Introspection Bias

[rousseau]

My favourite bias, which you can find a primer on here.

It's an interesting one, and once you understand it you start seeing it everywhere. In a nutshell, when people are forced to introspect on a subject and express their feelings about it, they'll often just make something up that doesn't hit on their true motivation or feeling.

I originally read about it in a book called You Are Not So Smart which is a list of cognitive biases. Interesting read.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I'd say that if you cannot see yourself in other people then you are afflicted with introspection illusion.

 

[rousseau]

I'd say that if you cannot see yourself in other people then you are afflicted with introspection illusion.

The illusory superiority thing can be a part of it, but also interesting is the blunt unreliability of introspection (from the article):

The idea that people can be mistaken about their inner functioning is one applied by eliminative materialists. These philosophers suggest that some concepts, including "belief" or "pain" will turn out to be quite different from what is commonly expected as science advances. The faulty guesses that people make to explain their thought processes have been called "causal theories".[3] The causal theories provided after an action will often serve only to justify the person's behaviour in order to relieve cognitive dissonance. That is, a person may not have noticed the true reasons for their behaviour, even when trying to explain it. The result is an explanation that mostly merely makes themselves feel better. An example might be a man who mistreats others who have a specific quality because he is embarrassed that he himself has that quality. He may not admit this to himself, instead claiming that his prejudice is because he has concluded that the specific quality is bad.

Like some other biases, I'd think that you often just don't notice until you become aware of the bias. But what makes it even more interesting is how few people ever become aware of biases like this, so you can often see them play out in real time. With this one, you start noticing how much pure nonsense many of us spew.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Like some other biases, I'd think that you often just don't notice until you become aware of the bias. But what makes it even more interesting is how few people ever become aware of biases like this, so you can often see them play out in real time. With this one, you start noticing how much pure nonsense many of us spew.

I totally agree with you there. I think one has to live through recognizing how asinine, destructive and irrational has been much of one's behavior. But that awareness also includes recognizing that it isn't one's fault, it's just how we're built, how our environment has made us into what we are. We could probably do a lot better job in our schools and homes trying to change how we behave, passing on that knowledge. But as we both likely realize such counsel falls on deaf ears and much damage occurs despite those efforts before bearing fruit. In the end it's a physical thing, it's our brains primarily. Maybe in another couple hundred thousand years things will be better.

 

[Politesse]

I'm fond of fundamental attribution bias, myself. Once you're aware you're doing it, it's not as hard to avoid as some of the others, and purging it leads to much clearer thinking.