Lecture Notes on Intuition, Biases, and the Scientific Method

Flashcards covering biases, the scientific method, and how theories are created.

Hindsight Bias

Also known as the knew-it-all-along effect; the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that you could have predicted or foreseen it all along.

Overconfidence

The tendency to think we know more than we do; humans are wrong far more often than they realize.

Perceiving Order in Random Events

The tendency to look for patterns and meaning even when they aren't there.

Theory

A tested and widely accepted model that helps explain and predict behaviors or events, based on observations, experiments, and reason.

Falsifiable

A feature of a good theory where it can be proven wrong with evidence and replicated results leading to its rejection.

Peer Review

The rigorous testing of a theory's credibility performed by experts in the same field.