We are overconfident - thinking we’re better than the average person. Several studies of self-perception, show that for any given trait, more than 50% of people think they’re above average - from unsophisticated computer users who think they are cyber crime experts,
We perceive people or things differently depending on who/what they are associated with. Advertisers have long understood this. They link their products to things that will trigger the responses they want you to have. This is also known as classical conditioning. Sometimes
We tend to distort facts for our own psychological comfort. This psychological discomfort is known as cognitive dissonance. If we make a habit of continually avoiding information that is painful, we’ll not only develop a distorted view of reality, we’ll train other
We are wired to reciprocate. If people give to us, we feel we owe the other person. Similar to the fairness tendency, if someone hurts us, we feel the need to hurt them back. Companies can use this approach to: Start a
Munger points how out our evolutionary desire to own others’ possessions leads to worse situations like hatred, fights and so on. Abraham Tesser’s academic research on the Self-Evaluation Model counterintuitively shows that our self-esteem suffers and therefore, feel the most jealous of
Citing Kant and his categorical imperative, Munger argues that “reciprocal courtesy” is a societal norm, at least in United States. When we are not treated fairly, often we become very angry and/or frustrated. In a famous Prisoner’s Dilemma experiment, when one person
We rarely do things that are inconsistent with our identity, beliefs, and habits. To save energy, we are often reluctant to change our habits, especially bad ones. Such bad habits include biased thinking patterns. These patterns lead to cognitive errors, limiting our
Munger argues that curiosity not only counters the negative effects of our psychological tendencies, it also lets us enjoy the process of learning and acquiring knowledge. Source: Michael Simmons & Ian Chew
The human brain has evolved to resolve open issues (i.e., cognitive dissonance) by making decisions. Part of our speedy decision making process comes at a price: we eliminate any potential doubts, which might cause us to make mistakes. What normally triggers the
The opposite of the liking/loving tendency is also true. We tend to disfavor people we already dislike and hate to level of irrationality. This results in: Ignoring virtues of people we dislike. Disliking people, products, and actions merely associated with the object