Category: Critical Thinking

Well, I think it’s not too late to write, as somewhat I still possess a negativity bias in me. Yes, I do at times have a greater recall of unpleasant memories compared with positive memories. Whether it is a workplace or family experience, I invariably remember the instances where I sensed a complete distrust on me; I was disappointed by others actions and words. I would also mention here, that today I am quite self aware about this particular bias in me and making an attempt to balance my thoughts.

Let me add, I am much happier now, not because my views or my situations have changed. I am happy because I envision my life differently; I see myself surrounded differently; the people I interact with are very different; and I am happy to experience this difference in me.

I don’t want to get lost in search of my story, and I am not in a hurry to bring about a change in my life. First, let me experience the dive – deep into my thoughts and taste the progressive fall in my life. I wish to grow a little older to experience a phenomenal rise and would then express my say, based on my biases and the changed time.

I have been reading this book called “Sophie’s World” –  a novel about the The History Of Philosophy” by Jostein Gaarder. It is a short history of western philosophical thought from Socrates to Sartre, and talks about how human thinking has evolved over the years. What we know today about the existence of everything in the universe, right from the big bang to our own existence is all because of critical thinking.

Over the past few days, I have been consciously watching my thoughts, and I have successfully  been able to connect the behavior of people around me to some or the other bias and thereby justify their behavior in a given situation. I have tried to identify the biases that I usually operate from, and have recognized  traits of different biases in various instances.  This path of mystery should lead inward and it is still work in progress. As rightly said by Albert Einstein – the important thing is to never stop questioning.

“Critical Thinking”: This word attracted me towards this workshop. As soon as the name of the Workshop was announced, from that very moment I was thinking to shift to this workshop and finally I did.

On the very first day of our workshop, I came to know that our thoughts depend on our biases. After getting the list of biases, it was too overwhelming for me to go through all the biases and finding one for me. After going through the list, finally I was able to find a bias for me that is “Bias blind spot”. Link is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_blind_spot .

It is a type of Cognitive bias and when I started making connection with this bias I realized that many times my thoughts and decisions get affected by this bias. This workshop has helped me in thinking critically in my day-to-day life. Still I am in process of finding out other biases for me and make connections with them.

I would like to thank Vardan Sir for taking this workshop and this journey of learning.

Regards,

Rita Menghrani

We are what we repeatedly do — Aristotle.
This workshop got me thinking. I began researching different biases and could connect with many of them. The list was endless… ambiguity effect, blind-spot bias, belief bias, negativity bias, the ostrich effect.

I am sure that I have demonstrated these biases many times. But after attending this workshop, I became cautious and began watching my thoughts and actions. When I read about the denomination effect, where people are less likely to spend larger bills than their equivalent value in smaller bills, I could immediately connect to it and caught myself demonstrating it. I also recall spending plastic money more easily than hard cash; the value being the same.

The title is inspired from …Anita Archer…Look…Lean…whisper –strategy for sharing with a partner.

So am sharing a few biases which I found around me….few of which I am guilty of myself.

Confirmation bias:I am oversensitive to recognizing patterns especially about something negative.( Old news..I know)

My claim: 13 is an unlucky number for me

My evidence: I was thrown out of my in-laws house on 13th, my late mother was in the ICU–her room number was 13, there were 13 days between my mom’s birthday and death day, a very dear and close friend of mine lost their spouse on 13th. And last and most powerful the letter “M” is the 13th letter of the alphabet and hence I am unlucky…..laugh if you must…I know that you are…but that’s what my crooked mind is up to.

Social proof/Chauffeur knowledge: Limited understanding of anything but doing it because everyone else is doing it

My claim: Whats app messages discussing intellectual topics are totally useless

My Evidence: I have tried and done it, just probing a little bit further to anyone who passes on such seemingly intellectual posts and most of the time they have no clue about the topic at all, and sometimes to cover up they just keep asking the same question in other groups and than keep posting those answers in the group….(Deja moo…hmmm)

Illusion of control and Framing (Not what you say, but how you say makes all the difference) are other two biases which I find mostly in school, with teachers who are unable to manage students and the latter mostly used by effective leaders(..this should not be a surprise;) to get work done.

