It’s no more a bias than is the equally common mistake of believing that if “if A then B” is given, then knowing B allows us to deductively conclude A.
I think the term bias should be reserved for heuristics and cognitive optimizations which exist for very good evolutionary reasons but often go horribly awry, as opposed to things like “affirming the consequent” or the sloppy thought process you mentioned, which are symptomatic of an absent cognitive skill that we never had good reason to develop. The bias exploits a heavily selected-for cognitive process, whereas common logical ignorance is just a function of logical skill not really being part of our evolutionary heritage.
Actually “If A then B. And B. Hence A.” is probably a bias in your very sense, namely heavily selected for due to heuristic value.
Example: You know: “Approaching Danger ⇒ Friendly People Crying”
You perceive: “Friendly People Crying”.
Do you think there is danger?
Well, the friendly people might be practical jokers, on the other hand, people who take the “might be practical jokers” train of thought have a tendency to get their genes removed from the pool.
It’s no more a bias than is the equally common mistake of believing that if “if A then B” is given, then knowing B allows us to deductively conclude A.
I think the term bias should be reserved for heuristics and cognitive optimizations which exist for very good evolutionary reasons but often go horribly awry, as opposed to things like “affirming the consequent” or the sloppy thought process you mentioned, which are symptomatic of an absent cognitive skill that we never had good reason to develop. The bias exploits a heavily selected-for cognitive process, whereas common logical ignorance is just a function of logical skill not really being part of our evolutionary heritage.
Actually “If A then B. And B. Hence A.” is probably a bias in your very sense, namely heavily selected for due to heuristic value.
Example: You know: “Approaching Danger ⇒ Friendly People Crying” You perceive: “Friendly People Crying”. Do you think there is danger?
Well, the friendly people might be practical jokers, on the other hand, people who take the “might be practical jokers” train of thought have a tendency to get their genes removed from the pool.