Difficult as it is, when we write papers and take exams and just try to think our way through problems, we often have to work around our own “cognitive biases”— those blocks and attitudes which impede our rational thinking. Here’s a site that explains many of these biases, and it’s kind of fun to read through and pick out your own, or maybe the bias of the last person you argued with!
Regretfully, I think mine is the “sunk cost bias”— What Grandma would call, “Throwing good money after bad.” If I’ve invested money or especially time and effort into something, I find it very hard to let go, and I’ll argue that it’ll get better! We’re about to turn the corner! There’s a light at the end of the tunnel! (It was this fallacy— and others, of course= that kept the US in the Vietnam war so long.)
Here’s an explanation from the School of Thought site:
Cognitive biases make our judgments irrational. We have evolved to use shortcuts in our thinking, which are often useful, but a cognitive bias means there’s a kind of misfiring going on causing us to lose objectivity. This website has been designed to help you identify some of the most common biases stuffing up your thinking.
Click on the icons above to see full explanations on link-able pages e.g. yourbias.is/confirmation-bias and share this website to help make the world a more rational and thinky place:
