The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science Illustration: Jonathon Rosen "A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point." So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger (PDF), in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent rejection, on the part of so many Americans today, of what we know about global warming and its human causes. Festinger and several of his colleagues had infiltrated the Seekers, a small Chicago-area cult whose members thought they were communicating with aliens—including one, "Sananda," who they believed was the astral incarnation of Jesus Christ. Through her, the aliens had given the precise date of an Earth-rending cataclysm: December 21, 1954. Festinger and his team were with the cult when the prophecy failed. Read also: the truth about Climategate.At first, the group struggled for an explanation.
Top 10 Thinking Traps Exposed Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble. Here are the first 5 of the most harmful of these traps and how to avoid each one of them. 1. The Anchoring Trap: Over-Relying on First Thoughts “Is the population of Turkey greater than 35 million? Lesson: Your starting point can heavily bias your thinking: initial impressions, ideas, estimates or data “anchor” subsequent thoughts. This trap is particularly dangerous as it’s deliberately used in many occasions, such as by experienced salesmen, who will show you a higher-priced item first, “anchoring” that price in your mind, for example. What can you do about it? Always view a problem from different perspectives. 2. Consider the status quo as just another alternative. 3. Be OK with making mistakes. 4. 5.
10 More Common Faults in Human Thought Humans This list is a follow up to Top 10 Common Faults in Human Thought. Thanks for everyone’s comments and feedback; you have inspired this second list! It is amazing that with all these biases, people are able to actually have a rational thought every now and then. There is no end to the mistakes we make when we process information, so here are 10 more common errors to be aware of. The confirmation bias is the tendency to look for or interpret information in a way that confirms beliefs. The Availability heuristic is gauging what is more likely based on vivid memories. Illusion of Control is the tendency for individuals to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly have no influence on. Interesting Fact: when playing craps in a casino, people will throw the dice hard when they need a high number and soft when they need a low number. The Planning fallacy is the tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete tasks. Bonus Attribute Substitution
« On nous incite à regarder notre présent comme un futur passé » Théoricien des médias sociaux, Nathan Jurgenson est étudiant-chercheur en sociologie à l’université du Maryland. Il s’est fait remarquer en 2011 en publiant sur le Net un essai brillant sur la «photo faux vintage» ( traduction en français ici ) et la «nostalgie du présent» qu’elle permet. Le rachat d'Instagram et la nouvelles présentation des pages facebook sous la forme de Journal relèvent-elles de la même logique ? _ Ce rachat ne répond pas uniquement à une logique économique de la part de Facebook, mais aussi à une logique existentielle. Que vient faire Instagram dans ce schéma ? _ Le Journal ou les filtres vintage semblent simples, mais l’objectif est de doter ces technologies d’une certaine profondeur. Que devient notre relation au temps et à la mémoire ? _ On nous incite à regarder notre présent comme un futur passé. Lire les réactions à cet article. Erwan CARIO
Beautycheck - social perception Do attractive people have any advantages? Are they treated better than less attractive? Is it important to look good on an application photo? According to our investigations the answer to these questions is yes. We could show that people are perceived more positively the more attractive they are. A selection of the faces that have been presented: Attractive female faces: Unattractive female faces: Attractive male faces: Unattractive male faces: All faces do not exist in reality. The results are alarmingly clear. home
Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought Humans The human mind is a wonderful thing. Cognition, the act or process of thinking, enables us to process vast amounts of information quickly. The Gambler’s fallacy is the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not. Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed. Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as significant. Interesting Fact: the Rorschach Inkblot test was developed to use pareidolia to tap into people’s mental states. Self-fulfilling Prophecy Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviors that obtain results that confirm existing attitudes. Interesting Fact: Economic Recessions are self-fulfilling prophecies. The Halo effect is the tendency for an individual’s positive or negative trait to “spill over” to other areas of their personality in others’ perceptions of them. Escalation of Commitment
Developing Creativity and Innovation: Think More Abstractly Creative problem solving is enhanced by thinking more abstractly or at an intellectual distance, rather than more concretely, according to research studies. In my post Using Research to Enhance Creative Thinking – Part 2, I quoted from the article “15 Scientific Facts About Creativity” which notes that “psychological distance” facilitates creativity, and “when hitting a creative snag, the best thing thinkers can do for themselves is step away and try to look at everything from a completely different point of view.” Evan Polman of New York University and Kyle Emich of Cornell University devised four studies on this creative strategy, with results published in their paper: “Decisions for others are more creative than decisions for the self” [Abstract]. One of the interesting comments on this post: “I suspect this demonstrates the advantage of being in careers which empower us to solve the problems of people who desire creative solutions. Books by Daniel Pink:
«Les électeurs FN ne sont pas que des ménages modestes victimes de la mondialisation» Violaine Girard a passé le premier tour dans un bureau de vote d’une commune située à la périphérie rurale d’une grande agglomération du sud-est de la France, ancrée à droite, qu’elle étudie depuis presque dix ans. Maîtresse de conférences en sociologie à l’université de Rouen, elle précise les dynamiques du vote FN des classes populaires dans ce territoire rural en recomposition. Sa monographie montre que les électeurs de Marine Le Pen ne peuvent être résumés à de simples «oubliés» du système. Pourquoi étudier ce territoire périurbain ? C’est intéressant parce que ce territoire rural, transformé par de grands projets d’aménagements, cumule des caractéristiques des zones périurbaines dont on parle beaucoup en ce moment. Ce territoire a connu une urbanisation diffuse, avec la construction de maisons individuelles par des ménages des classes populaires. Quel a été le vote au premier tour de la présidentielle ? Quelles sont les composantes de ce vote FN ? Charlotte ROTMAN
Tapping our powers of persuasion Most psychologists will read this “Questionnaire” with Robert Cialdini, PhD. That may or may not be true, but according to Cialdini, that statement is powerfully persuasive because we tend to go along with our peers. Cialdini, who retired last year from a teaching and research position at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., is a renowned expert in the science of swaying. In his seminal book on the topic, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” (Quill, 1984), he went undercover to learn the tricks mastered by used-car dealers and Fortune 500 executives alike, bringing persuasion research to psychology’s forefront. Cialdini distilled his findings into six “weapons of influence,” each grounded in how we perceive ourselves or others: Reciprocity: We inherently want to return favors. In recent years, Cialdini has been leveraging those weapons to address major world problems such as climate change by persuading people to reduce energy use. I think it’s a little too early.
