Cognitive Biases And The Blind Spots Of Critical Thinking: Master Thinking Clearly, Learn Concealed Biases Of People, And Block Predictably Irrational Mental Models

By Phillip T. Erickson

You Don't Ever Want To Lose Out On Achieving Super Success In Life On Account Of Cognitive Biases and Blind Spots of Critical Thinking Blighting Your Decision Making? Then Read On!

Are you one of those people who find it difficult to get along with people or read situations? Do you feel that your life would change considerably for the better if you could get rid of your cognitive biases and improve your critical thinking skills? Have you always been awed at the sight of some people being able to feel comfortable in whatever situation life puts them in? Would you like to be one of those people? Do you also worry about your irrational behavior becoming a stumbling block in your personal and professional growth? What if you were told that you could find a great way of getting rid of your biases, blind spots and display of irrational behavior? Do you think that there is nothing on the face of this world that can help you overcome your predilection to make a hash of your social interactions? Then this book is what squarely addresses your concerns. 

You need to look no further than this masterfully created tome about all things concerning concealed biases, blind spots and irrational models of behavior! It contains everything that you need to know about critical thinking––what it is and what you can do to enhance it. It explains why some people have great emotional maturity and critical thinking ability and some seemingly none whatsoever. It makes you understand and believe that you can develop great emotional stability and the ability to come out on top in crucial situations.

By reading this book you get to

• Understand what cognitive biases and blind spots of critical thinking are.
• Understand the Impact of critical thinking on decision-making.
• Understand what Critical thinking is and how it can stop you from following irrational mental models of thinking.
• Learn to be great at critical thinking and optimal decision making.

Sure, there are a million articles and many books out there that make similar claims, but those are nothing more than just claims. Understanding cognitive biases, and blind spots of critical thinking involves the study of the human mind, which anyone will tell you is in the realm of the highest science. This book has referenced the latest scientific advances that are peer validated and accepted as relevant facts by the scientific community.

As a matter of fact, this book is a veritable tome on matters pertaining to cognitive biases, the blind spots of critical thinking and the prevention of the adoption of irrational models of critical thinking. It is based entirely on scientific research and evidence and informs the reader about everything there is to learn about the science behind that. There is nothing out there that fills you in about this important subject in an eminently practical way than this book. Reading it will make you understand why.

This book allows you to deploy scientifically validated methods that will help you enhance your critical thinking ability to a level that helps you transform your life. It will show you how you can emulate the level of super-achievers you have always admired. You will be able to do it because the book will hand-hold you and make you understand.

Reading this book will bring about an epiphany of your mind and transform your life. But only if you act now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phillip T. Erickson
• Release date: Sep 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393950578

Book preview

Cognitive Biases And The Blind Spots Of Critical Thinking

Master The Art Of Thinking Clearly, Learn Concealed Biases Of People, And Block Predictably Irrational Mental Models

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Phillip T. Erickson

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Understanding Cognitive Bias

Chapter 2: Blind Spots Of Critical Thinking

The Lone Ranger Syndrome

Insensitivity

The I Know That I am Right Syndrome

I Will Avoid Conflict At Any Cost

Not Assuming Responsibility

Not Honoring One’s Commitments

Conspiracy And Low Cunning

Unwilling To Fully Commit

Not Having The Courage Of Their Convictions

Happy With Mediocrity

Chapter 3: The Art Of Thinking Clearly

Chapter 4: People And Their Concealed Biases

Chapter 5: Blocking Predictably Irrational Mental Models

Numero Uno Syndrome

Availability Heuristic

Hanlon’s Razor

Anchoring

Falling For The Free Trap

I, Me And Myself Trap

I Am In Control

Belief In Authority

Occam’s Razor

Circle Of Competence

Chapter 6: Critical Thinking Is The Way Forward

Chapter 7: Learning More About Critical Thinking

Conclusion

Copyright © 2019 by Phillip T. Erickson - All rights reserved.

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Introduction

Man, the most rational of all animals is also guilty of erroneous and irrational thinking––far too many times than one would imagine. The primary reason for this is the human tendency to display several cognitive biases in thinking.

A cognitive bias is an intrinsic error in someone’s line of thinking that causes them to err in the decisions they take and in the exercise of judgment. As a child you might remember having visited the local town museum a couple of times. The memories that you carry in your mind about that place are those of one of the largest and most fascinating place with some amazing exhibits that left an indelible impression on your young consciousness.

If someone were to ask you about the places to visit in your home town, you might recommend that they visit the museum you visited as a child, because the memories of your childhood visit are still fresh in your mind. Not once would it occur to you that your memories might not exactly be 100% accurate. Now suppose that that person did take your advice and went to the museum you suggested.

Now that person would come across a very modest building with some very unimpressive exhibits and wonder why you made such a song and dance about how great the museum was. You did so because you had a cognitive bias about the place on account of your grand childhood memories.

As the above example proves, there are all kinds of cognitive biases that may cloud a person’s ability to think rationally. Any cognitive bias occurs during the processing of information that one is exposed to. The brain is quite often not able to understand or rationalize such information, which results in it making cognitive errors.

A person who was born and raised on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with literally no contact with modern civilization would not be able to comprehend what he or she was dealing with, if they were to witness a helicopter land on their island.

In an attempt to understand what the phenomenon of a flying craft carrying human beings wearing bizarre clothes could signify, such a person could think that celestial or divine beings have landed upon the island.  You might think that they are being ridiculous, but to such a person his or her perception might appear the more rational in the world! Put yourself in their place and you would likely feel the say way. If you time travelled to the Europe of the middle ages and tell them that the world is spherical and not flat they would probably take you to be mad or worse a heretic who should be burned at the stake.

As you can see, people will always suffer from some cognitive bias or other, regardless of which part of the world or even which era they belong to. However, there is only one way to avoid cognitive bias and that is by indulging in what is known as critical thinking. Critical thinking is the ability to question a purported fact and accept it only after validating its truth.

However, the fact that one may suffer from cognitive bias often leads to one not being able or not even wanting to exercise the faculty of critical thinking. For instance, if you have grown up thinking that European people are superior to Asian people, you would not even care to validate the truth of your belief, by getting to know Asian people better––so sure, smug and happy would you be in that erroneous belief.

The thing about cognitive biases is that they are not without their uses. The Europeans of the past few centuries spawned global colonies on the back of their technological and military superiority over the East and other parts of the world. Their sense of racial superiority, though reprehensible, led them to expand their empires relentlessly in the process making these nations richer than they had ever been before.

Likewise, we will see people and communities quite happy and content in their own worlds where they feel both satisfied and secure. There are many reasons for this.

For one, decision making is faster and less stressful in an environment that is familiar and less threatening. If you only want to hire people for a job from the town in which your company is located, because you believe that all he best talent is available locally, your hiring process will be a very straightforward process indeed, as there would be no need to scout for suitable candidates far and wide.

On the other hand, if you believe that you should never eat anything that you are not familiar with as that might make you sick, the fact of the matter is that you might actually reduce your chances of falling sick from eating something that didn’t agree with you.

But playing it excessively safe has never really been the best way forward for the human race. It is always the risk takers, mavericks and non-conformists, forever searching for the real truth who have caused mankind to strive harder and higher and in the process achieved the success that they did.

Everything from the discovery of the wheel, the printing press and atomic power, to electronics and digital technology owes something to the quest on the part of some critical