Comments on: Mental Bias – Would You Like Fries With Your Warm Fuzzy Platitudes?

By: Free Online Personality Type Tests and Psychology Tests — SidSavara.com

Free Online Personality Type Tests and Psychology Tests — SidSavara.com — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:41:21 +0000

[...] based on my food choices, etc. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know anything about mental bias and the Forer effect, it all sounded true to me at the time. [...]

By: Web Design

Web Design — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:19:37 +0000

I really believe in this self fulfilling prophecies. I had seen it very time as in public and even in my personal life, If I become critical about something, and assume the thing is going to be tough on me, it ultimately goes down, not cauze I cant but cause I tell my mind to leave me slowly, … and when my conscious give up on it, my parts ultimately end up pulling the wrong trigger.

By: Web Design

Web Design — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:19:37 +0000

By: aliventures

aliventures — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:43:04 +0000

By no means do I want to deny that coincidences exist! I just think that too many people ascribe too much meaning to them, when there's nothing there. On the other hand, I believe in God … and so I do try to stay open-minded about stuff “beyond” what science tells us.

I think you're right about being aware of biases; that knowledge can steer us away from a lot of dodgy thinking.

By: aliventures

aliventures — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Thanks Daniel! It's great to hear you're getting a lot of positive incidents in your life - I'd be tempted to say it's because you're optimistic and focused, and you're putting yourself in a position for great things to happen!

That's a good point about taking on words and descriptions that have a positive effect: I think it's about using what you already know about yourself when you take a personality test (or read a horoscope), then drawing out what's helpful to you within it.

Thanks for your comment - keep up the positivity!

By: aliventures

aliventures — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:37:58 +0000

Thanks Daphne! :-) And many thanks for the link to Fooled by Randomness – yes, it sounds like exactly the kind of thing I'd like. I always appreciate good book-leads!

By: Hamdani Amin

Hamdani Amin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:05:14 +0000

It 's interesting to read horoscope or their kinds. I take it as an entertainment that bright-up the day, or as positive suggestion (if the prediction is good) and self motivation (if the prediction is bad) to do much better.

By: Rebecca Leaman

Rebecca Leaman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:03:53 +0000

@sidsavara okay, I concede :-) you win the prize for best custom short url > http://tr.im/fuzzy

By: Daphne

Daphne — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:17:34 +0000

Hi Ali,

Excellent article! I've long known that horoscopes were clever generalisations that would apply to almost anybody reading it, so everyone thinks it applies to them individually! I especially liked your research and naming of the individual theories, which grounds an otherwise personal opinion into a very respectable scientific understanding of the issue.

In fact, you may like a book called “Fooled by Randomness” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, which covers the kind of flawed thinking most people engage in. Hope it's okay to add a link to the book review on my site here, because that book is making exactly the same point as you do here and I think you'll like it a lot:

http://www.joyfuldays.com/2008/11/book-review-f...

Great work as usual, Ali. You write extremely well, and that includes the research you put in as well.

By: Surprise Surprise | Insight Writer

Surprise Surprise | Insight Writer — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:21:51 +0000

[...] Mental Bias – Would You Like Fries with Your Warm Fuzzy Platitudes – This is a guest article by Ali Hale that she wrote on Sid Savara’s site. This one is quite different from the normal personal development stuff you get on the net and its reading that really makes you think. [...]