Cognitive distortion Exaggerated or irrational thought pattern Challenging and changing cognitive distortions is a key element of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Definition[edit] Cognitive comes from the Medieval Latin cognitīvus, equivalent to Latin cognit(us), 'known'.[4] Distortion means the act of twisting or altering something out of its true, natural, or original state.[5] History[edit] In 1957, American psychologist Albert Ellis, though he did not know it yet, would aid cognitive therapy in correcting cognitive distortions and indirectly helping David D. Beck's student David D. Main types[edit] Examples of some common cognitive distortions seen in depressed and anxious individuals. John C. All-or-nothing thinking[edit] The "all-or-nothing thinking distortion" is also referred to as "splitting",[19] "black-and-white thinking",[2] and "polarized thinking Example (from The Feeling Good Handbook): A woman eats a spoonful of ice cream. Jumping to conclusions[edit] Mind reading[edit] Fortune-telling[edit]
Meditation Health Benefits: What The Practice Does To Your Body We hear it all the time: Meditation can improve our creative thinking, our energy, stress levels and even our success. Prominent artists, businessmen and politicians cop to the practice. Would it work for you? "It did to my mind what going to the gym did to my body -- it made it both stronger and more flexible," said Dr. Studies show that meditation is associated with improvement in a variety of psychological areas, including stress, anxiety, addiction, depression, eating disorders and cognitive function, among others. For one thing, it changes our brain. "Think of the end of a neuron as a hand, with thousands of 'fingers,'" said Dr. Want to learn more? This story appears in Issue 47 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, in the iTunes App store, available Friday, May 3. Related on HuffPost:
The Benjamin Franklin Effect The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate. The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm. Benjamin Franklin knew how to deal with haters. Born in 1706 as the eighth of 17 children to a Massachusetts soap and candlestick maker, the chances Benjamin would go on to become a gentleman, scholar, scientist, statesman, musician, author, publisher and all-around general bad-ass were astronomically low, yet he did just that and more because he was a master of the game of personal politics. Like many people full of drive and intelligence born into a low station, Franklin developed strong people skills and social powers. All else denied, the analytical mind will pick apart behavior, and Franklin became adroit at human relations. Franklin’s prospects were dim. At 17, Franklin left Boston and started his own printing business In Philadelphia. What exactly happened here? Let’s start with your attitudes.
Dunning–Kruger effect Cognitive bias about one's own skill The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills. In popular culture, the Dunning–Kruger effect is often misunderstood as a claim about general overconfidence of people with low intelligence instead of specific overconfidence of people unskilled at a particular task. The Dunning–Kruger effect is usually measured by comparing self-assessment with objective performance. There are disagreements about what causes the Dunning–Kruger effect. There are disagreements about the Dunning–Kruger effect's magnitude and practical consequences. Definition[edit] The Dunning–Kruger effect is defined as the tendency of people with low ability in a specific area to give overly positive assessments of this ability. David Dunning Explanations[edit] [edit] Statistical[edit]
Reasoning Errors In The Current Models of Human Cognition Yehouda Harpaz yh@maldoo.com 6 Jan 96 [last updated 22 Mar 2012] related texts 1. Introduction [1.1] Cognitive Psychologists (CogPsys) and researchers in related areas hypothesize many models of the way the human cognition, or part of it, works. Since we cannot, yet, test these models directly, their validation is based on interpretation of experimental evidence. [1.2] In this text I try to list the most important reasoning errors that occur in the arguments which are used to support models of human cognition. [1.3] In most of the cases, each error is harmless on its own, but in combination with other errors can lead to serious mistakes in the interpretation. More fundamental problems in cognitive science (including the idea of consciousness) are discussed in the methodological points. 2. [2.2] This is an error because it can be used to support a conclusion which is not supported by any sound argument, and to support unsound arguments. 3. [3.2] Evidence about memory and perception