Are You Running Statistical Analysis?

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I do think if you get older, you accumulate experience. And that's worth something. But the idea that I'm running statistical analysis in the part of my long term memory that I don't have direct access to is probably a fantasy. It's a beautiful idea, but it's probably not true. The million anecdotes are offset by the two million you don't remember, rather not remember.

Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes--but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book Psych with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and what the field of psychology can teach us about human intelligence, consciousness, and unhelpful instincts. They also discuss just how far psychology is from a true understanding of the human mind, and why, according to Bloom, that might not be such a bad thing.