Overcoming Bias

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Detail Is Near

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This is a blog on why we believe and do what we do, why we pretend otherwise, how we might do better, and what our descendants might do, if they don't all die.
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Detail Is Near

Robin Hanson
Aug 10, 2010
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Detail Is Near

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A pilot tells me that we naturally tend to judge how far away things are by how much detail we can see on them. He says that this leads to a bias whereby pilots overestimate how far away is the ground at night, and when water is flat and calm.  Experienced pilots know to correct for this. More examples where this detail heuristic leads to bias:

  1. Women who see little detail in a man’s feelings often feel he is emotionally distant.  But often men’s feelings just don’t have that much detail.

  2. Liars add extra irrelevant detail to make their lies seem more believable.  Religions do the same.  Story tellers also add irrelevant (i.e., detached) vivid detail to make the overall features of plots and characters seem more realistic.

What more examples of this bias can we find?

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Detail Is Near

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Detail Is Near

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Overcoming Bias Commenter
May 15

Magicians fool us with seemingly-relevant details.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter
May 15

I like #2 on your list, Hanson. I also like Bock's example of negotiating.

As a rule of thumb, it seems that added details can fool others into thinking you've put a lot effort into something. The inverse seems to hold true: things that lack detail almost appear to be poorly and quickly made. This is one possible reason why a layman might dismiss a work by Malevich and Mondrian.

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