The Plague of Misidentification

The Inhibitors: Biases, Fallacies, & Heuristics Part 1

The Inhibitors

What are the inhibitors? In short, they are anything that can get in the way of our ability to perceive reality. I will be dedicating many essays to the various types of inhibitors, where they come from, how they function, why they are, and other critical questions of this ilk. For this short essay, I will focus on cognitive biases with a nod toward fallacies and heuristics (to be covered in the coming writings). This trifecta will cover an extensive range of thinking errors that indeed inhibit our perception of the real. They are enemies of clear thinking, excellent reasoning, and logical discernment. In this essay, I will not give an exhaustive treatment of the topic. However, it will be darn close when aggregated over the entire series.  

Destruction, Complexity, Trauma & Hope

When it comes to seeing reality clearly, we humans have our work cut out for us in the extreme. Not only do we have severe limiting factors psychologically, such as mental illnesses of many forms, not the least of which are personality disorders (estimated 10% to 13% of the population of the world). We also have genetic abnormalities that alter perceptive capacities, childhood trauma, and physical injuries that impact various sensory mechanisms, which very often bridge with traumatic experiences, all of which can significantly change one's perception of reality, possibly and more importantly, aiding in yielding a false acquisition of the real. It is imperative to note that many on the list stem from some form of trauma. There will be a lot of space in this series dedicated to trauma and its incredible impact on our human family. I do admit that the vastness and ubiquitousness of these inhibitors are a little more than daunting for one to deal with; it seems that the deck is stacked against us in some highly significant ways when it comes to discerning the real. 

Then, am I saying that if a person has any of these inhibitors to perception, they will never perceive reality clearly? No, not at all. I am stating that these barriers or inhibitors make an already brutally complicated process even more complex. To round this out, it is all a matter of degree. If one is injured severely enough, this goal could be impossible to obtain. That said, there is no one-size-fits-all here, and what I am communicating is that inhibitors to the process are ubiquitous. We are either encountering them physically, which then influences the mental, or mentally, which then influences the physical. This generates a cycle of harm that engenders the thoughts of the experiencer to rely on the many forms of inhibitors that this world has to offer. Sadly, often, one has to train to step out of such harrowing experiences and the thought space that is thereby engendered. This engendering and the cycle it creates tends to entrench itself more with each repetition. What then? Are we doomed? No, the good news is that we can inhibit the inhibitors in many cases and even periodically retrain well enough that they are put away for good. That is, in part, one of the reasons I am writing this series. If we could do nothing about this state of things, it would be unkind to deal with it as if we could. Do not despair; just study, learn, actualize, and repeat.

The Vector of Approach

A few words about my vector of approach regarding the thinking errors we will discuss within this series. I attend that each one of these errors has more than one type of impact and that this adds to the complexity of reality. Each new outcropping of the error makes itself known through the propagation of further harm via a vast number of options it generates. This outcropping is fractal in nature and becomes impossible for a human brain to track in toto. This is, in part, what I was intimating in the prior writing in the series (see The Plague of Misidentification: Conception). If we cannot track every outcropping, then how can we ever see the real? This is the critical question, and luckily, it has an answer, albeit not an entirely uncontroversial one in this day and age. The short answer to be explained at length over the entire course of this series is that we do not need to know everything in order to know something. We do not need to know every truth in order to know a singular truth or fact. We do not need to have complete knowledge to understand that some components of reality are thus, and why they are thus. Note that this touches upon some of the many concepts within postmodernism. This philosophy will get an in-depth treatment throughout several installments of this series. I bet you will find it a fascinating subject!

The approach vector is the critical component if we are ever to understand any portion and, therefore, something of the real. The vital thing to grasp at this point is that we are approaching from the angle of the inhibitors having positive existence. That they exist is incontrovertible, so now, what is the effect of their existence? That effect is primarily negative, and the aspect of this negative we are going to take apart is the inhibiting of one's ability to perceive events and, thus, reality accurately. The pathology of the inhibiting factor will be observed and trajected along with the discerning of the impact upon the host. Over the course of time, we will take this all apart exhaustively.  

For now, what is imperative is that we understand there are things in this universe that encourage us not to see reality clearly. These things factually exist, and that being the case means that they, even if only through retroduction, can be tracked, traced, and ultimately understood. This being the case, and that being part of this reality has a very profound realization hiding within its midst, one that will be brought out, named, and explained. All of this will happen at the right time within the series. This is not a trick or ploy to get you to keep reading. It is a fact that over my thirty-plus years of teaching, if I ever taught a student this concept before they were ready (had studied sufficiently, generally speaking), they could not hold it within their grasp. My intent is to lay this all out with such clarity that once a person has read and understood the series in order, they will be able to hold that information well within their grasp once and for all. Then, having the knowledge base built will have profound meaning to them and be very helpful to their lives. Part of the "they" here is you. 

Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are errors in thought, systematic or not, that occur when processing the reality that the individual is experiencing (not always factual reality). This biasing operates as an engendering toward one drawing a skewed conclusion without their knowledge of the bias’s existence. Cognitive biases are errors of logic to some extent. They often favor flash responses over thoughtful consideration and weighing the facts of the situation at hand. 

Note, cognitive biases have recently been taught as having a rapid problem-solving aspect to them in like manner to how heuristics have been approached. This is posed as the reason they originated, meaning the time-saving component is their utility function and that it may have brought some evolutionary advantage. They are similar in that they deal with problems and potential shortcuts in obtaining their correct solutions. However, while this is true, in part, they are nonetheless errors in thought. It is critical to discern that the reason for a thing and that thing's functioning are two completely different subjects, and confusing or conflating them is fallacious. I state this as a caution because I have witnessed people conflating them with greater frequency over the last decade. 

Note that my use of the term heuristic can be confusing to some. It is used within this series to address a rapid problem-solving method in like manner to an algorithm. It is also used within the context of thinking errors that are born of the heuristical process, such as having the correct answer to a problem but a completely convoluted and incorrect pathway of getting there that is provably incorrect.

Ten Significant Cognitive Biases

This introductory list has been organized to split between medical & research-based biases and biases that do not specifically have a statistics or research-based focus. The reason for this delineation will be made clear as this series progresses. We need to keep some mystery in this process. We wouldn't want to lose the sense of wonder that can be generated when learning new things!

1. Confounding Bias

2. Selection Bias

3. Recall Bias

4. Reporting Bias

5. Confirmation Bias

6. Hindsight Bias

7. Anchoring Bias

8. The Actor-Observer Bias

9. The Self-Serving Bias

10. The Optimism Bias

Confounding Bias

Confounding bias is essentially not observing for the error of confounding. Confounding occurs when a distortion modifies an association between an exposure and an outcome because a factor is independently associated with the exposure and the outcome. A distortion here can mean an unaccounted-for variable. 

See here for an example of confounding in statistics that will elucidate this bias very well.

Selection Bias

Selection bias is an error that occurs as the result of a participant group, or subsequent data, that is not representative of the target population.

See here for a classic and somewhat shocking example of selection bias. 

Recall Bias

Recall bias is a thinking error due to differences in accuracy or completeness of recall to memory of past events or experiences. Recall bias can attend how the individual processes reality differently due to events past x point and their having a net positive or negative effect.

See here for a video example of recall bias.

Reporting Bias

Reporting bias is a systematic distortion that arises from the selective disclosure or withholding of information by parties involved in the design, conduct, analysis, or dissemination of a study, news report, research findings, etc.

See here for a short video on reporting bias. 

 

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the favoring of your preconceived beliefs, ideas, etc., such that you bias out conflicting information regardless of validity.

See here for a funny video about confirmation bias.

Hindsight Bias

Hindsight bias is the thinking error of projecting ease of predictability upon events of the past that are predominantly random and unforeseeable.

See here for a video on hindsight bias. 

Anchoring Bias

Anchoring bias is the tendency to be overly influenced by the first piece of information we hear.

See here for a video explaining anchoring bias. 

The Actor-Observer Bias

The Actor-Observer bias is the tendency to attribute our actions to an external influence and others actions to internal influences.

See here for a video explanation of the actor-observer bias.

The Self-Serving Bias

The Self-Serving bias is the tendency to take credit for one's successes and to lay external blame for one's failures. 

See here for a video explanation of the self-serving bias. 

The Optimism Bias

The Optimism bias is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to us and underestimate the probability that bad things will happen to us. 

See here for a funny video explaining the optimism bias.

Each one of these biases, if dealt with correctly, can become a place of victory for you. Rather than being prey to the thinking errors they generate, you could commit their structure to your memory so that you train and search for them with incredible speed as if by second nature. This is very possible, and while there is an infinity of fallacies, one need not memorize them all. What is needed is to develop an understanding of their architecture, and then you will be able to find them regardless of knowing their names or other such components. What I want for you is real-time discernment. If we want to see reality clearly, we will have to become astute at thinking error detection. 

To understand and be able to actualize that understanding of biases, fallacies, and heuristics is to significantly increase your odds of seeing with clarity. 

Coming Up Next

Next installment, we will be going deeper into biases, fallacies, and heuristics, along with moving laterally into the topic of pain avoidance and, as always, adding little nuggets of the matrix of ideas that will help us see things with clarity. If we are lucky, we might even see a thing or two anew. Wouldn't that be a wonderful surprise? 

We will continue. 

B.S.R.

Additional Resources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

https://www.amazon.com/Diagnostic-Statistical-Manual-Mental-Disorders/dp/0890425558

https://www.appi.org/dsm New Text Revision - coming out in March 2022.

https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3519

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8425387/

https://www.thoughtco.com/cognitive-bias-definition-examples-4177684

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitive-bias-2794963