https://bsky.app/profile/brianguay.bsky ... 7vyfpndc23
Bluesky thread with link to PNAS paper
People aren’t stupid, they just systematically misestimate
People aren’t stupid, they just systematically misestimate
Move-a… side, and let the mango through… let the mango through
Re: People aren’t stupid, they just systematically misestimate
I would agree it is correct to assert that suffering from a tendency to a psychological bias we mostly exhibit is not the same thing as stupidity.
Similarly, illiteracy is not the same thing as stupidity. But there is a high success rate in avoiding it through adequate education.
We are aware of other psychological biases, such as confirmation bias. There are many other such natural biases, including niche examples like the winner's curse in auctions. It is not so common to educate people in these things. But people who have been educated in them can (1) try to avoid falling into these trap themselves, and/or (2) take advantage of the bias in others. Indeed, it could be said that is precisely what marketing is. And arguably you do demonstrate you aren't so clever if you know it very well and still fall into it.
So here is another psychological bias to add to our collection, one rather important for political communications. And you are not stupid for falling into it, unless perhaps you have been educated in it and should know better.
Should our education more widely include psychological biases, so people can more easily avoid the mistakes these biases encourage, and also be more resistant to people trying to mislead us?
Similarly, illiteracy is not the same thing as stupidity. But there is a high success rate in avoiding it through adequate education.
We are aware of other psychological biases, such as confirmation bias. There are many other such natural biases, including niche examples like the winner's curse in auctions. It is not so common to educate people in these things. But people who have been educated in them can (1) try to avoid falling into these trap themselves, and/or (2) take advantage of the bias in others. Indeed, it could be said that is precisely what marketing is. And arguably you do demonstrate you aren't so clever if you know it very well and still fall into it.
So here is another psychological bias to add to our collection, one rather important for political communications. And you are not stupid for falling into it, unless perhaps you have been educated in it and should know better.
Should our education more widely include psychological biases, so people can more easily avoid the mistakes these biases encourage, and also be more resistant to people trying to mislead us?