TUESDAY MARCH 16, 2021 - MORE BIASES

 TUESDAY MARCH 16, 2021 - MORE BIASES

I’m looking at biases this week - things that affect our judgment - frequently without even noticing them.

I thought I was without “biases”.  After all, I’m “Pollyanna” - the lady who says “Love one another”.  How could I have biases?  So, let’s continue looking at biases.

We looked at Confirmation, Complexity, and Community Bias yesterday.

Moving on.  Today will still be more academic, with analysis tomorrow and Thursday.

COMPLEMENTARY BIAS

If people are nice to us, then we’ll be open to what they say, and if we don’t perceive them as liking us or being nice to us, then we’ll be biased against anything they say. 

Aside - as a woman, I notice compliments so much more.  It seems to be an expectation when you meet another woman, you are expected to say something nice.  “I really like your hair”; “That’s a good color on you”, “Have you lost weight, you look great”, “I love your shoes”.  Sometimes it goes further and you add “I love your shoes, where did you get them.”  

If a person says something nice to me, I almost automatically like them!!!  (Complementary bias)

I like getting compliments (who doesn’t), and I am learning to give compliments.  My father was a jokester and teased my mother.  My mother was “Helen White”, and my father (for a laugh) might say “You look like Helen White” - but he made it sound like “You look like Hell in White” and sometimes add “And, you don’t look so good in black either”. My mother was a great sport (after 65+ years they were a good team!!) 

CONTACT BIAS

This seems similar to others.  If you don’t have contact with a particular person or viewpoint, you won’t see what they see.

Living in Texas, I have no contact with anything agricultural.  So, if an agricultural issue comes up, I might be opposed - just because I don’t understand it.

CONSPIRACY BIAS

Could there be a plot against me?  In voting, if I vote for candidate A, will he or she build an “evil empire”?  Is there something hidden that I don’t see?  

Back in the 1950s/1960s, there was talk of the “military-industrial complex”.  As I viewed it, it was the “big boys” controlling the government - the military (and the military contractors) and the major industries (at that time, did General Motors really run the country? Or a combination of the Big Three automakers with General Electric, IBM, and others?)  We “knew” (not really), that secret meeting between the big deal makers really determined what the country was doing.  Going to war in Vietnam was part of that industrial-military complex.  The defense industry and those related industries were going to profit off the sweat (and death) of soldiers under the age of 25 in the jungles of Vietnam.  It was a conspiracy.  (Or was it?)

From a comedy song in 1966: “They’re Coming to Take Me Away”

And they're coming to take me away ha-haaa

They're coming to take me away ho ho hee hee ha haaa

To the funny farm

Where life is beautiful all the time

And I'll be happy to see those nice young men

In their clean white coats

And they're coming to take me away ha haaa

We had read George Orwell’s 1984 - “Big Brother is Watching You” (and that seems even more imminent today).  The “machine” was already starting to make the individual only a small part of the huge control system.

So - conspiracy bias - and paranoia bias - “they” (whoever “they”) are - are coming after me!!

CONFIDENCE BIAS

We tend to prefer a confident lie to a hesitant truth.  A person in nice clothes very confidently tells us something - our brains latch onto the confident lie.  The used car salesman who tells us that this car was “driven by a little old lady” - and we believe it!!!  

COMPETENCY BIAS

From Garrison Keiller “that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”  (or in this case, all the people are above average!!)

We think we are smarter than the “average bear” (Yogi Bear cartoons).  Maybe not geniuses, but “above average”.  So, when presented with a problem, we “know” we can solve it.  When presented with two alternatives, we know we can select the best action (because we are smart!!!) 

CASH BIAS

I know some of my decisions are based on cash.  Two weeks ago I was getting ranch dressing - should I get the “real” Hidden Valley Ranch dressing or go with the much cheaper store brand.

When I talked about media bias, I mentioned the large amounts paid to commentators (like 36 million to Sean Hannity and 7 million to Rachel Maddox).  My brain sometimes gets a lot in the “Follow the Money” bias.  

COMFORT BIAS

Sometimes we opt for the decision that gives us more comfort.  I just want to get this over with.  I think I had this with COVID - just get it over with.  I don’t care which vaccine I can get - get my one - and if I need a second shot get it!!  

Enough for today.  I’ll have more biases that get in my way tomorrow!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

HUGS!!!

Karen