Confirmation Bias in 5 Minutes
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the psychological divide between our conscious 'writer' and unconscious 'elephant,' explaining how this dynamic leads to biases like confirmation bias. It discusses how our brains take shortcuts to process information, resulting in stereotypes and self-justification. The video uses the example of Cathleen Hartnett White's nomination to highlight how biases can affect decision-making, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and overcoming these tendencies for unbiased judgment.
Takeaways
- 🤔 Our minds are divided into an 'elephant' (unconsciousness) and a 'rider' (consciousness), where the rider is often mistaken as the one in control.
- 🧠 The divide between the elephant and the rider can lead to cognitive biases, causing us to believe we are right even when we are wrong.
- 🔍 Confirmation bias is a common type of bias where we tend to seek out and favor information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs.
- 🧐 Our brains take shortcuts to process information, leading to the formation of stereotypes and generalizations that may not always be accurate.
- 👶 We develop stereotypes based on our life experiences and societal norms, which are stored in our unconscious mind.
- 🤝 Evolutionary psychology suggests that our ability to reason evolved to support social agendas, justify actions, and defend our groups.
- 🌿 An example of confirmation bias is seen with individuals who deny climate change, only accepting evidence that supports their stance.
- 🌳 The video uses the example of Cathleen Hartnett White, who was nominated to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, to illustrate confirmation bias.
- 🏛 White's affiliations and actions are highlighted to show how personal bias can influence one's beliefs and decisions, even when they are in a position of authority.
- 💡 It's a responsibility of experts and leaders to make decisions as free from bias as possible and to admit when they are wrong or lack knowledge.
Q & A
What is the main analogy used to describe the mind in the script?
-The script uses the analogy of a 'writer' and an 'elephant' to describe the mind. The 'writer' represents consciousness, while the 'elephant' represents the unconscious mind.
What is confirmation bias, according to the script?
-Confirmation bias is when a person focuses only on evidence that supports their pre-existing beliefs, ignoring evidence that opposes them. This leads people to think they're right even when they're wrong.
Why does the script claim that even smart people are biased?
-The script claims that being human makes everyone inherently biased, regardless of intelligence. Bias is unavoidable because the brain relies on shortcuts stored in the unconscious to process vast amounts of data.
What role do life experiences play in forming biases, as explained in the script?
-Life experiences shape patterns in our unconscious mind, leading to generalized thoughts and stereotypes. For example, seeing men as leaders and women as caretakers reinforces gender stereotypes.
How does evolutionary psychology explain our tendency to defend our beliefs, even when wrong?
-Evolutionary psychology suggests that humans developed reasoning abilities to defend their social agendas and actions, ensuring the survival and dominance of their groups.
What example does the script provide to illustrate confirmation bias in politics?
-The script gives the example of Cathleen Hartnett White, who denies that human activity is a major driver of climate change and supports her view with selective evidence, reflecting confirmation bias.
Why do people, including experts, find it difficult to admit they are wrong?
-People, especially those regarded as smart or experts, find it hard to admit they're wrong because it challenges their self-perception and the authority they’ve built over time.
How do stereotypes form in the mind, according to the script?
-Stereotypes form through repeated exposure to certain patterns in life, which are stored in the unconscious. These patterns influence generalized expectations, often leading to incorrect assumptions.
What responsibility do leaders have in making decisions, according to the script?
-Leaders, whether politicians, teachers, or experts, have a responsibility to make decisions that are as free from bias as possible and admit when they are wrong or unsure.
What is a key takeaway about the relationship between the unconscious (elephant) and conscious (writer) mind?
-The key takeaway is that while the conscious mind (writer) tries to guide, the unconscious (elephant) often holds more influence, and controlling or changing these deep-seated beliefs is difficult.
Outlines
🐘 The Dichotomy of Consciousness
This paragraph introduces the metaphor of the 'elephant' and 'writer' to describe the division between the conscious and unconscious mind. It explains how the conscious mind, or 'writer,' is often mistakenly believed to be in control, but is actually just a guide to the 'elephant,' representing the unconscious mind. The text discusses how this division can lead to cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias, where people tend to focus on information that supports their pre-existing beliefs. The paragraph also touches on the inevitability of bias and the shortcuts our brains take to process information, leading to the formation of stereotypes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Elephant
💡Rider
💡Bias
💡Confirmation Bias
💡Unconscious Mind
💡Stereotypes
💡Evolutionary Psychology
💡Self-Righteous Hypocrisy
💡Social Agenda
💡Climate Change Denial
Highlights
The human mind is divided into an 'elephant' representing unconsciousness and a 'rider' representing consciousness.
The 'rider' or consciousness is often mistaken as being in control, but it is merely a guide for the 'elephant'.
Bias is an unavoidable aspect of human cognition that leads us to be wrong.
Confirmation bias is a common type of bias where we favor information that supports our pre-existing beliefs.
