This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Designing the Mind" by Designing the Mind and Ryan A Bush. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you want to free your mind from psychological biases? Is it possible to be 100% free from bias?
While it’s not possible to be totally free from bias, you can actively work to reduce it with study and practice. As a result of overcoming your biases, you will view the world more objectively, make better decisions, and become less prone to anxiety fueled by biased thinking.
Keep reading to learn how to overcome cognitive biases.
How to Overcome Your Biases
To more accurately perceive reality, you need to learn how to overcome cognitive biases, which can be a difficult process because we typically struggle to see our own biases, even when we can recognize them in other people.
(Shortform note: The inability to recognize our own biases comes from a psychological phenomenon called naive realism: an egocentric bias in which we believe that our perception of reality represents objective truth. Thus, we assume that any perspective that contradicts our own is biased. Theoretically, as children develop and learn logical reasoning skills, their naive realism diminishes. In practice, however, many people are still limited by this bias into adulthood. This can lead to strong divisions over anything from debates among friends about the merits of a TV show to widespread conflicts over differing political views.)
Let’s explore three ways to overcome biases: through mindfulness, self-study, and reflection.
Practice #1: Use Mindfulness to Overcome Biases
As we mentioned earlier, mindfulness practice can be a good way to start building awareness of your cognitive processes, including your biases. According to Bush, it allows you to focus your attention on patterns of thinking that would otherwise be automatic.
Practice #2: Use Self-Study to Overcome Biases
Bush also advises learning about the most common biases so you can begin recognizing them in yourself. Study them using multiple sources, and familiarize yourself with the situations that normally trigger them.
(Shortform note: Bush suggests self-studying cognitive biases as a way to begin overcoming them, but if you want a little more structure in your learning, consider taking a course on the topic. There are many online options on platforms like Udemy, and some universities also offer cognitive bias courses.)
Practice #3: Use Reflection to Overcome Biases
Once you identify a bias you have, Bush advises trying to notice every situation that triggers it. Instead of acting based on your biased thinking, pause to reflect. Consciously create an alternative, unbiased thought pattern and act based on this new pattern. The more often you do this for the same type of situation, the more intuitive your new thought pattern will become. Eventually, it’ll replace the biased thought pattern entirely.
Bias Example: Rewriting Confirmation Bias
As Bush mentions, one well-known and universal cognitive bias is confirmation bias. When under its influence, we place a disproportionately high value and strong focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs while ignoring or denying information that contradicts those beliefs. An example of a triggering situation for confirmation bias might be reading an article that represents an opposing opinion on a political issue that’s important to you: You might immediately dismiss it as illogical, irrelevant, or further confirmation that the other side doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Confirmation bias can limit your exposure to new information and ideas, preventing important growth and change. Therefore, it’s useful to identify and reduce this bias in yourself.
How to Overcome Cognitive Biases: The Top 3 Methods
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- How the mind can be reprogrammed like a computer
- Strategies to help you change negative thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors
- How to eliminate your biases to perceive reality more accurately
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