Discussion Topic
Cognition and decision making in "You Are Not So Smart" by McRaney
Summary:
David McRaney's You Are Not So Smart explores how cognitive biases and irrational thinking influence our decision-making processes. The book delves into various psychological phenomena, such as confirmation bias and the Dunning-Kruger effect, illustrating how our minds often deceive us into making flawed decisions based on misconceptions and flawed reasoning.
In You Are Not So Smart, what does McRaney suggest about cognition and decision making?
McRaney is asking you to believe your judgements are often guided by irrationality rather than by reason and that you do not always understand why you make the decisions you do. For example, you have preconceptions, biases, and shortcuts in your thinking (called heuristics) that make you prone to errors of judgment and decision making. An example is priming, when a stimulus from the past affects your current decision. In a study cited by the author, subjects were asked to remember a sinful memory. Half of the participants washed their hands, while others did not. Those who did not were more likely to agree at the end of the study to help a graduate student for no money, and the researchers posited that it was because the people who had washed their hands had unconsciously washed away their guilt. This study is an example of how the unconscious plays a...
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powerful role in our decision making.
The premise of the book might challenge your ideas that your decisions are always guided by logic and reason, or that you even know why you choose to make the decisions you do. Many people are surprised when they realize that illogic, the unconscious, and other forces beyond their control affect their decisions in powerful ways and that cognition is not entirely rational and conscious.
In You Are Not So Smart by McRaney, what factors influence decision making?
It is important to realize that McRaney calls these factors "cognitive biases." It is also important to realize the full title of the book: You are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself.
McRaney admits that these factors or "cognitive biases" are actually "predictable patterns of thought or behavior" that lead people "to draw incorrect conclusions." McRaney also admits that we come "pre-loaded" with these biases. In fact, there are so many that humans do not even notice them. McRaney's best example of one of these factors has to do with confirmation. McRaney calls this factor "confirmation bias." In making decisions, McRaney says that people do research in order to find information to confirm their outlandish beliefs. At the same time, they ignore whatever they find that would prove their outlandish beliefs to be wrong. Any books found on a bookshelf or any bookmarks you have on your computer are the result of this. Another example McRaney gives of our functioning is the Wason Selection Task which involve people selecting one or more cards out of four. Without going into the vast number of specifics of this task, suffice to say that due to our "cognitive biases" most people choose only one of the cards in order to prove the rule while, in reality, it takes two cards to prove it.
Finally, it is important to realize the function of these factors. They help continue with "maintenance of a positive self-image." These factors that help influence your decisions are designed "to make you feel awesome about yourself." The unfortunate thing is that these "cognitive biases" are false.