Why we make bad decisions and how to deal with them

There is confirmation bias

Imagine that you decided to try yourself in something new and for the first time went, for example, to yoga classes. You worry that you are not dressed that way or that you will not be able to do everything that others can already do. You are located in the far corner of the room so that no one will notice you. You take every laugh of the people in your neighborhood personally. You are sure everyone is making fun of your inexperience. In the end, you promise yourself that you will never go back there.

Participants in one experiment Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence.provided truthful information that was contrary to their political beliefs. At that moment, they activated those areas of the brain that are associated with physical pain. It looked as if the physical pain was caused by your own mistake.

It is quite easy to accept someone else's point of view if it is not about what is important to you personally. However, we each have beliefs that form the basis of our personality. For example, that we have only positive character traits. And evidence that our beliefs are fundamentally wrong often causes cognitive dissonance - an internal conflict of ideas.

As a result., we either stubbornly defend our position, or refuse to accept what does not correspond to it.

We run away from reality so as not to hurt ourselves. The brain tries to protect us, as if we are in real danger. In addition, he is under enormous strain. analyzing facts that contradict our beliefs. Therefore, the brain finds the shortest way to solve this problem - to confirm our point of view, albeit incorrect.

How to deal with it

Be curious and less skeptical

When you enter into a conversation with a person with the intention of defending your point of view at all costs, you fall under the influence of confirmation bias.

Researchers have studied. behavior of two groups of schoolchildren. Students from the first group avoided difficulties for fear of being wrong. And the participants of the second group, on the contrary, enthusiastically took on difficult tasks, perceiving them as a chance to learn something new and not being afraid to make a mistake. The success of schoolchildren from the second group was higher than that of the first.

Do not try to prove your case. Explore the world and treat everything as an invaluable experience. By allowing yourself to be wrong, you will learn a lot.

Learn and accept someone else's point of view

This will help you adjust your vision of the situation. We can change even our deepest beliefs by surrounding The Affective Tipping Point: Do Motivated Reasoners Ever “Get It”? themselves as people whose point of view fundamentally contradicts ours.

When making an important decision, ask your loved one to state their pros and cons. This way you will have a better chance of not making the wrong choice.

Watch your habits

When you find yourself again looking for confirmation that you are right, try to find evidence that, on the contrary, you are wrong.

As a rule, if we want to do something, then everything around will push us towards this decision. Instead, focus on finding the information that will dissuade you from making a bad decision.