The Halo Effect - How Cognitive Biases Can Ruin Your Life

explore and expand the limits of Your Mind through paradoxes thought experiments and big ideas of philosophy with my new book The Art of Living in absur existence the link is in the description you're at a car dealership you just got a fantastic deal on a new car it was the best price vehicle on the lot where you were looking at least and you negotiated 8% off the sticker price the dealership made a lot of money off you they're glad they set the sticker price at 20% above what they wanted to sell the car for and that you compare the price to the several other nicer cars that they placed around it your negotiation skills although not terrible were no match for the Mind Trap that the dealership was using known as the anchoring effect the anchoring effect is the psychological phenomenon where an individual's evaluations and decisions become influenced skewed or completely altered by an anchor or a reference point established in association with the subject being assessed in many areas of Our Lives not just in negotiation or purchases but also in our comprehension of facts our assumptions about truths our perception of value and quality and much more our assessments and decisions are not based on rational accurate evaluations of all the available information but rather they are often influenced by whatever was initially or most recently presented to us as a starting point or reference point of information even if the reference point is completely arbitrary in an experiment conducted in 1974 by the psychologist Daniel conoman and am Miss tersi participants spun a roulette wheel that was rigged to always land on the numbers 10 or 65 after spinning the roulette wheel the participants were then asked the following question what percentage of countries in Africa are part of the United Nations individuals who landed on the number 10 on average believe the answer was 25% those who landed on 65 however believe the answer was 45% the roulette number though completely unrelated to the question primed and anchored the participant to certain numeric value ranges skewing their perception by an average of 20% even if we don't know we are associating an anchor with our beliefs or perceptions there are nonetheless still anchors cast out in the world that take hold of and pull on our minds you're at home you're telling your girlfriend about the amazing deal you just got on your new car she begins to yell at you she thinks it was a stupid decision it was your money and your decision but she's ridiculing it and demeaning you although per perhaps she's partly right about the decision she's not regarding you or your feelings at all she's being unnecessarily cruel and she doesn't even care to ask or acknowledge where you might be coming from and why you made the decision you did she's been doing this sort of thing for a while now although you know it's happening you don't really realize the severity and extent to which she is mistreating you you've mostly reduced and excused it she was so sweet and kind when you met her and began dating several months ago she must just be having a bad day today you think to yourself your girlfriend is so pretty and competent and wonderful and you are currently being deceived by the halo effect the halo effect is a cognitive bias that causes one to make inaccurate evaluations of something or someone based on their overall impression of said thing or person specifically it causes one to often interpret the actions or events of a person or thing positively as a result of their positive impression because of this we often perceive the nature of a person or thing not based on an accurate total account of all their actions or occurrences but rather everything becomes at least some amount clouded by our initial or previously made evaluations once we believe something or someone is good or smart for example it can become increasingly difficult to see or believe that they aren't you are at work you were recently assigned to a new project you're sitting with your team in the office's conference room you can't stop looking over at your cooworker Margaret you're drawn to her voice and presence when you first started working together several months ago you found her kind of annoying she talked a lot and way too fast but now after having worked together with her almost every day her presence is almost comforting to you you want to hear her talk you like hearing her talk you are experiencing the mere exposure effect the M exposure effect is the psychological phenomenon that causes individuals to prefer things more over time solely based on the frequency with which they were exposed to it nothing else changes and sometimes regardless of whether one likes the thing in general one's Affinity or attraction toward a thing develops or increases when exposed to it more this can be apparent when we consider the shows or music we often listen to even if we've seen a show or listen to a song a thousand times we still might choose to consume it again instead of a new show or song simply because we find comfort in watching or listening to something we have already been exposed to likewise this applies to Brands and advertisements we are frequently exposed to or people and places we are often with or at things we like are attached to or find comfort in are not always based on our natural preferences for these things but rather on our circumstances particularly how much our circumstances present to us the same things you at Margaret's apartment it is just you and her you're not cheating on your girlfriend you wouldn't do that you're just hanging out catching up on and gossiping about work and having a glass of wine you believe what you're doing is fine but you feel a little guilty you you would never tell your girlfriend that you're here doing this before heading home you spend some time on your phone in your car in the parking lot you look up whether it's okay to do what you're doing with Margaret hanging out alone with the female