Human beings, it turns out, are magnificently good at fooling themselves.
Sadly the mind has developed an elaborate way of hiding our worst thinking mistakes from us. Our shortcut-taking so instinctive we rarely notice it happening.
This episode explores seven of these habits and on the way answers a lot of questions. Why do we blame the referee and ignore our own missed shots? Why does a friend's anecdote beat a mountain of statistics? Why do the people who commit history's worst atrocities rarely think of themselves as villains?
I find it oddly comforting discovering that everyone, including myself, is quietly wired / weird this way. Hopefully you do to and can learn to start working around it.
Catch yourself assigning blame to one convenient cause
Ask what a friend's story leaves out that the statistics reveal
Notice when certainty feels good but the evidence is thin
Listen in, and you may never trust your first instinct quite the same way again.
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NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
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Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
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Chapters
00:00 Benefits of thinking hard thoughts00:52 Developing ourselves and our thinking01:12 Optimizing for the wrong things02:45 Doubting takes time and energy03:39 The 7 biggest flaws of lazy thinking06:35 Single cause explanations to complex events08:52 Justifying your own actions while judging others11:52 Tangent on the book Evil14:01 Your field of vision isn't everyone else's17:45 Prioritizing stories over statistics20:26 Outsourcing hard decisions to experts23:47 Overconfidence25:59 Annie Duke and thinking in bets28:00 Accepting probability and reality29:11 Outro
Topics discussed
Why humans default to lazy thinking instead of doing the harder mental work
How rushing to eliminate doubt leads to wrongful blame and bad decisions
Why blaming one cause for complex events ignores the real bigger picture
How we justify our own mistakes while judging others for the same ones
Why ordinary people can rationalize evil without believing they're doing wrong
How assuming everyone shares your worldview limits empathy and understanding
Why personal stories persuade us more than statistics, even when we're wrong
The hidden risks of outsourcing big decisions to consultants and so-called experts
How overconfidence blinds us to the role of luck and probability in life
Why embracing uncertainty leads to better decisions than chasing false certainty
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