Let's talk about bias!!!

[Mister Agenda]

This requires trusting in the process of the scientific method more than one's bias. How does one overcome such a thing?

Science ultimately is about discarding what works and discarding what doesn't work. I don't know what to tell someone who distrusts the scientific method while using technology derived from it. Not everyone can b e reached, and it's a waste of time to try to get through to someone who doesn't think the scientific method is a valid way of minimizing bias once the method has been explained to them.

[Astreja]

Largely techniques from psychology, along with mindfulness.  (Personally I think that one major clue is one's emotional reaction to a given situation, such as getting upset about something that isn't fazing another person.)

C/DBT is very good for that sort of thing. I am actually pretty curious what the Jungian interpretation of this would be. Probably something along the lines of The Greater Personality. But that is some pretty heavy shit that I don't know a whole lot about.

I've been reading a lot of psychology and sociology in the last little while, currently going through a book that compares transactional analysis with traditional psychoanalysis, and reading about techniques like Focusing, so this kind of thing has been on my mind a lot lately.

In the case of Jung, I'd surmise that a bias would most likely be a Shadow function because of its unconscious nature.

Regardless of what's going on "under the hood," I think that biases would relate to a perceived benefit or threat -- not necessarily a real or even realistic one, but something that triggers either fear or desire.

(Disclaimer:  I took one "Intro to Psychology" course in college over 40 years ago and am not a professional psychologist -- but the subject fascinates the heck out of me nonetheless.)

[paulpablo]

So what are your thoughts on bias?

Some things to consider...

How does society as a whole tend towards biased thinking or not?

How do you recognise bias in you own life? How does one ride themselves of bias? Is it an exercise of will or simply something you learn (free will vs determinism)?

Is bias a myth? If it is, what is our (your) role in coming to grips with being wrong (or at least incorrect) or not? Can one justify never being wrong from a theoretical standpoint? 

What would be required to believe (heh) that one does not have any biases?

Is it easier for you to separate seeing bias in others or yourself more?

How does our perception tie into our biases? 

Are our tools to measure the universe fallible due to bias? Why or why not?

Yeh I think bias is pretty much inescapable.

I try and recognize my own bias, when I think of an opinion I'll try and rethink it and restate it from a few different angles.
An example of me noticing bias is when two of my favourite youtubers have a disagreement about something I tend to get this feeling, which is an instant, instinctive type of feeling, of now two people who I thought were on the same team as me are in two different tribes and I have to decide which to join from here. 
 
The answer of how I try and stop that within myself is when I get that kind of feeling I try and purposefully focus on what I disagree with in relation to that team or person who I feel I can relate to.  I do it often on here.  I'm on team atheist but I think on a forum like this it's probably more important to talk about disagreements than agreements, get your arguments challenged without being afraid of being fired or punched in the face or all those other things that happen in real life.

I don't think you can rid yourself of bias, I think all bias stems from a very primitive bias towards your own DNA/offspring and spreads out from there to include lovers, tribes, cities, countries, ideas, religions, political parties and so on.  Generally what we identify with, the things we relate to, get attached to, we want those to win.   

It's apparent to me that you're just addressing bias in the sense of beliefs and ideas but I think it stems from that primitive parental bias in mammals and I see it as there being two sides to that coin.  It's probably been essential and still is in some way, that we're bias towards people who we see as our own, but it's also probably responsible for pretty much every single war and murder that ever happened.

I think it probably takes more time to see my own bias than other people's.  

I don't really get the last question about a measurement of the universe.

[Edwardo Piet]

The best book I've ever read on bias is Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.







Here's a big list of quotes from it:

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/16...t-and-slow


Not only is bias not a myth... but the most rational people to have ever lived were highly biased and we're all much more irrational than we think we are. Knowing that we are irrational is the first step to becoming slightly less slow.

It's not the hardest thing in the world to avoid logical fallacies if you're a logical person. But to avoid cognitive biases? Even the most rational people can't avoid them completely. We just have to do the best we can to be non-biased.

---

If you want more Daniel Kahneman here's an interesting TED talk by him:

[surreptitious57]

I have that book but it is at the moment unread

Accepting you have biases is indeed the first step to becoming a better thinker
And accepting how very little you know no matter how knowledgeable you are
Not only individually but collectively too as there is more unknown than known

[The Valkyrie]

I'd tell you how great I am, but that would show my bias.

Instead, I'll let the others tell you how great I am.

[Succubus]

I'd tell you how great I am, but that would show my bias.

Instead, I'll let the others tell you how great I am.

"Only true greats deny their own greatness."*







*Blond bint holding a gourd of indeterminate value.

[A Theist]

I'd tell you how great I am, but that would show my bias.

Instead, I'll let the others tell you how great I am.

Yeah, he's great.....

Sez, Popeye the Sailor Man! Toooot! Geh, geh, geh, geh, geh!

[chimp3]

So what are your thoughts on bias?

Some things to consider...

How does society as a whole tend towards biased thinking or not?

How do you recognise bias in you own life? How does one ride themselves of bias? Is it an exercise of will or simply something you learn (free will vs determinism)?

Is bias a myth? If it is, what is our (your) role in coming to grips with being wrong (or at least incorrect) or not? Can one justify never being wrong from a theoretical standpoint? 

What would be required to believe (heh) that one does not have any biases?

Is it easier for you to separate seeing bias in others or yourself more?

How does our perception tie into our biases? 

Are our tools to measure the universe fallible due to bias? Why or why not?

Do you want my unbiased opinion?

[brewer]

I like my pinstripe suits that way.