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Ah, that's the author flattering the reader. If the author had picked a genuinely tricky example for the first one it would have turned many readers off. Of co
by planetguy 14y ago
Ah, that's the author flattering the reader. If the author had picked a genuinely tricky example for the first one it would have turned many readers off.
Of course a question like the old bat and ball one is ridiculously simple, after you've been warned that many people get it wrong and hence that you should probably stop and think for a few seconds before blurting out the first answer that pops into your head. Do it without that warning and it's easier to get it wrong.
- d2vid 14y agoThis. I think many people don't think they are susceptible to these biases because every time they encounter one, it is in the context of reading about biases and thus they are primed to be on the lookout for trickiness. I guess "many people" includes me - I always thought I was good at these types of questions, maybe I'm not :(
- sageikosa 14y agoI sort of realized I was already primed for "gotchas"! Of course I can't sing my own praises without showing some bias, since the whole article was about bias.
- dllthomas 14y agoWhen I first encountered these, without the "it's going to be tricky" priming, I must admit I got the bat and ball one wrong until I revisited it. The lily pad one I got right with no deep thinking - my explanation is that experience working with bits primed me for treating "doubles" more correctly. That's post hoc and anecdotal, of course, so take it for whatever, but I thought it interesting...