Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement Why You Make Bad Decisions: Confirmation Bias and the 7 Sins of Lazy Thinking [Cognitive Biases #4]
Dec 5, 2025
Discover how cognitive biases shape our decision-making in surprising ways. Explore confirmation bias, the comfort of echo chambers, and the risk of neglecting important statistics. Learn to reframe unexpected events into manageable predictions and overcome decision paralysis with effective commitment strategies. Dive into intriguing examples, from everyday choices to historical disasters, while enhancing your long-term thinking. It's time to break free from mental shortcuts and choose clarity in your decision-making.
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Mind's Echo Chamber
- The brain defaults to building an echo chamber that flavors facts to fit current beliefs.
- Sam Webster Harris says awareness is the first step to reduce this automatic confirmation bias.
Challenger Shows Bias Costs Lives
- The Challenger disaster showed confirmation bias at deadly scale when engineers ignored cold-weather O-ring warnings.
- Sam Webster Harris links selective focus on launch-supporting data to the tragedy.
Iraq WMD Failures
- The Iraq WMD intelligence failure illustrates confirmation bias shaping massive political decisions.
- Sam Webster Harris notes agencies used selective data and hunches to justify war despite lack of evidence.