Understanding Cognitive Biases

Watch Understanding Cognitive Biases

  • 2023
  • 1 Season

In Understanding Cognitive Biases, Dr. Alexander B. Swan uses examples from psychology experiments, history, politics, movies, TV, comics, social media, and more to illustrate dozens of cognitive biases that affect us all and shows you how to combat them for a clearer, more accurate view of the world.

Understanding Cognitive Biases is a series that ran for 1 seasons (24 episodes) between November 1, 2023 and on The Great Courses

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Seasons
Status Quo: The More Things Change
24. Status Quo: The More Things Change
November 1, 2023
Explore the status quo bias
Reactance: You Can
23. Reactance: You Can
November 1, 2023
Delve into the reactance bias, our tendency to act in ways that are opposite to established rules, particularly, if we think those rules will reduce our freedom. This is a bias that operates mostly in the dark recesses of our subconscious and can be difficult to recognize until someone else specifically calls out the behavior.
Only Survivors Tell the Story
22. Only Survivors Tell the Story
November 1, 2023
Discover the many ways in which survivorship bias affects our daily life. This tendency to focus only on people or objects that have moved past some defined selection process keeps us from understanding a more complex, fuller story. From important personal decisions to business, politics, and military history, the impacts of this cognitive bias can be seen all around us.
Why Emotional Gaps Cause Trouble
21. Why Emotional Gaps Cause Trouble
November 1, 2023
The empathy gap bias is the tendency to disconnect or reduce empathy in situations where it would be expected or typically felt. Explore the cognitive steps required for empathy to occur, and what can happen when those processes don
We Lie to Be Socially Desirable
20. We Lie to Be Socially Desirable
November 1, 2023
Trace the evolutionary history of social desirability bias and how it can affect our lives and relationships in numerous ways. Our brain created this heuristic in response to our deep biological need to associate with other members of our species and to bond in various ways. But does it always work to our advantage, and how can we push past it when we want to?
Why Emotional Peaks and Endings Matter
19. Why Emotional Peaks and Endings Matter
November 1, 2023
The peak-end rule is the cognitive bias that causes us to judge an experience based on how we felt at its most intense moments and at its end. Discover how this heuristic biases us against remembering the more nuanced aspects of any experience, and the effects this can have on our lives.
I Believe, Therefore I Think: Belief Bias
18. I Believe, Therefore I Think: Belief Bias
November 1, 2023
Explore the sources and impacts of belief bias, the tendency to judge arguments on the believability of their conclusions rather than the whole argument. While we all tend to rely on this heuristic to some extent, by learning the technical requirements of a logical argument, we can better assess the validity of what we
Is That Memory Mine or Someone Else
17. Is That Memory Mine or Someone Else
November 1, 2023
Discover the cognitive bias called cryptomnesia, the tendency for a person to falsely identify an idea as one they developed themselves, as opposed to one they heard about from someone else, i.e., a memory. In this heuristic, our brain stores the idea but not the idea
Biases from Knowing Too Much or Too Little
16. Biases from Knowing Too Much or Too Little
November 1, 2023
Explore the Dunning-Kruger effect and the
Stereotypes: See the Person, Not the Group
15. Stereotypes: See the Person, Not the Group
November 1, 2023
Could stereotypes be a form of cognitive bias? Absolutely, as we
How Con Artists Exploit Our Biases
14. How Con Artists Exploit Our Biases
November 1, 2023
Discover how the Forer effect, also known as the Barnum effect, plays into our self-validation
Even Random Outcomes Lead to Bias
13. Even Random Outcomes Lead to Bias
November 1, 2023
Given the human desire for control, it can be very disconcerting for us to accept that life is filled with random events. Discover how the gambler
I Knew It All Along: Hindsight Bias
12. I Knew It All Along: Hindsight Bias
November 1, 2023
The hindsight bias leads us to believe we knew more than we actually did at the time of a specific event, especially one involving danger or tragedy. Learn how new information replaces old information in our memory, making it much more efficient but less accurate, and making us more susceptible to the hindsight bias.
How Fast Thinking Leads to a Great Fall
11. How Fast Thinking Leads to a Great Fall
November 1, 2023
Evolutionary theory suggests the availability bias and the representativeness heuristic developed when we needed them in order to stay alive. But what about our very different modern lives today? Learn how these heuristics can cause us to assess danger incorrectly and make poor decisions as a result.
How Memory Is Biased toward Misinformation
10. How Memory Is Biased toward Misinformation
November 1, 2023
The misinformation effect reflects our tendency to trust our memories implicitly as truth. Actually, they are influenced by our emotions, expectations, culture, and what others have to say about them. Learn how this cognitive bias has negatively affected our criminal justice processes, and what
We Think Others
9. We Think Others
November 1, 2023
Was it really your fault that your car scraped the light pole in the parking lot? Discover what
Bias Boot Camp for Better Decisions
8. Bias Boot Camp for Better Decisions
November 1, 2023
Discover the cognitive bias that can help you negotiate more successfully for that next car purchase. Your brain uses the anchoring heuristic
Expectations Change Results: Observer Bias
7. Expectations Change Results: Observer Bias
November 1, 2023
See how observer bias can significantly affect the results of activities from scientific experiments to classroom teaching to the entertainment of
Learn Better with Cognitive Biases
6. Learn Better with Cognitive Biases
November 1, 2023
Discover how to use three particular cognitive biases to your own advantage. The testing effect, the generation effect, and spacing effect
Why We Think Differently in Groups
5. Why We Think Differently in Groups
November 1, 2023
Explore the new set of biases that can develop when individuals must make decisions in a group. Groupthink and group polarization can lead to dire consequences when there is little or no discussion of alternate choices
We Love It Because We Built It
4. We Love It Because We Built It
November 1, 2023
Consider our tendency to place a high value on things we
We See People In and Behind Everything
3. We See People In and Behind Everything
November 1, 2023
Learn about biases you have experienced since infancy: pareidolia and anthropomorphism, which are our brain
Things We Want to Be True: Confirmation Bias
2. Things We Want to Be True: Confirmation Bias
November 1, 2023
Explore one of the most well-known and pervasive cognitive biases. We see the effects of confirmation bias in our media, politics, and much more
Why We
1. Why We
November 1, 2023
Discover why it
Description

In Understanding Cognitive Biases, Dr. Alexander B. Swan uses examples from psychology experiments, history, politics, movies, TV, comics, social media, and more to illustrate dozens of cognitive biases that affect us all and shows you how to combat them for a clearer, more accurate view of the world.

Understanding Cognitive Biases is a series that ran for 1 seasons (24 episodes) between November 1, 2023 and on The Great Courses

Where to Watch Understanding Cognitive Biases
Understanding Cognitive Biases is available for streaming on the The Great Courses website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch Understanding Cognitive Biases on demand at Amazon Prime and Amazon.
  • Premiere Date
    November 1, 2023
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