HBH 21: Our Distorted Reality

The History of Being Human

Today I begin a pedantic journey into the tragicomic ways our perceptions and judgments are altered and distorted by our own cognitive processes -- goofy, heartbreaking, and humorous all at once, Index of topics included: 0:00 Intro 04:52 Anchoring Bias 08:59 Availability Heuristic 13:25 Backfire Effect 16:05 Barnum Effect 19:45 Belief Bias 23:06 Bystander Effect 27:22 Confirmation Bias and Belief Perseverance Including Wm. Flinders-Petrie vs the Pyramidologists 33:56 Curse of Knowledge 35:10 Declinism aka Old Fartism 36:49 Framing Effects 40:06 Fundamental Attribution Error (Salience of the Actor) Empty Boats I will finish the topic in a few weeks, but in order to not bore you to death with this laundry list, I will interject a few historical vignettes between now and then.