“Without awareness of common pitfalls such as confirmation bias, positive-outcome bias, and subjective validation, a person trained in logic and fallacy detection is easily deceived into thinking that he or she has acquired invincible armor against assaults of unreason. Expressions… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“Psychologists call this natural tendency to be selective in both our memory and our perception confirmation bias. People with strong convictions often take confirmation bias to a level known as motivated reasoning. The more evidence one presents against their belief,… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“One of the first things I learned when I began teaching courses in critical thinking in 1974 was that those of us trained in… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the most common ad hominem fallacy is to attack the motives of the person making the argument. Critics of judicial decisions often cite… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“I noted above that when I refer to an idea as unworthy of consideration (or words to that effect that might sound a bit… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“Societies progress by the free assertion of differing proposals, followed by criticism, followed by the genuine possibility of change in the light of criticism…The… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“More than half of all Americans believe we can heal each other by psychic or spiritual means. About one-third believe in telepathy and about… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“We must work hard at overcoming the natural tendency to see causal connections and other patterns where there are none by examining all the… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“About the only uncontested effect of cognitive training is that training in a specific area improves performance in that area but does not transfer… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“This has the added negative effect of giving them the illusion of confidence. It is a hard lesson to accept, but the success of… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“Some scientists have actually done this and guess what? They haven’t found a significant correlation between phases of the Moon and hospital admissions in… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“It is not that hard to understand why most of us believe strongly in things that are palpably not true. We have a natural… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“At the very least, one would hope that by becoming aware of the many ways our brain can trick us, we would arrive at… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
“Seventy-seven percent of Americans think it’s safer to talk on a hands-free phone than on a handheld phone. The empirical evidence shows otherwise. The… — Robert Carroll Copy Share Image
