Cognitive Biases

In my daily life, I usually fall into the trap of various cognitive biases. In dealing with the hustle and bustle of my daily endeavours, I usually encounter a lot of people, scenarios and things that make my brain jump into certain conclusions and opinions. For this week’s blog, i would like to discuss the three main cognitive biases that I usually fall into in my everyday life.

Representative Bias

The most common bias that I personally believe a lot of people also fall into is the representative bias. This occurs often when one meets another person for the first time or when one encounters an acquaintance. Personally for me, I really like to seize up the person I am dealing with especially when I’m talking to them. I analyze and synthesize the limited information I have about the person I am encountering with along with the judgment I make based on his/her physical appearance, disposition, demeanor and alike. For me, this representative bias allows me to seize up whether I am better or lower than this person in terms of social status and “league”. With this, I will know if I can be comfortable around this person’s presence even if the conclusion that I jump into may be inaccurate or wrong. In addition, this bias will definitely influence the way I act, talk and deal with this person whenever I encounter him/her in my daily life. All in all, this bias is a very common occurence in our daily lives since we see a lot of people, mostly strangers and have an instinct to judge or seize them up without the need to encounter with them.

Clustering Illusion

Clustering illusion is the tendency to see pattern in random events and personally I fall into this minefield a lot more times than what I have expected. I almost always fall into this cognitive bias whenever I wake up in the morning. Once I wake up every morning, I am usually in a groggy and somewhat grumpy mood, but I still get into my daily routine in life and go to school. I use two modes of transportation when i go to school and this is where I fall in to the clustering illusion bias. First is when I drive a car and once I reach Marcos-Highway and see that it’s traffic, I usually think that something bad is going to happen during the day may it be small or big and true enough, it almost always happens even in the most random of events such as slipping or tripping while walking. The other mode of transportation would be the LRT and once I tap my beep card and it doesn’t immediately work, I usually foresee a streak of unfortunate events (in a mild manner only though) and it really amuses me that something does happen. To sum it up, these unrelated events usually cause a streak of bad things and this bias often makes my brain fall into the clustering illusion.

Choice-Supportive Bias

Last but not the least, I also fall into the choice-supportive bias. Most of the time, people fall into this bias due to many factors such as preference, ignorance and pride. It is in the human nature of people to feel positive and right in every choice they make because we don’t like to feel bad about the choices we make in life even if they have some flaws. For example in a test, when choosing an answer you feel that is right although there is a much better answer, the mind that is triggered by the choice-supportive bias will neglect the error of the choice and instead look into the positives and the rightness of the answer even if it is wrong. This bias promotes ignorance and close-mindedness to us humans who are most of the time prideful and arrogant. Another example that is very applicable to me is whenever I engage into vices that I know may be harmful to my health. I usually justify these vices with research that I have encountered in Google which sympathizes with these vices although I know deep down that by choosing to do these, I often neglect the downside of this choice. All in all, the choice-supportive bias may be harmful to the benefit of one’s brain and attitude since it often neglects and ignored the downside of one’s choice in daily life events.

System 1 Thoughts

In relation to these biases, System 1 also plays a huge role to the way we live our lives. System 1 is the automatic part of our brain and it is something that cannot be turned off in our daily lives. As a person who is very busy and does a lot of things in my life, my System 1 often formulates unnecessary thoughts that are unhelpful to me. One thought that I get can be encapsulated by “This is annoying.” I usually get annoyed when something does not go my way or when the weather is too hot and I feel uncomfortable, thus my System 1 will have this thought and in turn will make me have a bad disposition and in turn will disrupt my focus and attention in class or alike. Another lingering thought is when I get home after the day and even if I know that I can’t fall asleep yet, my brain tells me that “I’m tired and lazy to do schoolwork.” This unhelpful thought disallows me to become productive in school and in turn makes me have a lack of sleep due to my procastination habits.

Strategies and Remedies

In the given biases and unhelpful thoughts, it is very helpful to come up with ways to counter these biases and aid System 1 in doing so. Although there won’t be a lot of time in doing so in some of these biases, the other biases one encounters may have a time frame to do so. Firstly, for biases that trigger quickly and don’t have a lot of time to counter these, a simple breathing exercise to calm one’s thoughts and be more open-minded will definitely be useful to get away these cognitive minefields. A good disposition and demeanor will help the brain be more focused and straight to the facts and given information. Secondly, for biases that allot more time, such as the unhelpful thought of being lazy, taking a power nap may be useful since it helps the body and mind re-energize and finish the tasks at hand. Finally, for both biases and thoughts, pausing and asking help from System 2 would be the most efficient and effective way in dealing with these due to the fact that System 2 is very reflective and brings out the critical thinking each and every one of us has.

“Listen to understand it, rather than listen to answer it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imaginary Systems as Guides

Ever heard of the saying “Food for thought”? Well apparently in this world, it is not only food that needs serious thinking and consideration, but also when we think, analyze or use our brains in day to day situations. Daniel Kahneman’s mind-clarifying strangers of systems definitely enlightened me into a whole new perspective when it comes to me using my brain everyday, making me have an additional motto in life: Thought for Thought.

Daniel Kahneman’s philosophy and perspective of the brain is definitely on a class of its own since his deep understanding of how the human mind works is phenomenal. To put it into simpler words, the two main imaginary guides that our brains go to are System 1 and System 2. System 1 is an automatic, fast and effortless operator, that is often associated with instinct and intuitive thinking, while System 2 operates with more effort and on more complex situations. With these in mind (no pun intended), these two systems work together and serve as our partners in our daily lives and with this knowledge at hand, it has struck me definitely since I have a new and fresh way of seeing and thinking about mundane and complex things altogether. This knowledge definitely moved me due to the fact that I am now a more discerning and analytical person when it comes to everyday tasks as I often think about the system at work in my brain, which in turn makes me work and think more efficiently and effectively. This newfound knowledge about the systems has definitely moved me into becoming a better and smarter person.

