Philosophy 105!

System 1

-has thsi

System 2

-has

why is elephant and rider better than horses and chariot?

what is it called when systems one and two clash during a task?

cognitive pitfalls

what are the 7 main cognitive pitfalls?

-cognitive illusions

-evolutionary mismatch

-availability heuristic

-belief perseverance

-confirmation bias

-motivated reasoning

-Evidence primary effect

what are cognitive illusions?

-cognitive illusions are sensory/visual illusions where system 1 is tricked into believing something like an image that is not true, even if if the conscious system 2 is aware that the the other side is wrong.

-is tricky because despite knowing system 1 is wrong, since you have no control over system, you still cant change what your brain decides to see

what is evolutionary missmatch?

when humans have a trait or signal necessary to keep early humans alive still remains but is no longer required for modern humans

-back when we only had fire as light and no secure houses, it was dangerous for people to be outside let alone in the dark, so the fear you get of being in the dark has stayed with humans even if you are perfectly safe inside

what is the difference between a heuristic and an availability heuristic?

-A heuristic is simply a choice or shortcut that your system one makes quickly as a way putting more effort into a decision

-availability heuristic is an example of a heuristic, that takes place in a specific situation where someone relies on whichever memories regarding that topic come to them first; acts as a less effortful shortcut to forming an opinion or bias.

- related to memories and relying on your system ones shortcut of these ideas it makes, instead of putting in effort to find correct and true information, and basing your opinion off of that

what is availability heuristic

-runs off memories

-availability heuristic is an example of a heuristic, that takes place in a specific situation where someone relies on whichever memories regarding that topic come to them first; acts as a less effortful shortcut to forming an opinion or bias.

- related to memories and relying on your system ones shortcut of these ideas it makes, instead of putting in effort to find correct and true information, and basing your opinion off of that

what is the evidence primary effect?

-Evidence primary effect is how people tend to trust and believe evidence they heard first when compared to other evidence.

-Can affect reasonable decision making if person subconsciously chooses info learnt first over evidence that actually makes more sense

what is motivated reasoning

motivated reasoning happens when someone chooses a bias or opinion based on something they wish/ want to be true, instead of opinion based on accurate information

-like a smoker who argues/ doesn’t care as much about the effects of smoking and is connected to how they think smoking isn’t that bad for them, because if they acknowledged that it was, they would have more reason to stop

what is belief perseverance?

tendency to stick to a belief even when there’s evidence disproving it

-I think my belief can be preserved despite evidence against it

what is confirmation bias?

someone putting more effort into finding evidence that confirms their own opinion and looks less at evidence connected to the opposite side

-I work hard to confirm my own bias

what are some similarities and differences between confirmation bias and belief preservation?

-they both connect to having the wrong mindset about your opinions/ are stubborn; and don’t attempt to understand or learn the full truth

-also, not only used with people who have the wrong opinion, but people whose opinions reflect the truth as well; like how someone with a correct idea on a subject can still disregard evidence proving the opposite side- which is bad because both sides can have things that are correct; nothing is ever black and white

-a difference is that belief preservation surrounds holding onto a belief even when there is evidence against it, while conformation bias goes a step further by using more effort to prove your own point with evidence, while consciously fighting against acknowledging evidence from the other side

what is cognitive reflection?

Cognitive reflection is when you allow system 2 to reflect on system 1s behaviors and ideas and put in effort to recognise when system one has made an error, and fixing it and putting more effort into the decision