Discover more from Overcoming Bias
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:
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.
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?
Detail Is Near
Magicians fool us with seemingly-relevant details.
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.