Forum Post: The Fragile Took Us Here

Here are some of the most widespread cognitive biases that contaminate our ability to use common sense: •The bandwagon effect (aka herd mentality) describes the tendency to think or act in ways because other people do. Examples include the popularity of Apple products, use of "in-group" slang and clothing style and watching the "The Real Housewives of ... " reality-TV franchise.

Dr. Jim Taylor.

Adjunct professor of psychology, University of San Francisco

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/cognitive-biases_b_896421.html

•The confirmation bias involves the inclination to seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions. The reality is that most people don't like to be wrong, so they surround themselves with people and information that confirm their beliefs. The most obvious example these days is the tendency to follow news outlets that reinforce our political beliefs.

•Illusion of control is the propensity to believe that we have more control over a situation than we actually do. If we don't actually have control, we fool ourselves into thinking we do. Examples include rally caps in sports and "lucky" items.

•The Semmelweis reflex (just had to include this one because of its name) is the predisposition to deny new information that challenges our established views. Sort of the yang to the yin of the confirmation bias, it exemplifies the adage "if the facts don't fit the theory, throw out the facts." An example is the "Seinfeld" episode in which George Costanza's girlfriend simply refuses to allow him to break up with her.

•The causation bias suggests the tendency to assume a cause-effect relationship in situations in which none exists (or there is a correlation or association). An example is believing someone is angry with you because they haven't responded to your email when, more likely, they are busy and just haven't gotten to it yet.

•The overconfidence effect involves unwarranted confidence in one's own knowledge. Examples include political and sports prognosticators.

•The false consensus effect is the penchant to believe that others agree with you more than they actually do. Examples include guys who assume that all guys like sexist humor.

•Finally, the granddaddy of all cognitive biases, the fundamental attribution error, which involves the tendency to attribute other people's behavior to their personalities and to attribute our own behavior to the situation. An example is when someone treats you poorly, you probably assume they are a jerk, but when you're not nice to someone, it's because you are having a bad day.

I could go on and on (for an exhaustive list of cognitive biases, do a search on Wikipedia), but you get the point. If you look at your own thinking, you'll likely find yourself at the mercy of these distortions -- though I may just be suffering from the "false consensus" effect. But I really am sure that we fall for cognitive biases all of the time (I may be guilty of the "overconfidence" effect). In any event, all the research I read supports this post's claims (uh-oh, I think I just fell for the "confirmation" bias).