The brain takes shortcuts to process information, leading to the creation of stereotypes.
Stereotypes are patterns stored in our unconscious mind that influence our thoughts and expectations.
Our brains create generalized thoughts based on life experiences, which can be incorrect.
Evolutionary psychology suggests that our ability to reason evolved to further social agendas and defend our groups.
We often find evidence that supports our beliefs rather than looking for opposing evidence.
Confirmation bias affects everyone, including the creators of this video.
Cathleen Hartnett White, a nominee for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is an example of someone with strong confirmation bias.
White's beliefs are influenced by her professional affiliations and funding sources.
Bias can be particularly strong in experts or those who have been stereotyped as smart.
It is challenging for experts to admit when they are wrong or do not know the answer.
Leadership often involves making decisions that should be as bias-free as possible.
Admitting our biases and being open to changing our minds is crucial for personal and societal growth.
The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to subscribe, like, and share for more content.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
our minds are divided between an
elephant and a writer and while we often
think of the writer as the one in
control of the elephant we often forget
that the writer is only the guide we
usually call our writer consciousness
and our elephant unconsciousness and
it's the divide between them that makes
us think we are right when we are
actually wrong and guess what it doesn't
matter how smart you are or if you're
liberal or conservative you are first in
foremost human this means that you are
also bias toward yourself your beliefs
and your values bias is simply when we
think in a way that leads us to be wrong
it's unavoidable and hard to recognize
there are literally hundreds if not
thousands of different types of bias but
one of the most familiar to us is called
confirmation bias this is when for
example you see some politician on TV
denying that the climate is changing and
only legitimizes the facts that support
her or his point of view but why does
this happen and why is it in our nature
to see the evidence on only our side of
the table our brains have to understand
a shitload of data but it can't so
instead it takes shortcuts so that we
can focus on what we think are the most
important bits these shortcuts are
stored deeply in our unconscious mind
and is the reason we create stereotypes
for example when we grow up we mostly
see men as leaders in women as
caretakers think about it can you name
one female US president how about one
actor that is typecast as a stay-at-home
dad because of these life experiences
our brains create patterns and store
them in our elephants or our
unconsciousness these patterns then turn
into generalized thoughts and
expectations about most things in this
case of men and women it turns out that
in many cases these generalized thoughts
are wrong women can make pretty great
leaders and men can be amazing
stay-at-home dads but even if the writer
understands this it's still hard to
control what our elephant believes this
explains a lot about why our brains have
these patterns and why they create
stereotypes but what about why we try to
prove people wrong even when we are
wrong a theory and evolutionary
psychology says we evolved
our ability to reason as a way to
further our social agendas justify our
actions and defend the groups we belong
to why groups that work well together
often beat groups that are made up of
selfish individuals in a way we are all
self-righteous hypocrites our elephants
want us to survive so that our group
dominates part of this means we often
find evidence that supports a belief
that we already have rather than looking
for the evidence that opposes our
already held belief and everybody is
prone to this kind of confirmation bias
this video included one recent example
of confirmation biases president Trump's
nominee to lead the White House Council
on Environmental Quality Cathleen
Hartnett white miss white doesn't
believe that human activity is a major
driver of climate change and claims that
carbon dioxide emissions is good for the
environment on one side you have
millions of people that will immediately
call this bit crazy but if you ask those
disagrees why many of them won't be able
to share the evidence to disprove her
instead they will go with their gut
aka their elephant which can also be
right by the way at the same time if you
were to ask that crazy business white
why she believes co2 is good for the
environment satellites already show a
greening of the earth in part from the
very small amount of carbon dioxide
involved with using fossil fuels she'd
probably give you a list of her reasons
but wouldn't address the evidence on the
other side of the table she probably
would also leave out the fact that she
is a lobbyist for the Texas Public
Policy Foundation an organization
founded by art conservative Christian
billionaire James lenninger this is an
organization that has a mission to
deregulate markets and has been funded
by ExxonMobil Chevron and other
companies dubbed the who's who of text
polluters she might also leave out the
fact that she's a bad person and doesn't
really care about how her actions affect
others for example if she voted to build
coal plants near Dallas even when the
mayors and officials of those areas
strongly opposed it let's just say that
miss White's elephant is backed up but
because of her bias she as the writer
probably doesn't even know that
improbably thinks she's doing the right
thing and this is why she you and I are
all often wrong we forget that we can be
wrong and it's especially hard for
people that have been stereotyped is
smart their whole lives to admit that
their elephant is in more control of
them than they
as the writer and as an expert it might
be even harder to say I was wrong and
harder still to say I don't know this
white is an expert in so are thousands
of other scientists and policymakers but
as an expert politician teacher human or
whatever it's our responsibility to make
decisions and judgments that are as bias
free as possible and admit when we are
wrong or simply don't know the answer
unfortunately those in leadership are
often the ones that are least likely to
do that thank you for watching and
please subscribe like and share this
video it all
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