Analysing your IQ
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AKA: "Bias Blindness"
Recognizing cognitive biases in others while failing to see them in yourself.
Blind Spot Bias affects everyone, including (especially) people who think they're immune. The first step to fixing it is understanding how it works.
You study biases and think you're now immune. Meanwhile, your own biases operate undetected.
This bias is particularly dangerous because it operates below conscious awareness. By the time you notice it, the damage is often done.
This error is driven by Introspection is unreliable for detecting bias; you can't see what you can't see..
Evolution optimized for speed and safety, not truth. Blind Spot Bias is a byproduct of heuristics that once had adaptive value.
In investing: Blind Spot Bias leads to holding losing positions too long or selling winners too early.
In relationships: This bias causes people to interpret ambiguous signals in ways that confirm existing beliefs about partners.
In work: Blind Spot Bias makes it harder to update strategies when market conditions change.
In health: People ignore symptoms that contradict their self-image as "healthy" or "young."
Experiments on Blind Spot Bias often use controlled conditions that make the bias obvious to observers—yet participants still fall for it. This demonstrates how powerful the effect is.
Assume you are biased. Use external checks: decision journals, devil's advocates, structured processes.
Seek disconfirming evidence: Actively look for data that challenges your current belief.
Use decision journals: Write down predictions before outcomes are known, then review accuracy.
Consult diverse perspectives: People with different backgrounds spot different biases.
Implement decision rules: Pre-commit to criteria before emotionally charged situations arise.
Time-box decisions: Revisit important conclusions after a cooling-off period.
Some brains are more susceptible to this than others. Test your Intelligence to find out.
Recognizing cognitive biases in others while failing to see them in yourself.
The alternate name "Bias Blindness" captures the intuitive essence of the bias. Blind Spot Bias is the formal psychological term, while "Bias Blindness" describes what it feels like in practice.
Assume you are biased. Use external checks: decision journals, devil's advocates, structured processes.
The underlying mechanism is introspection is unreliable for detecting bias; you can't see what you can't see.. Human brains evolved heuristics for speed and survival, not accuracy in modern contexts.
Yes. Intelligence doesn't provide immunity—sometimes it makes the bias worse because smart people are better at rationalizing. Awareness and structured decision processes are more protective than raw IQ.
You study biases and think you're now immune. Meanwhile, your own biases operate undetected.