How the brain fools everyone

We like to think of ourselves as rational beings who make decisions based on data. The reality is that we are far more often subject to our brain's cognitive biases, as this clip from "The Sherpas" demonstrates.

This is because the human thinking system operates in two stages. When faced with a decision, the intuitive brain system immediately comes up with an idea. This idea is then analyzed by a second system to check that it really applies to the situation. But intuition often speaks much louder.

So we find ourselves subject to cognitive errors, including 4 biases explained in the video:

1. Confidence bias: we have a natural tendency to believe ourselves, in general, to be better than others, whether in terms of intelligence, beauty or other factors.
   
   
2. The anchoring effect: When we don't know the facts of a problem or question, we'll latch on to the numbers proposed by whatever authority is available, even if they're falsified. A technique used to great effect by sales specialists and others.
   
   
3. The spotlight effect: We often believe that we are the focus of other people's attention, when in fact we are not. Because if we're at the center of our world, others perceive their position in the same way. As a result, people rarely notice an open fly, a stain on a sweater or a small acne spot.
   
   
4. Confirmation bias: Social networks have made this well known, as it involves staying in a bubble of opinions that say the same thing as you do, while ignoring from the outset those that say the opposite. This can be explained by the fear of being wrong, among other things.

So how do you get out of it? It's very complicated, because even if you tell your brain it's looking at an optical illusion, it usually falls for it. It's best to look for contradiction in all decision-making, playing devil's advocate to analyze your thinking.

Asking for opinions from those around you can lead to different insights from people who don't have the same biases at play. Humility in one's opinions also helps to undo one's biases, little by little, by forcing you to confront other points of view.

Duration: 10 minutes