So yes, we are surrounded and crowded by biases and sometimes just sometimes they strike us so bad and we feel like we are ready to explode like it’s Diwali!!!!

A vague idea of what ‘Critical Thinking’ – It is thinking from a different perspective or digging deep into the information available to reach a conclusion.

Googling gave me the first meaning of Critical thinking – ‘the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement’.

In my opinion most of the decisions in life need critical thinking, but for that we need to understand “What Critical Thinking actually is?”

One part of the workshop was to go through the list of biases, and as I started reading it… I was like “ Oh! This also applies to me, I am biased in this way as well…” and the list was never ending.

Negativity bias – Inclined towards the thinking of more of unpleasant events (greater recall of unpleasant memories) than the pleasant one. Whenever I start a task and if I come across a negative memory / fact,  I get demotivated.

Google effect – The tendency to forget information that can be found readily online by using Internet search engines. This one I found interesting. If I do not understand even a small thing (E.g if I have to cook and I have already made that dish earlier I will still go back and search it on Google.) and I have the answers. Most people can relate to this. Especially people at FS!

Others are:

Planning fallacy

Post-purchase rationalization

Looking forward to learn more.

Swati

Life itself is a duality and I keep coming up with more and more examples to support my thinking….yeah I know confirmation bias…but what I am really struggling with is when to use which of the two options….how do I become more wiser now that I am already ‘intelligent’;)

Example 1:

Option A)

Sunk cost fallacy–Do not keep going on and on with something which is not giving desired results just for the heck of it. I gave up pursuing journalism.

Option B)

Try try and you will succeed…I continued my MHRD…

Result or my conclusion: I should have continued journalism as I like writing and MHRD,

Well as you know it has not been of any use….

I am trying to organize my thoughts into some semblance of order…failing miserably:(

The workshop gave me an insight into the self discovery of my own thinking. I was not aware that my thoughts depend on many biases, until I came across the list.

First when I saw the list of biases, I felt that none of the bias relates to me. But, as and when we started discussing the biases along with examples, at almost each and every bias I felt that – yes, this bias has affected my thinking process.

The bias that has affected my thinking process the most is the “Outcome Bias – The tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made.”. To relate it to the past happenings of life – I was only judging the final decision/outcome rather than evaluating the main cause that had led to such a decision and the question that revolves in my mind is – mein hi kyun – aise toh mene kaunse paap kiye hain. However, after coming across this bias, I am putting my best efforts to overcome it – though still in process.

Regards,

Suruchi Arora

“The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnificent. It’s the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Because if it was not for love, the world would have been robbed of a fine example upon which people base their relationships. An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away.”

http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/history.html

The first thing that comes to mind when someone even mentions Taj Mahal is “love”. Ofcourse the monument is breathtaking each time one visits it, but what really takes our breath away is the way it brings out love and mushy desires. These desires can reach the  pinnacle when its a full moon night and the moment becomes eternal when your beloved shares the same moonlight that shines on the the Taj.

OK!

What if a person who does not know about the history of Taj Mahal visits it? (Which I think is rare, courtesy UP Tourism) However, hypothetically if someone who does not know the history will look at the structure from a totally different point of view. He may appreciate the structure, scriptures written, location, or may just be bored.

As mentioned by Rolf Dobeli “narratives are irrelevant, still we find them irresistible”. The world we live is closely knit with stories that brings an apparent harmony to things and makes them look coherent. The story bias states that “stories are dubious entities” and they simplify and distort reality and filter things that do not fit. Advertisers benefit from it.

So when people get all mushy when they see the Taj, its not really the monument that brings out those feelings, its their confirmation with the age old story of Love that is associated with it.

The knowledge of Story Bias has made me question a lot of things, ofcourse the stories are fascinating, however, when something is thought critically then one is wary and is able to look beyond what is said and believed.

Ofcourse I love the Taj. However, Iam sure it will look equally mesmerizing even on a star lit night. Because the feelings that I have are not in the monument but in me.

Vagisha