Three Ways of Thinking

Question 1

three ways of thinking that lead to incorrect conclusions

Answer 1

1. anecdote/experience
2. intuition
3. because authority figure x said so

Question 2

Anecdotal evidence

Answer 2

personal experiences are more compelling so we over believe people
- peoples experiences are more salient to use

Question 3

examples of anecdotal evidence

Answer 3

listening to music while studying

walking under ladders gives you bad luck

Question 4

two reasons why we should reject anecdotal sources of information

Answer 4

1. confounds

2. lack of comparison groups

Question 5

confounds

Answer 5

human life is full of confounds

ex. you might believe that antidepressants are causing nightmares but they could’ve watched a horror movie before

Question 6

comparison groups

Answer 6

comparison groups are important for falsification

Question 7

three reasons why anecdotal evidence is problematic

Answer 7

1. don’t include comparison groups
2. tend to ignore confounding factors
3. can’t be falsified

Question 8

intuition

Answer 8

biased, it is the feeling we get that we are right

Question 9

two main ways intuition leads us astray

Answer 9

1. we love easy answers

2. we love the answer the already have

Question 10

easy answers

Answer 10

we like easy fixes

Question 11

three types of easy answers

Answer 11

good story
common sense
ignoring negatives

Question 12

good stories

Answer 12

easy to believe because they make sense

Question 13

common sense

Answer 13

easy and quick answers

common sense explanations are often contradictory

Question 14

ignoring negatives

Answer 14

once we have an answer we have a tendency to ignore negatives

Question 15

ignoring negatives:

we tend to

Answer 15

1. over focus on confirming evidence

2. under focus on disconfirming evidence

Question 16

availability heuristic

Answer 16

things that come easily to mind will guide our thinking

Question 17

tenacity

Answer 17

leads us to hold onto our current beliefs

believing something simply because it has been believed for a long time

Question 18

3 mechanisms of confirmation bias

Answer 18

cherry picking
biased questions
overconfidence

Question 19

cherry picking

Answer 19

most people prefer information that supports whatever they want it to say
- already have access to the information that is already out there, they select from that list the things they want to believe

Question 20

biased questions

Answer 20

happens before you have any answers

leading someone to believe what you want them to

Question 21

overconfidence

Answer 21

a lot of people feel confident they know the answer, which leads to them not testing it and having wrong answers

Question 22

credible authorities are

Answer 22

1. expert

2. trustworthy