Hello. I wanted to share some fascinating psychology lessons with you all in the hopes it will aid you in making better heuristic (quick) decisions.
1. Confirmation Bias - It is typical to look for evidence confirming our own beliefs. With Google tailoring information to us this problem is worse than ever before, encapsulating people into their own worlds where their search queries feed them only the information they are interested in. This is called an 'availability cascade.' The information available to you bias' you and so you look for more information with that bias, encounter confirming information, and so on. This is how certain people can become so stuck in a mode of thinking that may not be evidenced based.
2. Scarcity Bias - We have all seen the *limited time only sale!* Why is this effective? Fear of loss, fear of missing out. However, next time you are motivated by this sales tactic just remember that these sales are a manufactured scarcity, created (in most cases) by the person trying to sell to you, in order to create proper MOTIVATION for you to take action on their product. This is especially true for digital products. Something to be aware of this so your brain doesn't force you to buy junk.
3. Fundamental Cognitive Error - The problem is that our past experience informs our interpretation of new experiences. And in ambiguous situations this can be disastrous. Consider, the Miligram Shock Experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
You would never do that right? Funny, that is exactly what people surveyed said! However, the reality was that the majority finished the study and administered hypothetical 'lethal' doses of amperage to their subjects. Situation is > than personality in the majority of situations. How many people are 'honest' but if they found a million dollars on the street would return it? Situations that make it easy to be 'brave' or 'honest' are more likely (statistically speaking) to impact your actual behavior than someone's personality traits.
This might be difficult to digest. But, have you ever been cut off in traffic and called someone an asshole? Now, have you ever cut someone off? Ever? Did you have a good reason? I mean, if I cut someone off, its for good reason, definitely: I can't be late again! Or Whatever. But when it is someone else... it's because they are an asshole! I think that is a universal truism. Sarcasm aside, do you see the dichotomy there?
1. Confirmation Bias - It is typical to look for evidence confirming our own beliefs. With Google tailoring information to us this problem is worse than ever before, encapsulating people into their own worlds where their search queries feed them only the information they are interested in. This is called an 'availability cascade.' The information available to you bias' you and so you look for more information with that bias, encounter confirming information, and so on. This is how certain people can become so stuck in a mode of thinking that may not be evidenced based.
2. Scarcity Bias - We have all seen the *limited time only sale!* Why is this effective? Fear of loss, fear of missing out. However, next time you are motivated by this sales tactic just remember that these sales are a manufactured scarcity, created (in most cases) by the person trying to sell to you, in order to create proper MOTIVATION for you to take action on their product. This is especially true for digital products. Something to be aware of this so your brain doesn't force you to buy junk.
3. Fundamental Cognitive Error - The problem is that our past experience informs our interpretation of new experiences. And in ambiguous situations this can be disastrous. Consider, the Miligram Shock Experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
You would never do that right? Funny, that is exactly what people surveyed said! However, the reality was that the majority finished the study and administered hypothetical 'lethal' doses of amperage to their subjects. Situation is > than personality in the majority of situations. How many people are 'honest' but if they found a million dollars on the street would return it? Situations that make it easy to be 'brave' or 'honest' are more likely (statistically speaking) to impact your actual behavior than someone's personality traits.
This might be difficult to digest. But, have you ever been cut off in traffic and called someone an asshole? Now, have you ever cut someone off? Ever? Did you have a good reason? I mean, if I cut someone off, its for good reason, definitely: I can't be late again! Or Whatever. But when it is someone else... it's because they are an asshole! I think that is a universal truism. Sarcasm aside, do you see the dichotomy there?
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