YOU are IRRATIONAL

Many of us think we are pretty rational in the way we think, but what if that’s not the case?

I’ll name a few cognitive biases we have to show you that. Also at the end of the article I’ll mention something that can help with avoiding these biases.
(Also please don’t take this heading personally)

After all the first step to becoming more rational is accepting you are irrational and then working your way from that.

1. Anchoring biases- Our decisions, and viewpoints are influenced by the expectations we have beforehand or we anchor them on the first piece of information we get when assessing new information. This is used to sell products-

   

   Imagine you are looking up the net worth of the top richest people(which is something I do for some reason) who have a net worth in the 100 billions, and then you suddenly look at a person with 2.1 million net worth, that person does not seem very rich, even though he is pretty rich. This is what is used in supermarkets to make you feel like a product is cheap.

2. Self-assessment biase
   This includes the widely known Dunning Kruger effect- the lesser you know, the more you feel you know. The more confident you are in your abilities, with the less experience you have. This is why you might feel something is a lot easier than it actually is or why you think you can do better before you can actually do it. I can think of all the times I thought I was smart on a subject when in reality I knew nothing.
   
   

3. Confirmation bias
   We look for evidence to support our current beliefs. The way we react to counter-evidence to our beliefs is by strengthening our own beliefs. Where we don’t think of alternative possibilities. Can’t believe how much I continue to do this.
   
   

4. Hindsight bias
   The hindsight bias involves the tendency of people have to assume that they knew the outcome of an event after the outcome has already been determined. For example, after attending a cricket match, you might insist that you knew that the winning team was going to win beforehand.
   
   

5. Truthiness bias
   We asses someone’s logical reasoning abilities based on their conclusions. If we don’t like the conclusions we conclude they are stupid. This is also when rhyming sentences sound more truthful, is that why poems feel more hard-hitting?
   
   

6. A self-serving bias
   A common one is the common habit of a person taking credit for positive events or outcomes**, but blaming outside factors for negative events.** Something similar is when people criticize others because it is easier to criticize than see your own fault.
   
   

Also thinking you are less biased than others can be a cognitive bias.

INFORMAL ONES-

1. Ostrich effect- this is a financial bias we are afraid of looking at negative financial information

2. Law of small numbers- we generalize patterns and data, from a small sample, with lack of evidence. Basically we make decisions and generalizations without considering other variables

HOW DO YOU AVOID THESE BIASES

Of course firstly is to be aware of these biases which we just did. After that reflect on yourself in the situation and give yourself sometime to think

Being ready with uncertainty
Our minds always want to put closure on a decision or prediction, This leads us to settle on false judgements, and predictions, this leads us to taking the easy more available answer even if it is wrong. Some of us are also so confident in our estimates, even if it is not right, so get ready to not settle on something sometimes. Be careful to not let this stop you from making decisions though.

Put away your ego
To learn better you have to be ready to always take in new information always be a learner. Accept you can be wrong so that you can know what is right. You can avoid so many egocentric biases if you try and swallow your ego. Accept you may not know the answer at times.

Looking at alternatives and options

Think of what other possibilities and outcomes can be there to your problem or situation, sometimes even consider 2-3 options. Look for contradicting evidence/date, to honestly asses your situation. This also strengthens critical thinking.

if you’re interested here are some more cognitive biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Reading this summary inspired me to write this: https://marklooi.medium.com/summary-of-kahnemans-thinking-fast-and-slow-3d1c2ea0e6a