Dealing with Biases

Introduction

Suppose a Democratic politician gets caught cheating on his wife, but a Democratic voter doesn’t consider that a reason not to vote for him: “What he does in his private life is his own business,” she reasons. However, if the adulterous politician had been a Republican, she would instead have thought, “Adultery is a sign of poor character—that shows he’s not fit to govern.”

This quote is the essence of the topic I’d like to talk about. Even though you’ve never had similar thoughts, it’s likely that you somehow have them.

When reasoning like that, you essentially shape your opinion based on other factors. You are not clearly thinking about your opinions on adultery. Your outcome is only based on your political side.

Another thing you usually don’t pay much attention to is the reason you get such news. If you really think that everyone is free to do whatever they want in their private lives when you read such a headline, you should immediately classify such things as non-news, regardless of your political party. I believe that trying to find an excuse for one behavior is somehow a sign of a defensive attitude.

In this chapter, the author also presented some techniques for determining whether you are falling into the Soldier Mindset attitude (or, more in general, to avoid Cognitive Biases). I might want to rename them so they resonate with me.

The Double Standard

Sometimes, there is a kind of judgment of other people.

In my language, you might hear using two weights and two measures. This actually means having two different ways of judging depending on the context.

The quote I gave at the beginning of this note is probably a good example of understanding this bias. In it, you are essentially using two different “defensive strategies” to support the same event.

How to combat this bias: Ask yourself if you are applying the same standard that you would use in other circumstances.

The Outsider

Imagine someone else stepped into your shoes—what do you expect they would do in your situation? When you’re making a tough decision, the question of what to do can get tangled up with other, emotionally fraught questions like, “Is it my fault that I’m in this situation?” or “Are people going to judge me harshly if I change my mind?” The outsider test is designed to strip away those influences, leaving only your honest guess about the best way to handle a situation like the one you’re in.

What would someone else do if they were in my shoes?

This is easier said than done. If you spend a lot of time making a decision and then ask yourself, “What would someone else do in my shoes?” You’ll likely come up with the same outcome.

This is an excellent exercise as you have to forget all the conclusions you’ve made so far and start over again. It’s like working on any kind of project: When you are 25% complete (when you’ve still time to start over) and you ask yourself if there were better solutions for completing it, it’s pretty unlikely to admit that the best solution was not what you pursued.

That’s to say that even though the solution is quite simple to read, applying it is very hard.

The Christmas Dinner Test

Original: The Conformity Test.

Never when I read a book, I found something resonating in a book as much as this topic.

I renamed it the Christmas Dinner test. Every year, during the Christmas period, I talk to many relatives who have different opinions (that kind of other opinions). Every time I speak to them, I never show my disagreement because I don’t want to engage in a similar discussion.

What I just told you is pretty exacerbating, just to give the context. But this happens a lot, even in other aspects of my life, but in a more subtle way. During the Christmas dinner, I voluntarily decided to ignore the other side and show agreement. Sometimes, it also happens that you switch into agree mode just because you do—kind of unconsciously. And I think this is what this bias is all about.

The solution. Whenever someone comes up with a statement, ask yourself: “What if he suddenly changes his opinion? Would I still agree with that?

The Don’t Test

Original: Selective Skepticism.

Assume you are talking with a stranger (i.e., you don’t know what her ideas are). Let’s call her Lydia. Suddenly, you hear a claim that you are not in agreement with. I think that abortion is like killing.

Somehow, you feel like you are screening everything the other person says to support her argument. It’s likely you won’t agree in the end anyway, but this is not a good excuse for not listening at all.

Now ask yourself: what if the statement was the other way around? I don’t think that abortion is like killing. If you agree with that, it’s more likely you would spend time listening to Lydia’s explanation.

I like to call this the Don’t Test. In my example, I simply added the word “don’t.” What you should do is add such a word and ask yourself if you would have reacted in the same way.

This applies to anything, from books and papers you read to each kind of conversation.

The Status Quo Bias Test

What would it be like to go back to the status quo if I was already living another life?

You can summarize the status quo bias with this sentence: It really seems humans are afraid of change. I talked to a lot of people who claimed that something is better only because it is the way it currently is.

I don’t want to support the idea that change is always better. But it is something worth considering if you are dealing with some crucial aspects of your life. Change involves a lot of emotional effort, but this is not a good reason to exclude it a priori.

I think this quote from the book really summarizes the point.

A friend of mine named David was living in his hometown with his college friends. He had a dream job opportunity in Silicon Valley, but he was torn about whether to take it. After all, he got along great with his college friends, most of whom lived nearby. Was it really worth giving that up for a better job? So he tried a thought experiment: “Suppose I was already living in San Francisco, working at an exciting and well-paying job. Would I be tempted to quit and move back home to be closer to my college friends?