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0/ COVID COGNITIVE BIASES 
Thread on some of the cognitive biases that got us to where we are today with COVID mass hysteria.
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Thread on some of the cognitive biases that got us to where we are today with COVID mass hysteria.
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1/ The serious problem we’re struggling with in 2020 is not a biological virus problem.
The problem is a complex human psycho-societal one, due to the complicated wrinkles of human psychology and the large-scale social network that now connects us. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1239995212572876802?s=20
The problem is a complex human psycho-societal one, due to the complicated wrinkles of human psychology and the large-scale social network that now connects us. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1239995212572876802?s=20
2/ After all, the greatest “dangers for humans are the stuff other humans do,” and so understanding human psychology is crucial. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1254799371704680448?s=20
3/ I focus here on the cognitive bias side, not the societal/social-network side like in this subtweet.
https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1241383223927681025?s=20
And there are too many human quirks that one can mention in this, so you’ll certainly be able to add many more.
Let’s begin...
https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1241383223927681025?s=20
And there are too many human quirks that one can mention in this, so you’ll certainly be able to add many more.
Let’s begin...
4/ AVAILABILITY CASCADE, or ECHO CHAMBER EFFECT: A self-reinforcing process in which a collective belief gains more and more plausibility through its increasing repetition in public discourse (or "repeat something long enough and it will become true"). https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1242194883445743616?s=20
5/ A nice visualization of the echo chamber we experienced in March and April... https://twitter.com/pickover/status/1245811704044322817?s=20
6/ BANDWAGON EFFECT: The tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related to groupthink and herd behavior.
(Have we ever seen this much of the world on the same wagon?)
(Have we ever seen this much of the world on the same wagon?)
7/ VIRTUE SIGNALING: The conspicuous expression of moral values.
(Some mask wearing is certainly of this kind. All parties know the crochet mask is useless, but it’s not useless for signaling.)
(Some mask wearing is certainly of this kind. All parties know the crochet mask is useless, but it’s not useless for signaling.)
8/ COURTESY EFFECT: The tendency to give an opinion that is more socially correct than one's true opinion, so as to avoid offending anyone.
(The bandwagon is never as big as it seems. But perception is everything.)
(The bandwagon is never as big as it seems. But perception is everything.)
9/ FEAR OF INFECTION: An innate tendency to be disproportionately afraid of infections.
(Super crucial to why this became such a problem.) https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1278886858337013760?s=20
(Super crucial to why this became such a problem.) https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1278886858337013760?s=20
10/ PURITANICAL BIAS: Refers to the tendency to attribute cause of an undesirable outcome or wrongdoing by an individual to a moral deficiency or lack of self control rather than taking into account the impact of broader societal determinants. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1284933893037203458?s=20
11/ MORAL OUTRAGE: The emotion of outrage experienced in reaction to a perceived injustice, as such involving a moral judgement, and is often accompanied by a desire to shame and/or punish wrongdoers. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1288585395509309442?s=20
12/ ILLUSION OF CONTROL: The illusion of control is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1281671749667610625?s=20
13/ SHARED SACRIFICE: The feeling that the effects will be more marked if everyone suffers more. (The origins of sacrificial lambs, etc.) https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1241729140757278723?s=20
14/ Lockdowns are as much (implicitly) motivated by the idea of shared sacrifice as the idea that they might actually help. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1254796958964858882?s=20
15/ Masks, too, are more about “just dealing with it for the greater good” than about health. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1288578534722744320?s=20
16/ Together these innate biases combine to create what amounts to an aggressive religion. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1264672412735614976?s=20
17/ And the term “Karen” is a pejorative word for enforcers of the religion. Karens may seem petty and annoying but fairly harmless. They’re not harmless. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1293545939966271502?s=20
18-END/ We all need to grasp our human biases, so we can correct for them.
Society and the economy depend on it. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1289344913851604992?s=20
Society and the economy depend on it. https://twitter.com/MarkChangizi/status/1289344913851604992?s=20
