Why are there so many of these cognitive biases? Can we infer they persist widely because they confer some benefit?
Thinking there's a reason for it is probably a bias, too.
Guide to cognitive biases
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Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#12While i do not see the immediate use for me personally beyond being an interesting read, i must confess that this is a great domain name.
https://en.shortcogs.com/bias/blind-spot-bias
(Just kidding.)
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#13Is there somewhere a guide for preventing and/or overcoming these cognitive biases?
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#14Apex Fallacy is not listed again: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Apex%20Falla...
I think that's better a better fit for a logical fallacy chart than a cognitive bias list.
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#15Apex Fallacy is not listed again: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Apex%20Falla...
I wouldn't exactly call the urban dictionary a reliable source.
Doing a DuckDuckGo for "apex fallacy" turns up a bunch of incel and mgtow sites.
Is this even a _real_ fallacy?
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#16> Cognitive biases refer to the identifiable and indexable errors that are found in our judgment in a predictable and systematic way.
Ok.
Clicking through to the first one:
> The Barnum effect is a cognitive bias that induces an individual to accept a vague description of personality traits as applying specifically to themselves.
Then they give an example story of something reading like a horoscope.
The story could reasonably describe a large swath of people so I fail to understand how this is an "error" on the part of someone thinking that it describes them.
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#17What’s the use of this really?
Many of these are used as ammunition for arguments vs. clarifing reasoning.
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#18When I see someone on Facebook/Twitter link to a site like this to demonstrate that the person they’re arguing with is “doing a fallacy”, I just accuse them of Appeal To Authority. I feel like these kinds of sites are often just used to shut someone down by saying that they’re doing something wrong, without actually going through the work of following through with why the “fallacy” makes their argument weak. Also, in my experience fallacies/biases are often more indicative of a weak argument than a wrong one.
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#19Why 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…
Fair enough. I’ve read Kahnemann’s book, and hadn’t considered how to integrate it with TFA.
The sheer number of cognitive biases presented in TFA, and the overlap of the categorisations had me bamboozled.
But yeah, if these are System 1 staples then I can imagine how they might have made do for regular people for a long time. Some biases and prejudices affirm survival in a less civilised setting eg prehistoric tribes that compete for land and food with neighbouring tribes.
So perhaps it is the compact of civilisation that opens up the vistas for System 2 thinking to yield benefits.
Re: Guide to cognitive biases
#20While i do not see the immediate use for me personally beyond being an interesting read, i must confess that this is a great domain name.
Bias is a good way to look at news sources and someone trying to sell you something. Many of these use your bias against you to fool you and/or manipulate you into something. Either buying something or thinking something.
Knowing what your bias is and which ones you fall into help you cope and guard yourself against them.