mind traps

“In driver’s training we were taught to identify our visual blind spots and eliminate them with the help of mirrors and sensors. In life (...) we need to learn to recognize our cognitive blind spots and revise our thinking accordingly”

from Think Again by Adam Grant

baja

An important question to ask yourself is, “What if I’m wrong?”

Big Think • 3 Brilliant Critical Thinking Tools Used by Daniel Dennett

Best practices are rarely the best — they're mostly just cargo cult common practices.

And as more people adopt them, the more mediocre they become.

The best is usually what most people aren't willing to do.

Jason Fried • Tweet

cargo cult

Heuristic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

That sort of error is called “statistical bias.” When your method of learning about the world is biased, learning more may not help. Acquiring more data can even consistently worsen a biased prediction.

Eliezer Yudkowsky • Rationality

Our prefrontal cortex — the part of our brain that regulates our thoughts, actions, and emotions — has a ‘novelty bias,’ meaning that its attention is easily hijacked by something new, whether it’s a bird landing on your balcony’s rail to rest (one did just as I was writing this sentence) a text from a friend or a breaking news notification.

How Too Much Information Can Make Us Stupid and Miserable

novelty bias

While the Zeigarnik effect highlighted the tension and memorability of unfinished tasks, Ovsiankina's research delved deeper into the subsequent behaviors this tension fostered. Specifically, her studies demonstrated that when individuals were interrupted during a task and later given free time, they displayed a strong inclination to return to and... See more

Maria Ovsiankina • Ovsiankina effect

Zeigarnik effect vs Ovsiankina effect

Part of the problem is cognitive laziness. Some psychologists point out that we’re mental misers:10 we often prefer the ease of hanging on to old views over the difficulty of grappling with new ones.

Adam Grant • Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Occam’s broom is used to describe people’s tendency to sweep relevant facts “under the rug.” No doubt you’ve experienced Occam’s broom in an argument before — when the other person simply refuses to engage with a fact you’ve laid out in favor of your side.

Big Think • 3 Brilliant Critical Thinking Tools Used by Daniel Dennett

As we think and talk, we often slip into the mindsets of three different professions:13 preachers, prosecutors, and politicians. In each of these modes, we take on a particular identity and use a distinct set of tools. We go into preacher mode when our sacred beliefs are in jeopardy: we deliver sermons to protect and promote our ideals. We enter

Adam Grant • Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

mental modes: preachers, prosecutors, and politicians