Understanding that cognitive bias is a feature not a bug, is key to negotiation and changing minds. I find that in arguments, I only really convince someone by relating my case to the values they find important, sometimes those are the same as mine, which makes it easy, if they are clearly different I try to understand their core values. Sometimes people will reject this approach posturing as an objective rational agent, at this point I treat “rationality” as their cognitive bias, because we are not rational agents, we are irrational agents who are driven by desires over which we have no control, and for which the goal is not truth, but the reduction of mental tension and uncertainty, social acceptance and cognitive coherence—a measure of how well new information aligns with our current knowledge and views (the opposite of cognitive dissonance).
In this way bias is deleterious, so why has it survived natural selection? Because it is highly adaptive, and cognitively efficient (cheap). And when we think about it, if we discount the existence of a designer it’s also logically impossible for it to be otherwise, unless it was hardwired (like imprinting instincts in animals) how else would we get this knowledge, it would be entirely inflexible, making us capable, but not intelligent, like a dog’s supremely powerful nose that it uses to sniff other dogs’ butts. It is our ability to use previous knowledge to assess and adopt or reject incoming information that is the core mechanism of intelligence.
So, when faced with someone you are trying to convince of something, if they don’t already agree with you, they might have some important previous knowledge you need to help them square with this new info.
The “Soldier Mindset” flag is a fair enough call, I guess this could be seen as persuasion (a no-no). Perhaps, I would rather frame it as bypassing emotions (that are acting as barriers to understanding) in order to connect. Correctly understanding the other person’s position, or core beliefs, you actually have to let go of your own biases, and in the process might actually become more open to their position.
An idea I’m workshopping that occurred to me while developing the Contagious Beliefs Simulation.
Cognitive Bias is A Feature Not a Bug:
Understanding that cognitive bias is a feature not a bug, is key to negotiation and changing minds. I find that in arguments, I only really convince someone by relating my case to the values they find important, sometimes those are the same as mine, which makes it easy, if they are clearly different I try to understand their core values. Sometimes people will reject this approach posturing as an objective rational agent, at this point I treat “rationality” as their cognitive bias, because we are not rational agents, we are irrational agents who are driven by desires over which we have no control, and for which the goal is not truth, but the reduction of mental tension and uncertainty, social acceptance and cognitive coherence—a measure of how well new information aligns with our current knowledge and views (the opposite of cognitive dissonance).
In this way bias is deleterious, so why has it survived natural selection? Because it is highly adaptive, and cognitively efficient (cheap). And when we think about it, if we discount the existence of a designer it’s also logically impossible for it to be otherwise, unless it was hardwired (like imprinting instincts in animals) how else would we get this knowledge, it would be entirely inflexible, making us capable, but not intelligent, like a dog’s supremely powerful nose that it uses to sniff other dogs’ butts. It is our ability to use previous knowledge to assess and adopt or reject incoming information that is the core mechanism of intelligence.
So, when faced with someone you are trying to convince of something, if they don’t already agree with you, they might have some important previous knowledge you need to help them square with this new info.
The “Soldier Mindset” flag is a fair enough call, I guess this could be seen as persuasion (a no-no). Perhaps, I would rather frame it as bypassing emotions (that are acting as barriers to understanding) in order to connect. Correctly understanding the other person’s position, or core beliefs, you actually have to let go of your own biases, and in the process might actually become more open to their position.