Cognitive biases

How can cognitive biases affect society?

I believe our brain has the capacity of doing so much. People have proven that the brain can do countless things that could benefit the world. According to the article, the brain goes beyond any computer that is currently available because it can process things a lot faster but our brain has limitations that restrict us from doing so many things. A simple calculator could thousands of math problems while we struggle with a few.  Our memories also fade away very easily if we don’t keep track of them, so how does cognitive biases affect our daily lives?

I understand a mixture of In-group bias and confirmation bias very well. I rarely bias towards other people opinions or what group they were around but I realized especially in Republicans states that people look down at other views that aren’t similar towards theirs. I understand it can be very difficult to look at someone views in their shoes instead of yours but people tend to feel like their opinion is superior then yours. I meet many people that would like to express their views and thoughts but don’t let you express your views. I found myself having trouble in school because my taste and style was different from the majority of people. Just because I didn’t dress a certain way or didn’t like a certain type of music, people didn’t want to take the time to know me. I started to realize people stereotyped you by what you wore or by who you hanged out with. This happened frequently with many people I knew, I started to think in order to be “cool” I need to wear a certain brand that many people wore and needed to listen to certain artist that were popular at the time. The pressure escalated in high school and I thought it was more of a necessity to “fit in”.

 Another example would be just because I didn’t do any drugs or drink, many people would judge me and instead of respecting my decision, they would peer pressure me in doing it. I found this occurring to many people in our society; many people start doing drugs not by themselves but by peer influences. Many people argue that peer influences have a big affect in the youth drug use. These could be resolved if people respected our people views and didn’t peer pressure people in things they didn’t want to do.

I think these biases could be very hurtful towards adolescences because it makes them feel inferior if they didn’t do certain things and if they’re not “cool” then people tend to not the take to know you for who you really are. We should expand our group by inviting people in then making the group we have stronger. Many of my friends are people that I didn’t agree with at first but as I started to know them I realized how much a good friend they really are. If we all listened instead of speak then the world would be a better place for all.  

Resource:

Dvorsky, George . "The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational." io9. N.p., 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational>.