MARI WEB WORKSPACE

Decisions, Biases and the Creation of Knowledge

Workshop Series to be helt at ODU

WHY DO WE NEED THIS WORKSHOP?

Biases impact our decisions. In particular, cognitive biases can lead to decisions that are not rationally sound. See Lee and Lebowitz (2015) for examples of cognitive biases.

If evidence suggest that we need to make a decision that would require a change in our lifestyle, giving up something we like to do, or having to invest in something that doesn't have an immediate benefit for us, we often focus on what we don't know, instead of what we do know. This “pseudoskepticisim” (Shermer, 2015) leads to decision making under uncertainty, where the uncertainty is used to make decisions in favor of doing nothing, which, in the long run, leaves us vulnerable to the threats suggested by the evidence. A decision making under foresight, however, would focus on what we know, and by doing so, would make decisions addressing emerging threats and aim for rational and beneficial outcomes.

Biases also impact our relationships with the people around us and how we perceive and treat others. In particular, cognitive biases often misguide us in our relationships. The irrationality of the attitudes resulting from these biases are often missed because, generally speaking, we don't bother to analyze and understand our own decision making process.

Biases between different groups in society can be as large and severe as they often are between races (Lukianoff and Haidt, 2015). Studying the cognitive processes that impact our lives to a very large extent should be essential.

Biases limit our ability to create knowledge. More text to be added. See for example Jensen (2016).

Biases hinder us in seeing fundamental threats. More text to be added. See for example Simonetta (2015).

Biases also provide the basis for radicalisation (e.g., Bouzar, 2016) and inter-goup biases fuel terrorism (Reicher and Haslam, 2016). Addressing the biases on both sides of terrorism is a key element in overcoming radicalisation and reducing the threat of terrorism (e.g., Dutton and Abrams).

REFERENCES

Bouzar, D., Escaping Radicalism. Scientific American Mind, May/June 2016, 41-43.

Dutton, K., Abrams, D., 2016. Extinguishing the threat. Scientific American Mind, May/June 2016, 44-49.

Jensen, R., 2016. The Coddling of the Capitalist, White-Supremacist, Patriarchal American Mind. Resilience, published March 8, 2016. See here.

Lee, S. and Lebowitz, S., 2015. 20 cognitive biases that screw up your decisions. Business Insider, August 26, 2015. See here.

Lukianoff, G. and Haidt, J., 2015. The Coddling of the American Mind. The Atlantic, September 2015. See here.

Reicher, S. D., Haslam, S. A., 2016. Fueling Extremes. Scientific American Mind, May/June 2016, 35-39.

Shermer, M., 2015. What Can Be Done about Pseudoskepticism? Scientific American, March 1, 2015. See http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-can-be-done-about-pseudoskepticism/.

Simonetta, J., 2016. The Other Side of the Global Crisis: Entropy and the Collapse of Civilizations. Resilience, Published March 7, 2016. See here.