

Why You’re Biased About Being Biased - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/why-youre-biased-about-being-biased

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duopixel
I'm frequently puzzled at the apparent lack of curiosity of the scientists
that conduct these experiments (or perhaps the bias of journalists who write
these articles). Surely there have to be some outliers who are able to
overcome some biases that come naturally to most of us.

What is interesting is not only that _the majority of human beings act within
certain patterns_, but that _some individuals are able to overcome these
patters_. What makes it so? Do they have something in common? Can we learn
anything from them?

I don't want to nitpick the experiments themselves, it is wonderful that
science is being done and that these biases are pointed out. But they seem to
paint a very dim perspective on humanity. If I recall correctly around 30% of
the participants in the Milgram experiment refused the instructions to shock
the actor to the maximum voltage, yet very little seems to be written about
them.

~~~
conistonwater
> _What is interesting is not only that _the majority of human beings act
> within certain patterns_, but that _some individuals are able to overcome
> these patters_. What makes it so? Do they have something in common? Can we
> learn anything from them?_

My impression from reading some of Keith Stanovich's work
([http://www.keithstanovich.com/Site/Research_on_Reasoning.htm...](http://www.keithstanovich.com/Site/Research_on_Reasoning.html)
\- Sorry, not my area, so I'm not so well-/widely-read) is that this isn't
really a correct explanation for what's going on. My understanding is that
everyone (absent some kind of brain damage) is capable of rational thought
that is done separately from all these heuristics and biases, but that
rational thought is an expensive, hard process requiring focus and effort, and
most people would naturally and intuitively try to avoid it. So the result of
the heuristics and biases studies is like an enumeration of these biases - a
description of how thinking processes commonly fail in predictable ways when
not being overridden by more careful rational thought.

> _But they seem to paint a very dim perspective on humanity._

Yes, it's depressing, but on the bright side much of this is from not trying
to think very hard. If you explicitly instruct people to pay attention and
reason carefully, many of the biases disappear. To the extent that the
heuristics and biases literature _describes_ the less-conscious thinking
processes, I think the most reasonable interpretation is that humanity really
is just that dim.

> _yet very little seems to be written about them._

People seem to have different thresholds for overriding their intuitive
thinking processes with a more rational, algorithmic, reflective process. But
that may well be innate to them, some people are more rationally-oriented than
others. I'm not too sure what there is "to learn from them".

To be honest, I find the myside bias and cultural cognition, which intrude on
deliberate rational thought, interfering with it, much more depressing than
any of the heuristics that can be overridden just by careful thinking.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
> People seem to have different thresholds for overriding their intuitive
> thinking processes with a more rational, algorithmic, reflective process.
> But that may well be innate to them, some people are more rationally-
> oriented than others. I'm not too sure what there is "to learn from them".

It may even be that the people doing the extra analysis are the irrational
ones. The time required to get the right answer can cost more than the value
of the right answer: [https://xkcd.com/1445/](https://xkcd.com/1445/)

~~~
conistonwater
" _Evolution wants you to be as stupid as you can get away with_ " \- I don't
remember who, but I read it somewhere.

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anindyabd
If any one is interested in learning about biases further, I strongly
recommend Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow". It changed the way I
view the world in a lot of ways, and made me a lot more skeptical about my
beliefs and intuitions than I already was, which I think is healthy.

~~~
rasz_pl
[http://youarenotsosmart.com/](http://youarenotsosmart.com/) ,book and
podcast, is also pretty great

~~~
toothbrush
Ugh, off-topic rant: those podcasts seem really interesting, i with that they
would make transcripts available!

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animefan
What about this kind of bias: every experimental result can be attributed to
some kind of bias. And bias is a hot topic, especially given the ascendence of
progressive politics in academia and beyond. So there is a strong motivation
for experimenters to explain any experimental result in terms of bias, rather
than other reasons.

~~~
eevilspock
You seem quite biased about the bias toward bias.

~~~
animefan
Why do I seem biased to you? I don't think it's useful to conflate bias and
having a strong opinion, even if strong opinions often result from bias.

