Want to know 10 reasons why our political system is so screwed up? Read on…
10 Common Flaws With How We Think
Steven Ross Pomeroy, Contributor, Forbes
By nature, human beings are illogical and irrational. For most of our existence, survival meant thinking quickly, not methodically. Making a life-saving decision was more important than making a 100% accurate one, so the human brain developed an array of mental shortcuts.
Though not as necessary as they once were, these shortcuts — called cognitive biases or heuristics — are numerous and innate. Pervasive, they affect almost everything we do, from the choice of what to wear, to judgments of moral character, to how we vote in presidential elections. We can never totally escape them, but we can be more aware of them, and, just maybe, take efforts to minimize their influence.
1. The Sunk Cost Fallacy
Thousands of graduate students know this fallacy all too well. When we invest time, money, or effort into something, we don’t like to see that investment go to waste, even if the task, object, or goal is no longer worth the cost. As Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains, “We refuse to cut losses when doing so would admit failure, we are biased against actions that could lead to regret.”
That’s why people finish their overpriced restaurant meal even when they’re stuffed to the brim, or continue to watch that horrible television show they don’t even like anymore, or remain in a dysfunctional relationship, or soldier through grad school even when they decide that they hate their chosen major.
(Continued here.)
Steven Ross Pomeroy, Contributor, Forbes
By nature, human beings are illogical and irrational. For most of our existence, survival meant thinking quickly, not methodically. Making a life-saving decision was more important than making a 100% accurate one, so the human brain developed an array of mental shortcuts.
Though not as necessary as they once were, these shortcuts — called cognitive biases or heuristics — are numerous and innate. Pervasive, they affect almost everything we do, from the choice of what to wear, to judgments of moral character, to how we vote in presidential elections. We can never totally escape them, but we can be more aware of them, and, just maybe, take efforts to minimize their influence.
1. The Sunk Cost Fallacy
Thousands of graduate students know this fallacy all too well. When we invest time, money, or effort into something, we don’t like to see that investment go to waste, even if the task, object, or goal is no longer worth the cost. As Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains, “We refuse to cut losses when doing so would admit failure, we are biased against actions that could lead to regret.”
That’s why people finish their overpriced restaurant meal even when they’re stuffed to the brim, or continue to watch that horrible television show they don’t even like anymore, or remain in a dysfunctional relationship, or soldier through grad school even when they decide that they hate their chosen major.
(Continued here.)
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