ironphoenix: (so deep)
ironphoenix ([personal profile] ironphoenix) wrote2010-10-22 03:35 pm
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Knee-jerk biases

Here are six simple knee-jerk biases I try to watch for in myself:

1. If a member of a group or category I belong to does something of which I approve, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category influenced them to do so.

2. If a member of a group or category I belong to does something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category had little or no influence on them.

3. If a member of a group or category I don't belong to does something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category influenced them to do so.

4. If a member of a group or category I don't belong to does something of which I approve, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category had little or no influence on them.

5. If I do something of which I approve, my natural bias is to discount the influence of the groups or categories to which I belong.

6. If I do something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to emphasize the influence of the groups or categories to which I belong.

Group or category membership is pretty broadly defined, and may but need not map strictly to universal labels. The important categories are those in my own head, which are partially but not completely socially defined.

These biases seem pretty much universal to me, but maybe that's a prejudice built on #6 above!

[identity profile] metahacker.livejournal.com 2010-10-22 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Interesting list. Are you aware of fundamental attribution error? Seems like some of these biases might be good ways to explain it.

[identity profile] ironphoenix.livejournal.com 2010-10-23 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the link! I haven't given much thought in my list to situational factors beyond group membership, implicitly lumping them in with personal (uninfluenced) choice.

[identity profile] foms.livejournal.com 2010-10-23 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought of confirmation bias.

[identity profile] foms.livejournal.com 2010-10-23 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that remembering types of biases and fallacies every once in a while is a good idea.