Very Easily It Seems. It is actually more amazing that people often get things correct. I mean just look at all the ways in which we can deny knowledge and protect our personal beliefs. If you truly want to be wise / knowledgeable, it is worth asking how prone you are to these cognitive errors? And what are you willing to do to correct for them?
List of Common Cognitive Biases
- Confirmation Bias
- Hindsight Bias
- Anchoring Bias
- Misinformation Effect
- Actor-Observer Bias
- False Consensus Effect
- Halo Effect
- Self-Serving Bias
- Availability Heuristic
- Optimism Bias
- Attentional bias
- Functional fixedness
- The Dunning-Kruger effect
What Is Cognitive Bias?
A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them and affects the decisions and judgments that they make.
The human brain is powerful but subject to limitations. Cognitive biases are often a result of your brain's attempt to simplify information processing. Biases often work as rules of thumb that help you make sense of the world and reach decisions with relative speed.
Some of these biases are related to memory. The way you remember an event may be biased for a number of reasons and that, in turn, can lead to biased thinking and decision-making.
Other cognitive biases might be related to problems with attention. Since attention is a limited resource, people have to be selective about what they pay attention to in the world around them.
Because of this, subtle biases can creep in and influence the way you see and think about the world.
11 comments:
It is something of a mystery. Tribalism plays a part in it, I suppose, at least the way I see things. I vote for all the Democrats. But that doesn't reflect a mindless adherence to the tribe, necessarily. The fact is, in our system of government, individuals rarely matter. It simply doesn't make a difference who your congressman or senator is, at least not in Minnesota. What does matter is which party controls the legislative body. It's why as little as I think of Manchin and Sinema as people, I would certainly vote for them in the general election if I lived in their states.
I do find the other side how to figure out. Republicans have an institutionalized contempt for government and that can translate into incompetent candidates. They want government to fail, and this can be disastrous when we need it to succeed. The two Republican administrations of the 21st century were both catastrophic, and the second was worse than the first, a very dangerous trend. Without a platform, and with a thug as their nominal leader, prospects for a revival of the Republican Party do not look good for the foreseeable future.
--Hiram
Your second paragraph is a wonderful example of cognitive bias methods. :-)
I am trying to count how many are buried in your thought process.
Is there a difference between having a cognitive bias, and having an opionion?
Claiming something as the result of a bias is a tactic than can be used to dismiss a different view or opinion. It raises an issue of credibility as opposed to merit or truthfulness. It's a form of ad hominem attack.
It's not very hard to define bias in such a way that it always exists, particularly among those who disagree with us. The problem is that the broader the definition the less interesting it is. To say everyone is biased, doesn't advance our understanding of any issue, it just becomes a description of the human condition.
--Hiram
John, you forgot "the iron rule of knowledge." But at the risk of engaging all of you highly-biased people, let me relate something. I attended one of those "Red/Blue Workshops" that purport to bring the two sides together, supposedly to talk. I will never go back. One exercise was to, with our group, describe what the other side thinks of us. Red said Blue saw us as evil, stupid, heartless and such. Blue said Red saw them as illogical, and wrong on the issues. Both believed such characterizations were wrong, yet Blues, once in a group, simply denied that Reds were worth talking to-- essentially too stupid, evil, etc. to appreciate the brilliance and morality of their positions. Individually, however, most of them were perfectly reasonable people, even persuadable to a degree, once common values were identified. But once back in the "tribe," no such comity or commonsense was observed. Am I biased? I don't know. Am I expected to simply deny my experience?
One other thing. When challenged on their description, Reds consistently expressed concerns with policy differences, while Blues attributed any disagreement to, in essence, a personal attack, and took offense on that basis. It seems their self-identity is wrapped up in what positions they take, as a matter of tribal conformity. Disagree, and you get "cancelled," or "voted off the island." Surely that is also a form of bias, to conform with the tribe?
Jerry,
If this is your Iron Rule, I think it fits in the classification of a necessary evil.
And yes you are very biased. No wonder you thought the Blue were attacking you.
Though yes I understand that many Blues think Reds are evil and selfish.
Of course many Reds think Blues support killing babies, stealing and enabling sin.
I think there is plenty of cognitive bias, cult behavior and stereotyping to go around.
And currently the Reds are just as likely to vote off their fellow Reds because they are not RED enough. Remember the hollering when Romney, Sass and Cheney speak their mind? It is a sad and frustrating time.
Hiram,
Opinions are fine as long as you understand that they are opinions.
Your claim that the GOPs want to destroy government is a good example.
I know of few true anarchists in the GOP party. Though it is true that they envision a government very difficult from the one you do.
That is not the Iron rule of knowledge.
The problem with bias is that nobody recognizes it in themselves, and it is difficult for others to prove it, since most of our opinions are based in hard objective fact and/or our own personal experience. Asking me to deny what I know for fact or from experience is not the way to win a debate.
I contend that red-red bias is vastly different than blue-red bias. Again, reds disagree on issues/ideology, while blues disagree on "values," seeing themselves as intellectually and morally superior to "Those people" (reds). They don't debate, they shout down or dismiss. It is that "tribal bias" that blinds them to facts and reason.
I know...
"They bad / dumb... We good / smart..."
Same thing they say..
Your claim that the GOPs want to destroy government is a good example.
The events of January 6th support that. The leader of the Republican Party, and the incumbent president of the United States tried to overturn a national election. Was that not an attempt to destroy our government? What if he had succeeded in doing what he tried to do that day? What if Pence had bought the Eastmam memo? What if Republican legislators had tried to replace Democratic electors with Republican electors as clearly envisioned by the leader of the Republican Party? Could our government have survived in it's current form? What happens if it gets tried next time? Are Republicans today willing to take that off the table? Or are they amending laws throughout the country to make that happen?
--Hiram
That is a LOT of WHAT IFS...
And thankfully the majority of Republican politicians and bureaucrats fought back against Trump's attempt at a coup.
If it makes you feel better that Republicans want to destroy America, please feel free to do so.
I am pretty sure you are incorrect.
And thankfully the majority of Republican politicians and bureaucrats fought back against Trump's attempt at a coup.
I see no fighting back at all. Or is that just my bias at work? Is it my bias that is causing all those pilgrimages to Mar a lago?
--Hiram
You are looking at / for the pilgrimages...
Therefore you see the pilgrimages...
Maybe you should look for all the people who have not visited Mar a lago. And are instead looking for ways to stay in office while not adopting the Trump / Fox News insanity.
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