No matter how smart a person is, no matter how logical they believe they are, cognitive science says they are wrong. Humans are inherently illogical and can, in fact, only make truly logical choices if they are very, very careful.
This sad truth is demonstrated by examining "cognitive biases." There are lists of these biases, but to explain HOW they work, let me explain just one, named "the Proximity Bias."
"Proximity" means "how near a thing is." The proximity bias is based on the idea that people pay far more attention to things near them than they do to "the big picture."
In the vast majority of human evolutionary history, it was far, far more important to know if there was a predator nearby than it was to know how many predators are within a 40 mile radius.
Because of this, our brains evolved to respond to "near by" rather than "as a whole." This creates the Proximity Bias.
Example: a person may live in an extremely safe place with almost no crime. But "almost no crime" is not the same as "no crime."
So a crime might happen right next door to a person, at some point. When this happens, the person will almost certainly image they are in the midst of a horrible crime wave... because one of the three crimes that occurred in their city happened RIGHT NEXT DOOR!
Showing that person very low local crime statistics is highly unlikely to change their mind.
That's physical proximity. There is also "mental proximity."
"Mental Proximity" means "near by in thought."
Example: A person watches the news. The news combs through all the crimes that occurs in entire countries composed of millions and millions of people to find the three most horrifying crimes to report. This puts those three crimes in a person's thoughts (mental proximity).
The person in this example is highly likely to believe that they are in the midst of a horrifying crime wave, when the statistical reality is that those three crimes were "newsworthy" ONLY because they are so very rare.
Frequently, no matter how one tries to explain this to the person embodying the proximity bias, they will continue to believe that there are swarms of drug crazed cannibals pouring through the country.
Thinking well, accurately, and logically is not natural. Cognitive biases, though, are. Almost everybody is far less logically rational than they believe themselves to be.
Good thinkers take this into account, and check their logic before making a truth claim. They check, specifically, for cognitive biases.
This sad truth is demonstrated by examining "cognitive biases." There are lists of these biases, but to explain HOW they work, let me explain just one, named "the Proximity Bias."
"Proximity" means "how near a thing is." The proximity bias is based on the idea that people pay far more attention to things near them than they do to "the big picture."
In the vast majority of human evolutionary history, it was far, far more important to know if there was a predator nearby than it was to know how many predators are within a 40 mile radius.
Because of this, our brains evolved to respond to "near by" rather than "as a whole." This creates the Proximity Bias.
Example: a person may live in an extremely safe place with almost no crime. But "almost no crime" is not the same as "no crime."
So a crime might happen right next door to a person, at some point. When this happens, the person will almost certainly image they are in the midst of a horrible crime wave... because one of the three crimes that occurred in their city happened RIGHT NEXT DOOR!
Showing that person very low local crime statistics is highly unlikely to change their mind.
That's physical proximity. There is also "mental proximity."
"Mental Proximity" means "near by in thought."
Example: A person watches the news. The news combs through all the crimes that occurs in entire countries composed of millions and millions of people to find the three most horrifying crimes to report. This puts those three crimes in a person's thoughts (mental proximity).
The person in this example is highly likely to believe that they are in the midst of a horrifying crime wave, when the statistical reality is that those three crimes were "newsworthy" ONLY because they are so very rare.
Frequently, no matter how one tries to explain this to the person embodying the proximity bias, they will continue to believe that there are swarms of drug crazed cannibals pouring through the country.
Thinking well, accurately, and logically is not natural. Cognitive biases, though, are. Almost everybody is far less logically rational than they believe themselves to be.
Good thinkers take this into account, and check their logic before making a truth claim. They check, specifically, for cognitive biases.
