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Guide to cognitive biases

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Re: Guide to cognitive biases

#6

Why are there so many of these cognitive biases? Can we infer they persist widely because they confer some benefit?

I think it's mostly because they are quite ad-hoc and superficial. It's often not even clear what is the normative behavior that the bias is deviation of, or whether that normative behavior is somehow better than the "biased" one. It's a weird scene.

Re: Guide to cognitive biases

#10

Why are there so many of these cognitive biases? Can we infer they persist widely because they confer some benefit?

I found Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow persuasive on this question. I don’t have a psych or neuro degree, but Crudely speaking and possibly butchering it: the mind reflects two types of thinking, which Kahneman terms System 1 (fast) and System 2 (slow). System 1 is closer to instinct and helps us respond quickly in, for example, fight or flight situations. System 2 requires significant mental effort to more thoroughly analyze things like complex math problems. It’s easier to coast on System 1 thinking. The book provides examples and much better and more in depth explanations. There was a replication controversy about some of it, but still very worth reading I think.
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