Cognitive bias

[ciphergoth]

Roughly, "cognitive bias" is the empirical study of systematic, irrational biases that we all show to some extent or other in the way we think about the world. These biases can be demonstrated in controlled experimental settings, where we can largely rule out rational explanations for the behaviours seen.

One example is anchoring: asked whether they thought an unknown quantity was more or less than a number produced in front of them using a roulette wheel, subsequent guesses at what the number was were irrationally close to the number the roulette wheel produced. Their guesses had been "anchored" on the number they'd previously been given, even though they knew it was a random number.

I'm curious to know whether this is something people think about much, hence this (fairly imperfect) poll. Where I say "people" below, I mean people demographically roughly like you.

For those not familiar with the convention "snowflake" means "none of these answers fit what I'd like to say, so I'll comment below and explain". thehalibutkid, we await your comment :-)

[Poll #1327489]

I'm thinking about this because I've just finished reading "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)", and I'm about to start on "Predictably Irrational", both of which are pop science books in this field. See also Wikipedia's list of cognitive biases.

Please do comment with any thoughts the poll doesn't cover, of course!

Comments

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

Was "Mistakes were made (But Not by Me)" any good? It's been on my list of books I should get round to reading for a while now.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Not that fantastic, a bit repetitive. I'll lend it to you when we do lunch :-)

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

Heh, thank yee. And yes, lunch is a good plan.

What's your diary like? I could do Monday-Wednesday, but after that I'm away or in all day meetings until the 26th.