Understanding human biases and overcoming them.
Consider the set of all the things that happen to you. A lot of them you have no control over. You didn’t choose to be born. Some you have full control over. You chose to read this article. And then there are others you have partial control over. You can be good to someone in …
We don’t take things personally. It just happens. I mean, we have little conscious control over it when it happens. Like many other thoughts and emotions, we can only deal with this psychological phenomenon post hoc. We can only manage it after it has happened. Why does it happen, though? We take things personally because …
When things go wrong in your life, do you find yourself thinking: “Everything is my fault.”“I always mess everything up.” If you do, chances are you’re over-blaming yourself. Over-blaming or taking more than your fair share of responsibility for things can be just as bad as under-blaming. Things go wrong every once in a while …
“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, ‘What else could this mean?’” – Shannon Alder The actor-observer bias occurs when people attribute their own behaviors to external causes and the behaviors of others to internal causes. External causes include situational factors that one has no …
Jumping to conclusions is a cognitive distortion or a cognitive bias whereby a person reaches an unwarranted conclusion based on minimal information. Humans are jumping to conclusion machines prone to making quick judgements that are often wrong. Humans jump to conclusions using heuristics or mental shortcuts based on rules of thumb, emotion, experience, and memory …
Karma is the belief that your future is dictated by what you do in the present. Specifically, if you do good, good things will happen to you, and if you do bad, bad things will happen to you. Is karma real? Short answer: No. Keep reading for the long answer. Karma differs from fate. Fate …
Countless books have been written on the power of thoughts to shape reality. Motivational speakers and spiritual gurus keep reminding people of the importance of thoughts, particularly positive thoughts. The idea is that if you think positive thoughts, positive things happen to you. And if you think negative thoughts, negative things happen to you. The …
You’ve probably come across one of those people who believe they receive signs from the universe. Maybe you’re one of them. I certainly have thought this way in the past. You know, you’re working on a difficult task and you face an obstacle. Then you tell yourself it’s a sign from the universe that you …
Why do humans have a tendency to believe that the grass is greener on the other side? Some call it the grass is greener syndrome. Why do people crave what they don’t have? Why do people compare what they have with what others have? This article will attempt to answer all of these questions. People …
Do you know what’s the single biggest factor causing problems in relationships? It’s a phenomenon called the fundamental attribution error based on a Social Psychology theory called Attribution Theory. Before we talk about the reasons for fundamental attribution error, let’s properly understand what it means. Consider the following scenario: Sam: What’s the matter with you?Rita: …