Cognitive Biases 101, with Peter Baumann | Big Think

To be very honest if bias is this what objectivity is so e.g we choose this country we are bias our constitution is bias our pasr experience are bias what is actually unbias- actually our objective is also bias it's relative.

I think biases are very important otherwise how will we live and particular biases can help us do so many things.

Excellent 👍 👍 👍 👍

He says that bias is ok - I disagree. Bias results in incorrect interpretations of what's going on. It results in delusions (a disconnect with reality). And you can't win a battle with mother nature, you can only work with her and our problem solving ability is limited by how well we understand how the world works. I'd suggest that bias (delusions) are a key cause of the political polarization we have.

Are there non-cognitive biases?

I wonder what confirmation bias is in Poland. When I heard that in Germany that bias is "don't make a mistake, get everything right" it makes me a connotation that Germany is so neat country with a lot the things fixed that in Poland the same things are broken. Sometimes I think Polish confirmation bias is "don't do this - what others will tell, what your neighbour will tell, what your grandmother will tell?" - could be confirmation bias damaging? Like abstaining from acting and turning negative against other?

Great point that the world looks different for other people.

I think everyone I meet is unique actually. Maybe I misunderstood his point.

He can't even look at the right camera...

"The world looks different to other people..."
If half of America started with this, who knows where we'd be...

Not making a mistake, hmm like starting a world war? Cool vid

I have a bias for experiencing life,  rather than death.

I don't agree with his examples of bias. Biases are irrational. That's what makes them bad! Preferring to be on stable ground rather than wobbling ground is not a bias. On wobbling ground you're more likely to fall down and hurt yourself. Preferring to be alive rather than dead is not a bias!

You really are unic ;)

You are unique...just like everybody else...

On Uniqueness "bias".

Complexity and uniqueness tend go hand in hand. Naturally certain questions arise when discussing the definitive features of a person. What defines a person? How specific do we get; what is the resolution of inquiry?

If you imagine experience is fundamental, and that all aspects of a person are derived from experience then it becomes even harder to imagine sameness.
I will say it again. If each experience shapes a person, even in some small way, then it becomes harder and harder to imagine sameness across a large group of free people.

It seems to me you have to either disagree with the notion that experience shapes what it means to be us, or disregard the details of experiences which would clearly be unique in order to arrive at the conclusion that each of us are not in fact unique. 7 billion people is a lot of people, however the odds of getting the same combination of pieces when each set contains a large number of variables is mind mindbogglingly small. Another way of saying this is that it does not take many variables to make a large set of unique combinations.

It seems to me this particular "bias" is more about resolution of inquiry, or philosophy and what you think defines a person, than it is about psychology.

On one end you have individuals dismissing the features of personality the opposition points at, essentially claiming they are trivial. Then the rebuttal points out the arbitrary nature of the level of inquiry chosen. Philosophically speaking it should be clear how impossible the task of deciding what goes into defining even a simple thing, no less a complex thing. 

Now, most people think they are special, this IMHO is not the same at all. You could be unique, and not special at all. Again I strongly feel this is more a matter or scale, or resolution, than of uniqueness. 1+1=2, and that is always true. In a set of 3 [1,2,3], each are unique, but not necessarily special.

Uniqueness is a objective mathematical concept, being special is a subjective and in line with psychological aspects of bias. It may be unwieldy to call it special bias, or specialness bias or feeling special bias, but the term unique just makes a mess of the meanings involved and the focus of the topic.

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"When we're in some kind of discussion or we go into a different culture, [it is important] that we recognize that the world looks different for other people..." 

Recognizing cognitive bias may be an important issue. However, even the idea of bringing up the topic of confirmation bias is in itself confirmation bias; the idea that in our Western cultures we value the discussion of biases as opposed to not, because of the societies in which we are raised. From a linguistic anthropological perspective, it is even ingrained into the kinds of phrases we use, such as "Do as the Romans do." We value cultural differences and when we are faced with different ideas upon entering a new culture, we believe the best discourse is to try our best and assimilate into that culture, whether it be to learn a bit of the language, try some of the foods, or try and understand the local beliefs. 

However, this concept is not universally held. For the thousands of Muslims entering Western Europe, or Latin Americans coming into the United States, just as an example, are they really sitting down and pondering, "Hey, we all have cognitive biases, and maybe the best way of dealing with intercultural relations is to recognize those biases and put in an effort in regards to local assimilation?" 

We ourselves recognize that the world is different and we should try to follow in the footsteps of those from the culture in which we enter. It is generally looked down upon to not learn at least some of the language and gestures of the host country, not dress in an appropriate fashion, and not try to regard the beliefs of those as different but equal to our own. We our quick to condemn those who do not adopt the local customs as "arrogant" or "ignorant Westerners." We do this to ourselves, but why do we not hold the same standard for those entering our own cultures? Why do we not ask those entering our cultures to check THEIR biases at the front door in regard to understanding our cultures? At worst, we are labeled as "intolerant" for believing that someone entering our culture should try and adopt some of our ways while they are there, yet when we go abroad we call ourselves "intolerant" for NOT adopting the local customs.

“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.”

Leo Tolstoy

There's a lot to chew on in your video. A really interesting talk. 

What if we assume that our morality is just a group of biases?