Ego Blindspots: Common cognitive distortions of the self - [Cognitive Biases #2]
Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement
Cognitive dissonance and rationalization
Sam uses the fox fable to show how people rationalize failures to protect self-image.
Ever caught yourself defending a dumb idea just to look smart?
That's your ego controlling your brain. Cognitive biases and ego team up to screw your decisions daily.
Picture this: confirmation bias has you cherry-picking facts that stroke your self-image, while ego whispers you're too smart for mistakes. Spot the traps like Dunning-Kruger (overestimating skill) or sunk cost fallacy (throwing good money after bad).
Takehomes:
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Point at one bias daily: "Am I ignoring counter-evidence like a muscly Irishman blocking the door?"
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Test decisions: Can you drop it on your foot? If abstract, make it concrete now.
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Audit ego weekly: List three "wins" that were actually luck—kill the illusion.
Hit play and arm yourself against yourself today.
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Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order.
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Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Spotlight Effect
02:07 Dunning Kruger Effect
04:25 Status Quo Bias
06:13 Curse of Knowledge
08:04 Cognitive Dissonance
10:17 The Halo Effect
13:54 Fundamental Attribution Error
16:01 Actor-Observer Bias
17:20 Self-Serving Bias
19:42 Hostile Attribution Bias
23:30 Don't blame other peoples behaviours
24:09 Don't get lost in our own world
27:09 These Biases exist for a reason
28:20 Don't get easily offended
29:01 Send Off
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