Slowing Down When Driving Next To A Cop

I love reflecting on everyday happenings and diving into the behavioral and psychological basis behind them. I was driving on the freeway last week and noticed that traffic was slowing down. Two lanes to my right I saw a police officer in his patrol car. His presence on the road was enough to change everyone’s behavior. It seems obvious why, but it’s still fascinating to reflect on the unconscious principles at play.

Our minds are constantly calculating tradeoffs. In an instant we quantify the risk and reward of different options and choose the one that we feel delivers the best value. In the case of speeding past a cop, the odds are not in your favor. The upside is you get where you want to go a few minutes sooner. The downside is you get pulled over, fined, run late, and maybe even have long-term consequences on your record. The tradeoff is pretty obvious: It’s not worth speeding past a cop.

But it’s not like we consciously make that choice, we slow down without having to think about it. The imminent threat of getting pulled over immediately impacts our behavior and we unanimously slow down.

While that example might be semi-conscious because it makes logical sense why you’d do that, the same principles apply for decisions you’re less aware of. Like waiting in a line. It’s not like you make a conscious decision to do it or want to do it… But you do it anyway, and that’s because of the inherent tradeoffs. 

Could you voice your needs to everyone in line and request that you get served first? Or could you just skip the line and walk up to the front and demand people pay attention to you? Of course you could do both things, but you don’t. And that’s because of the calculated tradeoff.

Avoiding waiting a few extra minutes in line isn’t worth the confrontation of someone calling you out for cutting in front of them or the subtle dirty looks you get when they have an issue with it. Even the way you would feel about yourself gets in the way and discourages you from taking the action. So instead we just wait our turn in line.

In many ways these unspoken rules govern the social conventions we all live by. Living by them is the path of least resistance even if it personally inconveniences us. And as a student of life, I’d encourage you to question why things are the way that they are. That’s not to invite you to be disobedient or rebellious, but stay curious.

The more susceptible we are to doing average things, the more we’re led to achieving average results.

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