Those Double-edged Biases

 

All the while, I simply shrugged off that mile-long list of cognitive biases.  NOT until I had these realizations as to HOW they indeed help us, albeit in a low-key no-frills way.  Although we like to believe that we're rational and logical, let's accept the real truth that we are constantly under the influence of the multiple cognitive biases.  Alas, most of these biases do distort our thinking, and influence our beliefs and sometimes sway our decisions and judgments that we make.  Frankly, many of those are negatively impactful📗📙📘

Sometimes, these cognitive biases are fairly obvious as we might even find that we end up recognizing those tendencies within us.  BUT in many other cases, these biases seem so subtle such that they are [almost] impossible to notice.  One particular precious BUT limited resource we have is ATTENTION WHICH means we CAN'T possibly evaluate every possible detail WHEN forming thoughts and opinions.  SO HOW?  We then rely on mental shortcuts to speed up💥💥💥

Ironically, in the end, that becomes a trap for us because we end up with a bias.  BUT many of these biases are perilous at the very least.  LIKE CONFIRMATION BIAS where we only pay attention to information that confirms our beliefs about issues we thought we're correct.  LIKE agreeing in social media only to people WHO share your viewpoints.  So, WHAT traps people to incessant FAKE NEWS???

WHAT happens next?  People fall prey to FAKE NEWS WHEN they only choose online FEEDS or news sources that support their views.  If you are a Putin fan, you'll subscribe to the Russian FEEDS.  Of course, if you're an Arab, likely you'll subscribe to Al-Jazeera.  Experts explain that there are practical reasons WHY this happens and it's because by confirming existing opinions, it helps limit our mental resources needed to validate OR make decisions😌😌😌

Our takeaway:  Oh Oh Oh, I love this brutally honest poster telling us straight through our eyes:  DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK.  And that's our deep-seated problem lying underneath near the incognito bedrock.  So, UNLESS and UNTIL we correct the very biases we succumbed to, there's just NO other way for us to remediate and RIGHT THE WRONGS.  Those Double-edged Biases!!!