by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jun 6, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
When I post some article or video on FaceBook about GMOs being safe, Homeopathy being a fraud, Chiropractic being pseudoscience, Gluten sensitivity being an imagined condition, or anything else from my list I invariably get people who disagree with me and instead of...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | May 3, 2017 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
Wow,… this is arguably one of the very best explanations of why we believe what we believe and perhaps more importantly why it is so hard for us to change our minds. It’s long for The Oatmeal but it is well worth it. You’re not going to believe what...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Feb 22, 2017 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Feb 6, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking, Science
The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934-December 20, 1996) was many things – a cosmic sage, voracious reader, hopeless romantic, and brilliant philosopher. But above all, he...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jan 23, 2017 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking, Psychology, Science, Science Denial
Researchers Say They’ve Figured Out What Makes People Reject Science, and It’s Not Ignorance A lot happened in 2016, but one of the biggest cultural shifts was the rise of fake news – where claims with no evidence behind them (e.g. the world is flat...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jan 13, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
After reading a very funny but very apropos tweet from someone named Tina Dupuy I googled the name to see who she was and found this great comment by her on Facebook. This disregrad of expertise and expert opinion and it suplantation with “what I want to...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Dec 2, 2016 | Books, Brain Science, Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
I ABSOLUTLEY HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK. I’m a big fan of Michael Lewis’s books (Moneybag, The Big Short, The New New Thing) and if you haven’t seen me quoting and citing Daniel Kahneman’s and Amos Tversky’s work from Thinking Fast & Slow...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Sep 8, 2016 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
Dunning Kruger nation and the disparagement of expertise We live in Dunning Kruger nation. What do I mean? A variety of very loud “confident idiots” – anti-vaxxers, homebirth advocates, climate change deniers – actually think they know more...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jun 11, 2016 | Irrational Thinking
‘Chemophobia’ is irrational, harmful – and hard to break – James Kennedy | Aeon Ideas We all feel a profound connection with the natural world. E O Wilson called this sensation biophilia: ‘the urge to affiliate with other forms of...
