We underweight statistics and overweight causes in our judgement

πŸ”₯Thought#note/thought
↑Stems From:

Our brains seem to differentiate between statistical base rates (facts about a population) And causal base rates (facts about a population that appear to be causal). So we will ignore things like demographic proportions and overweight things like crime rates.

❝
Subjects’ unwillingness to deduce the particular from the general was matched only by their willingness to infer the general from the particular.

When learning from statistical base rates it is easy to be surprised by facts without integrating that surprise into our understanding of the world. We learn better when surprise is rooted in individual cases.

❝
On the other hand, surprising individual cases have a powerful impact and are a more effective tool for teaching psychology because the incongruity must be resolved and embedded in a causal story.

πŸ“šReference Notes:

-

KNOWLEDGE GARDEN β€” PRIVATE NOTE

This note is not part of Kyle's published work. His knowledge garden is large β€” most of it stays private, shared only in conversation. If you want to explore this idea further, reach out or schedule time.