How do you know that it made the difference for you personally? Is it basically a good feeling or what evidence do you see that it made a big difference for you personally?

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[-]Vladimir Loginov5mo10

Thanks for this question!

I can say, with a high degree of probability, that knowing more about how cognitive biases work and how to avoid them when necessary sharpened my critical thinking and helped me make better decisions (Decisions resulting in higher value for myself) in various life situations.

For instance, being aware of the sunk cost fallacy helps me move on in situations where my "attachment" to something is irrational. The following example is the least important one, but it is the one I like because I think it's easy to relate to: When I stop enjoying a series on Netflix after a few seasons, it's now much easier for me to stop "forcing" myself to complete it because I can now explain this irrational feeling and it is easier for me to move on. This, in turn, saves time, which is direct value.

This is just one example of how being aware of cognitive biases or knowing how to resist them can make a difference for someone. The value of better decisions, of course, often goes far beyond a few hours saved.

Having said that, I am not going to say it does not also simply feel good to know how our brains work (even if to such a small degree). In my opinion, even this feeling alone is worth sharing with others.

Do you feel like the ability to resist or use cognitive biases to your advantage is not beneficial for you?

Edit: Grammar

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[-]ChristianKl5mo20

When it comes to rationality and biases, the key question is whether learning more about biases results in people just rationalizing their decisions more effectively or whether they are actually making better decisions.

As far as I understand the academic literature, there's little documented benefit of teaching people about cognitive biases even so various academics studied teaching people about cognitive biases.

CFAR started out partly with the idea that it might be good to teach people about cognitive biases but in their research they didn't found a way to teach people about cognitive biases but moved to a different curriculum.

Julia Galef for example (who was one of the CFAR cofounders) later wrote the book on the Scout Mindset suggesting that focusing on being in the Scout Mindset instead of the Warrior Mindset is a better focus on how to actually increase rationality in a way that's relevant for people's life.

If we look at the question of "does training recognizing cognitive biases actually translate into better decisions", the way you approach the subject sounds to me like you decided on the answer before actually reasoning about whether or not it does translate in a critical way.

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How did you first understand cognitive biases? Looking for community experiences

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