5 psychological flaws that distort the way we see the world Bashny.Net

We all make mistakes, even when doing familiar things.

There are several common patterns that occur when we are wrong, well-known cognitive speed bumps, which are always stumbles our brains.

Here are 5 of them:




5. You see less than you think

You know how your eye works? You probably think that it works as a camera, right? The light gets inside, bounces off the lenses and mirrors, and then alle op - in your mind images appear, just as in the security camera

. In fact, everything is not so. Or so, if your eye - the most nasty video camera in the world. While the camcorder can keep the focus quite a wide field, your eyes - no. Only a small part of what you see is in focus at any point in time - the light that is reflected on a tiny part of the retina called the fovea. Everything else is a blur, which is difficult to distinguish from the ugly bear the sofa.

But, despite this, at any time, we have a rather detailed mental image of what is happening in front of us. How? In general, the eye focuses on what he needs, and the brain, meanwhile, fills the remaining gaps. More often than not based on what we have seen recently.

But it is not always the case. Sometimes our brains admits serious mistakes and creates optical illusions. He is trying to build their own image, not based on what he saw, and his ideas about how the world works, thereby failing the task of showing us the exact image. And it is really simple level. At a more sophisticated level, we assume an even more weird bugs.

In 1998, the researchers conducted an experiment to demonstrate the effect. The researcher came to the people on the street and asked how to get to the library. While the man explained to him the route passes by two other men, who were carrying the door. As they passed between the researcher and the person, the researcher changed places with one of the people who carried the door. People continued to explain the way the new man, not even noticing the change. The results showed that 50 percent of people who took part in the experiment, absolutely not notice anything. See for yourself!



How did this happen?
One theory states that when a person realizes that he is dealing with someone who would never see, he stops to look at his face. Our thoughts are worn on the head of the other party bucket on which is written, "Man, who is looking for a library." Such a person does not need a bucket, because we never did not see.

Our eyes see everything, but our brain does not remember it, because it believes that this information is not useful to him. It is this phenomenon, among other things, it explains why we rarely notice the new hairstyle of our loved ones.

4. You are full of hidden prejudice

Under the bias it means not that all women love fried chicken and all Asians go to the toilet in groups. I mean cognitive distortions - a well-known and studied the mistakes that we admit in the thought process

. There are several hundred studied cognitive distortion. For example, the gambler's fallacy - the tendency to think that past events may influence the future (independent) events. We believe that if the coin five times dropped an eagle at the sixth time she will fall tails. Or a penchant for belated judgment, when we think that we can predict the past (completely random) events.

Or identifiable victim effect, due to which we strongly react to a crime, if it hurt a particular person, not a faceless group of people. Whatever work you do not instructed his mind as soon as you turn your back, this asshole immediately try to use the shortest way.

3. You build too simplified models

You "know" how the world works. Each head is spinning over his personal small model of the universe. Of course, it is not complete because we have not seen the whole world, but what we have seen, it is quite obvious for us. Right? Let's examine a small part of the universe, and delve into the fetid swamp forums video games.

Almost every forum or a blog about video games, you'll find someone who will claim something like this: "Judging by the latest action with PlayStation / Xbox, this time Sony / Microsoft actually imposed in the pants. Look! The price of shares fell by XX points! »

You'll know what I mean, if you know a little about the stock market. For example, there is such a thing as the stock market, and that there are working people in suits. Prices for shares of successful companies rise and vice versa. It's simple, is not it? But if you know a little more about the stock market, you will realize that it is absolutely meaningless statement. Sony and Microsoft - huge companies whose division of computer games make up only a tiny fraction of their income. spit stock market what will happen with the Xbox, Microsoft Office while sales remain stable.

Let's go back to our little model of the universe. The problem is that in those parts of the universe, of which we still do not know anything, there is no space or small notes, "read the book, you moron." No, it's much worse. At this place is SOMETHING, and it's something crazy guesses based on our brain.

We simplify our relationship with people, when we conclude that someone's behavior is due to their individuality, rather than external factors. Of course, your co-worker does not answer the calls, not because he has a lot of work, but because he hates you! The cashier at the store is slow, not because it was her first day on the job, but because it is an idiot.

2. You do not learn to

error Sometimes we make mistakes. And there is nothing wrong. In the end, it is necessary to lay an egg to get better, right? Anyone will be able to remember a time in life when there was something new to him, and he is constantly mistaken, is not getting better with time. Somewhere in the distance playing inspiring music, and the world takes on new colors. Whatever your personal success story, the lesson is that the fall make us better.

Only it's not true. We learn a lot more from success than from falls. Scientists at MIT are connected to the brain monkeys, and watched as it successfully and unsuccessfully performed different tasks. They found that in contrast to the failure, the success of each match activation of the brain that affects its further attempts. When failures do not happen anything, but thanks to the success of the monkey was much easier to avoid mistakes in the future. What conclusions can be drawn from this story? I would say, it is better to say "We are learning through new attempts" (of course, if you have enough common sense to not step twice into the same trap).

At a more sophisticated level, we can see another disappointing cognitive bias - situational bias. This happens when you make a choice, and then immediately begin to look for evidence that it is correct. You give preference to the evidence that support your choice, and ignore those that say the opposite (if you ever saw a man who bought the Mac, you'll know what I mean). This is a very tricky thing. Even if your choice was a mistake objectively, you will be very difficult to understand, because your brain will fight to the last, so you do not see.

1. overconfidence

Despite the ridiculous way that no warning chooses our brain, it does not suffer from lack of self-confidence. More often than not we have it more than necessary. For example, when people say they believe in something 100 percent, there is somewhere 80 percent chance that they are right. 93 percent of people believe that drive a car better than others. 84 percent of French people believe that they are above average in bed.

We all think that we are above average in all that we do, and the less we have of something we know, the more confident in their abilities. As once said, Charles Darwin, the man who was widely known for his confidence: Ignorance begets confidence more often than expertise

. Even the greatest experts can suffer from excessive confidence. Think of the surgeons, who in all respects above average in all that they do. Surgeons - are people too, and they too make mistakes. Tools forgotten inside patients begin operations without the necessary equipment, the legs are attached to the bones of the neck bones. This is a serious problem, because of which occurred more than one death.

The easiest way to minimize errors - is to use lists. The patient here? Check mark. We have enough leeches? Check mark. In other words, many pages of accounting and tedious lists that already knows one of ordinary skill. Airlines always use lists - and this explains why they have such a good safety record

. Despite this, when the doctor tried to put into practice the use of lists in hospitals, he was confronted with considerable resistance from other surgeons. They considered pedantic lists of affront and a waste of time on what they already know how. The idea that they can forget the 18th step in the 57-step operation that can happen to anyone, was to them inconceivable. That's the story.

No matter you are smart or stupid - no matter what you do, you are bound to make mistakes. The only solution - use lists, although it is boring, insulting, and no one still does not want to do it.