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5 Common Beliefs that Can Subtly Screw You Over
We all think our beliefs are correct
That is why we believe them. In reality, almost everything we believe will eventually be at least partially wrong.
Since some of our beliefs are probably partially incorrect, the best way to spot them is to question some basic beliefs and assumptions.
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Key Ideas
Ignorance Of Our Own Ignorance
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is the mind's tendency to overestimate one’s own knowledge or competence and to underestimate one’s own ignorance. It usually occurs when the informat...
The Four Types Of Information
- Known Knowns: Things we know, like how to ride a bicycle.
- Known Unknowns: Stuff we don’t understand, like quantum physics.
- Unknown Knowns: Things we know but never realized that we knew it. Most of it comes naturally to us, like parenting or crying.
- Unknown Unknowns: This is the information we have no clue about, and we don’t even know the fact that we don’t have a clue about this.
Most people have information in all these four types, making each brain a combination of a labyrinth and a jigsaw puzzle.
The Emotional Awareness Blindspot
We are heavily blind-spotted with regards to our unknown unknowns as we continue to believe our own rhetoric and start to project it on others.
Our delusion is further complicated by the fact that even if people point to us our problem, we are unable to believe them, due to our lack of emotional awareness.
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Key Ideas
Rigid Vs Malleable: Exploring the Ability to Change Ourselves
How much we can change ourselves can be explored by looking at the extremes.
- At one extreme (Rigidland ), our nature is fixed and unchanging. No amount of effort or ...
Arguments in Favor of Rigidity
Studies involving identical and fraternal twins (even reared apart) showed that most parts of our nature are partly heritable. Intelligence may be as high as 80% heritable, but 50% is the standard number of many of the domains, including personality.
However, being heritable isn't the same as being fixed. There might be a difference between inheriting different capabilities versus different preferences.
Arguments in Favor of Malleability
While genetic research stands out in favour of rigidity, there is contrary evidence.
- One is that most psychology studies are done using Western undergraduates. This means that while we think we measure universal human functioning, we may be measuring culturally-specific ones.
- If our abilities were fixed, then the amount of work required to get good is greatly reduced.
- Positive feedback increases motivation and confidence. This means that if you started with a fixed advantage towards math, for example, it might increase as you gain more confidence and make you much, much better at math than you would have been without motivation and confidence.
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Key Ideas
The Impostor Syndrome
A feeling of being unworthy and secretly cheating your audience/employer or followers is common and natural, especially in the field of writing.
70 percent of millennia...
Illusory Superiority
This is a form of false confidence, when we believe that we are above average in just about everything.
Some people form a ‘halo’ around themselves at being extremely competent while being the opposite, as they are unable to measure or even see their shortcomings. This is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Realistic Goals
Writers who are confident set realistic and controllable goals to overcome the impostor syndrome.
Focusing on days or weeks of progress, with regular review/tracking gets us to know our productivity with supporting data, as opposed to our feelings that are unreliable.