Alright fam, it’s time to talk about life hacks that help us become better people. Because we always want to work to improve our lives, and understanding how we can sometimes fail is essential to leading a more purposeful life.
That brings us to biases. They’re patterns of thinking we’re not even aware of most of the time. They can be quite useful in helping you filter information and make quick decisions, but they may sometimes cause more harm than good.
Let’s take a look at five common flaws in thinking and see what lessons we can learn!
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5. Survivorship Bias
This bias means we focus on the things that are doing well without taking into consideration that some things fail.
In the stock market, this refers to looking only at data of stocks that exist without considering that some investment opportunities are now gone.
This causes us to think that everything will be fine and there’s no chance at failing.
4. Stereotyping
A common implicit bias, we stereotype people or situations when we expect an outcome from them just because they belong to a certain group.
This causes us to miss important information or fail to evaluate an individual based on their own merits and behaviors.
3. Zero-Risk Bias
Change often involves risk, but the reality is that we like to be in our comfort zone. This becomes a problem when we decide we’ll never take a risk at all.
This may reduce the probability of encountering harm or danger, but it also means we lose out on valuable experiences.
2. Placebo Effect
The placebo effect occurs when we expect something to happen, and then it does.
In medicine and science, people who are given fake pills often report feeling better because they expected their treatment to work. If you think about it, this is kind of a good thing, but it can also lead to negative results in people who only expect the worst.
Because of the way it’s been studied, the placebo effect is mostly understood in a medical context.
1. Pro-Innovation Bias
Pro-innovation bias is the tendency to think that new, shiny information or objects are better than pre-existing information or inventions.
This causes people to overlook the possible problems with new inventions and only focus on the good and may lead to unwise decisions.
Okay, real talk… DO NOT worry if it seems like you’ve succumbed to these biases in the past. That’s perfectly normal. The good news is that you’re learning more about the existence of biases and their potential effects so you can make the best possible decisions.
Care to share your opinions or ideas in the comments? That’s your space to make yourself heard!