friend and cooworker while being in a relationship you carefully word your searches and click mostly on articles and Reddit posts that confirm that in fact what you're doing is totally fine you read that your partner should be comfortable with your choices and your professional relationships so long as you're not doing anything romantic with someone else behind her back if your girlfriend has a problem with it it's likely just because of her insecurity and she does not control your life everything is fine and you are experiencing the cognitive bias known as confirmation bias confirmation bias is the tendency for people to seek out perceive absorb interpret and better recall information that serves and reinforces their existing beliefs and values as a result of this bias people often search for information engage in content form friendships and draw conclusions not based the desire for accuracy and truth but the desire for the comfort of being right in the process we also tend to exhibit what is known as selective perception bias where we ignore information or stimuli that causes emotional distress which in this case is anything that counters what we believe or want to believe you're at a bar with your friend you're talking to him about work at some point you bring up Margaret you've been bringing her up a lot lately and your friend has noticed he asks if there's anything else more going on between you and her you tell him no and proceed to elaborate on the situation telling him about what you read online he tells you about something called confirmation bias and explains to you what it is you find it interesting but you're not concerned you know you're not as susceptible to cognitive biases as the average person you're thoughtful and careful about what you think and believe you engage in a wide range of content and conversations and you consider both sides to every argument you're open-minded and mostly rational and you're currently suffering from the cognitive bias known as bias blind spot bias blind spot is the tendency for individuals to recognize the presence of cognitive biases as phenomena of the mind that affect people's ability to comprehend evaluate and assess situations while simultaneously failing to acknowledge the degree to which they themselves are affected by cognitive biases in a study conducted by the psychologists Emily pronin Daniel Lynn and Lee Ross over 600 us residents were tested on this bias the study found that 85% of the participants believe that they were less biased than the average only one person believed they were more biased than the average ultimately we all like to think we are fundamentally in control of ourselves we like to believe we are mostly rational and often right we like to consider ourselves as being competent and unique but so much of what we think and believe is Guided by processes of the mind that we have nothing to do with and that have no regard for rightness or rationality or uniqueness we consciously know that our mind is so much more than what we consciously know we are not merely the voice in our head we are not merely the concepts we can articulate or imagine we are not merely what we can perceive and comprehend we are the whole system physical unconscious and conscious external and internal our awareness resides at the end of all the mechanisms and Frameworks of perception and mental activity a conscious Observer trying to make sense of everything the problem of course is that our cognition is limited and often skewed the process riddled with blind spots and biases like the ones mentioned as well as countless more systematic errors in thinking formed out of the process of evolution which always cares about survival and the ability to act but does not always care about accuracy and Truth biases like the ones mentioned might have helped with efficiency and survival for our ancient ancestors when information resources and people were limited but in the world we live in today with the unique goals and problems we have the lingering remnants of cognitive function designed for a world that is no longer can at times cause harm for us resulting in poor decision-making deviation from reality and negative social behaviors we will never become the sole driver of our minds of ourselves but we can perhaps become a more observant passenger by becoming more aware of our cognitive biases and psychological phenomena and by practicing a greater sense of humility toward ourselves we can perhaps notice when errors are occurring in our thinking a little more often and we can thus create moments for pause and reflection and in these moments when we recognize our flawed capabilities and our feeble control over our self we find the real opportunity for Lucidity and Truth one of the greatest ways we can become more aware of our thought processes better overcome our blind spots and improve our critical thinking and composure in life is through learning paradoxes and thought experiments in my new book of collected works the art of living in a absurd existence explore some of the most interesting paradoxes thought experiments and ideas of philosophy that help elucidate the common problems in our thinking and knowledge so that we can better break free from these errors and are Hubris in general and arguably most importantly exploring these Realms can help us better appreciate and come to peace with the Absurd journey of existence if you like this video I think you'll really like this section the mystery of who you are which is about selfhood identity and the Mysterious origins of our thoughts the link to get your copy is in the description if you choose to get a copy thank you so much your support means the world and contributes to the continuation of pursuit of Wonder and my work more broadly and of course as always thank you so much for watching in general and see you next video

Channel: Pursuit of Wonder

Views: 178,823

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Id: UXrRlxmZG2A

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2024