The three different personal operating systems have their own strengths and weaknesses. One isn’t better than the others. But one might be the better choice in a particular situation. And there are processes, activities, and tasks that actually require us to access parts of all three operating systems.
The best way to get a sense of your operating system is to understand it in relation to the other two. I’ve developed a list of 15 different elements across the three operating systems. Several of these elements relate to responsiveness to and readiness for change. Here are three of them in a side-by-side comparison.
Since operating systems are part of System 1 (the unconscious), they exert their influence and effects behind the scenes. What we get to see are the results.
While everyone’s brain prefers to maintain the status quo, folks with Teal OS have an even stronger investment in doing so. Therefore, understanding the benefit of changing a behavior and having a desire to do it, both of which are functions of System 2 (consciousness), are often not enough to lead to persistent action. People with Purple OS—at the opposite end of this particular spectrum—tend to find taking action easier.
The fact that Teal OS has a strong connection to the past (and devotes more attention to recalling it), while Purple OS is focused on the future adds to the propensity for Teal to maintain the status quo and Purple’s tendency to prefer taking action.