According to Wikipedia, "a cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations... " or in other words nothing else but assumption. The entry goes on to explain a list of a hundred or so cognitive biases that may occur daily in our lives.
Take for instance the Bandwagon effect as it relates to twitter. This effect describes the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. According to Wikipedia it is related to groupthink and herd behaviour. Just like with many of the other bias found, this one has ingrained itself in our society such that it has given raise to the popular expression of "jumping the bandwagon".
They color every aspect of our reality and link each and every one of us almost inexplicably to a past that in many cases is not even our own. They are a big part of the reason why we are unbelievably bad in calculating odds and making planned choices, even against our own better judgment. And they are notoriously difficult to avoid, even by trained psychologists that know exactly how they influence or daily lives.
The best way to rid ourselves of these mind bending memes from our collective memory is to live fully in each moment. For many the proposition of facing the glare of reality without our bias colored shades may be scary at first, but most people find the experience exhilarating and fun. Exactly the way it should be.
Take for instance the Bandwagon effect as it relates to twitter. This effect describes the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. According to Wikipedia it is related to groupthink and herd behaviour. Just like with many of the other bias found, this one has ingrained itself in our society such that it has given raise to the popular expression of "jumping the bandwagon".
They color every aspect of our reality and link each and every one of us almost inexplicably to a past that in many cases is not even our own. They are a big part of the reason why we are unbelievably bad in calculating odds and making planned choices, even against our own better judgment. And they are notoriously difficult to avoid, even by trained psychologists that know exactly how they influence or daily lives.
The best way to rid ourselves of these mind bending memes from our collective memory is to live fully in each moment. For many the proposition of facing the glare of reality without our bias colored shades may be scary at first, but most people find the experience exhilarating and fun. Exactly the way it should be.