 

As you can see above, this stationary picture seems like a flashing and moving one due to the optical illusion that it presents. System 1 recognizes these moving effects due to the illusion the picture portrays to our eyes and brains, but System 2 steps in and meticulously analyzes and realizes that the image is standstill, thus the optical illusion completing its task. The concept of illusions not only merely to our eyes but a more deeper and harder illusions known as cognitive illusions is the main thing I learned from the guides of systems. With the presence of these said illusions, I must be more wary of the things I think, see, feel and the way others treat me, talk to me and the way they present their ideas and feelings to me. Falling into the trap of these cognitive illusions is fine once it is encountered first time, but after doing so, one must learn to never fall for that trap and be more alert to the deceptions these present to us. Having this skill is very important and I am very thankful that I am introduced to this concept in this class since it allows me to have no room for error, especially in the future wherein there are a lot of tricks in the trade in the adult and professional life.

“Belief in the absence of illusions is an illusion in itself.” – Barbara Harrison

To bring this short discussion to a close, I would like to reflect on the past experiences that I have encountered: heartbreaks, failures, triumph and success. By doing so, I can revitalize and improve my current System 1 in order be less susceptible to systematic errors. With this in line is the betterment and improvement of the accompanying System 2, which I will definitely need in my daily life as college starts and this journey for my redemption takes place. I will definitely takes the lessons I have learned in the discussion of this module as a beacon of light, inspiration and motivation in order to succeed and have a very meaningful college life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hybrid Identities

“Nobody knows who I really am.”

“Neither do I.”

 

 

Globalization is a process wherein foreign and world-wide businesses, products, values, culture and lifestyle have an influence to other people in other countries. This phenomenon is rampant and very fast-paced in this day and age especially with the rise of social media and new technologies. Binding all of these factors, an intensified process of globalisation has immediate implications for the psychology of self and identity, depending on the person affected.

As a 17-year old Filipino and a student of the Ateneo De Manila University for the majority of my life, I am definitely not alienated to the concept of globalisation and for the majority of its influence and effects, I have always had a clash of identities within me. This clash of identities has made me conform to the concept of hybridity.

 

These influences that I encounter in my everyday life have formed me into who I really am today. Although I personally believe that no one really knows their true selves since our personalities differ in every situation, I can seize up myself into two aspects: global and local identities. In order to present myself in a manner in which one can understand the true implications of globalization and its competition with localization, I will focus on my current context.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For my main global identity, I mainly associate myself with the culture of the Japanese due to their forever lovely anime series and manga, and the Americans. As a country that has been colonized by the United States of America, their western culture always had and will always have an impact in Filipinos’ lives. Personally, I enjoy a lot of things and products that originated from America such as McDonald’s, Nike, Ralph Lauren and music artists and songs. I prefer these products over our local products. But aside from these, there is one main influence that the Americans have given us, the English language. I believe my personality is divided into two, depending on the language that I speak towards another person. Often, when I associate myself with someone classy, rich, powerful and educated, my go to language would be the English language due to its popularity and its social class representation. The English language is often associated to people with power and money, and it is an imminent reality that when someone uses English, or a mixed version of English and Filipino commonly known as “conyo”, Filipinos instantly think that you’re rich, arrogant and from a prestigious school.

With these in mind, how does this really affect me in my daily life? Simply said, I prefer using the English language whenever I encounter strangers in the same social class, persons of power and wealth, and whenever I dress with branded clothes and going to more prestigious malls such as EDSA Shang and alike. As an assessment of myself and my personality, I really like to impose myself and make my presence felt to other people, thus the preference of English, In addition to this, I also like to portray an image of power and class to others in order to look and feel good, which I personally believe is a normal feeling for most people.

“It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity” – Kofi Annan

 

On the other hand, there are still many people who have retained their local identities despite the major influence of globalization around the world. I believe that I am one of those people since I am born here, raised here and lived here for the entirety of my existence in this world. No matter how much foreign influences come here to the Philippines, I will never forget my roots and my nationality due to one fact: being Filipino made me into who I really am today. The Filipino culture is like no other and I can personally see that I manifest these in my values and in my lifestyle. Resiliency, hospitality, being a teaser, loving rice, seafood, corn and kakanin are just a few things I love about being a Filipino but the epitome of being a Filipino is in one thing: the Filipino language. The Filipino language is such a beautiful piece of art due to its diversity and the way it is used in my daily life. Whenever I talk to my barkada, family and any ordinary Filipino, the Filipino language is the perfect language to use since it is the embodiment of our deep connection as Filipinos. When I was in Italy and Spain and we hear someone who speaks Filipino or whenever someone hears us talk in Tagalog, we instantly say hi or in Filipino terms mangamusta since there is that special bond and connection of hearing someone speak the same language although you are complete strangers. To sum it all up, whenever I use the Filipino language, I believe that I am more capable of showing my true self since I am more comfortable with this Filipino language even though I prefer some English traditions.

 

At the end of the day, I believe that you cannot really find yourself in this ever-changing world. I truly believe that one cannot encapsulate his/her personality and traits into words, definitions and identities since we all change depending on the circumstance at hand. With this in mind though, I believe that hybrid identities, such as myself, teach us one main lesson, and that is to create yourself in a way that is positive to the world. No matter who you think you are or who you want to be, one thing is important, love others and live a meaningful life.