Biased by Our Imaginations

Surname 1 Biased by Our Imaginations Introduction Our past experiences, predictable biases, and limited ability to process vast amounts of information guide as well as distort our beliefs. The causes of questionable and erroneous beliefs are influenced by confirmation bias, which tends to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a manner that contributes to overconfidence in our beliefs. We possess a dual mind, whereby we have multiple consciousnesses about a belief. The paper gives insight into the duality of the mind and its influence on consciousness both from the perspectives of the modules on fundamental attribution error, the power and perils of intuition, and the reasons for unreason aa well as the video on “Will People Believe Anything? The Psychology of Gullibility”.

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In the video titled “Will People Believe Anything? The Psychology of Gullibility”, Thomas Gilovich talks about biases and misjudgments that we counter in our daily lives. In the video, Gilovich addresses the causes of questions and erroneous beliefs, how we make order out of completely random events, and how our perception and constructed beliefs influence this. For examples of conformation bias and examples of intuitive and reflective rezoning. Gilovich begins the presentation by addressing the "Causes of Questionable and Erroneous Beliefs”, which he explains based on whereby we draw an erroneous conclusion from our everyday experiences. Erroneous beliefs are attributed to the fact that we see too much order in random events that we let this control our thought process. for example, there is a popular misconception and belief that baseball players are 'hot', and this makes the game easier for them. However, Gilovich cites how an empirical research experiment has discredited this view. Study to test propositions by looking for evidence that supports them, but we do not look for evidence against, and we have "two minds" about nearly everything.

In the video, Thomas Gilovich addresses the aspect of confirmation bias, which is compatible with the concept of attribution error covered in module six. Confirmation bias is described as a tendency to look for, interpret, prefer, and recall information in a manner that confirms or supports a person's prior beliefs or values. For example, a police detective may identify a suspect earlier in an investigation, but may only work towards confirmation rather than disconfirming the evidence. Equally, Myers and Twenge compare attribution error to the example of the context of cashiers giving the casual “Thank you and have a nice day” response in our daily lives. The authors contend "do we nevertheless automatically conclude that the cashier is a friendly, grateful person? We certainly know how to discount behavior that we

Surname 3 attribute to the ulterior motive’” (p.48). Both the concepts of confirmation bias and fundamental attribution error show our bias when presented with a concept or a situation. The bias routinely makes us make the fundamental attribution error. We tend to mistakenly regard an object or individual's disposition as the primary cause of the behavior, ignoring the underlying situational factors that contribute to it.

Further, Gilovich talks about how we make order out of completely random events and how this is also shaped by our bias about attributes. Randomness is perceived as a lack of pattern or predictability in events, and this can be attributed to the usual mind phenomenon. Module seven on the powers and perils of intuiting addresses the notion that we have two brain systems, whereby one system functions out of our awareness, often called intuition or ‘gut’ feeling. The second system requires our conscious attention and effort. It is our power of intuition “influences more of our actions than we realize. What are our powers of intuition—of immediately knowing something without reasoning or analysis? Advocates of “intuitive management” believe we should tune into our hunches—to use System 1 (Myers and Twenge 55). Our power of intuition enables us to know how to make judgments by trusting the force within. To corroborate the claim, Gilovich gives examples of the two systems of reasoning "Intuitive" (automatic) and "Reflective" (controlled); or System I (effortless) and System II (effortful) The causes of questionable and erroneous beliefs are attributed to the fact that we have two minds about everything which influences our choices. These choices are a demonstration of our bias. Intuition is described as automatic, effortless, rapid, and parallel, and associative and we seem to be influenced by our beliefs, even when they are not true. The opposite of intuition is reflective, whereby some of our beliefs are controlled, effortful, slow and often serial, and rulebased. Equally, Myers and Twenge in module eight have explored the concept by showing how

Surname 4 our preconceptions driven by intuition and reflection control our interrelation of concepts and situations. They argue that “Our preconceptions guide how we perceive and interpret information. We interpret the world through belief-tinted glasses” (p. 63).

From the foregoing, it is evident that our imaginations are a cause of our bias. Our intuition plays a significant role in shaping our thought process. Implicit biases have been established as constituted by unconscious imaginations. We can only operate to some degree based on our explicit convictions because our beliefs shape our imaginations. Whereas our imaginations create bias, it is important to focus on independent thoughts as a way of enhancing our objective view of events and situations.

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Work Cited Myers, David G., and Jean Twenge. Exploring social psychology. 8th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2017.