Overcome your cognitive biases with this set of online classes
TL;DR: The Mastering Cognitive Biases Bundle is on sale for £22.16 as of Jan. 4, saving you 96% on list price.
As humans, we're forced to make lots of decisions on a daily basis. And while we may think we make every single decision based on facts, logic, and reasoning, there's a lot more to it than that. As it turns out, we kind of suck at the whole decision-making process due to our own cognitive biases.
Discovered by two dudes named Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in the 1970s, cognitive biases are basically like mental shortcuts or rules that simplify the decision-making process. Sure, we try to rationalise them after the fact through logic and reasoning, but the choice itself is pre-determined by the unconscious part of the mind. Do you tend to only pay attention to news networks that confirm your opinions and disregard other channels? Do you learn a little about a topic, then assume you know everything about it? Or maybe, when things don't go your way, you tend to blame outside factors?
If you're immediately feeling defensive, chill. We all have cognitive biases. But we can also train our brains to limit them and think more critically and this set of online courses can help.
You'll kick things off by learning how to take a skeptical look at anything you hear or read, as well as identifying potential cognitive biases in yourself and others. You know, like acknowledging that not everything you read on Twitter is true. Then you'll dive into things like Nonexistent Patterns, Stereotype Thinking, Curse of Familiarity, Oversimplification, and Projection. You'll go through each of these categories and learn how to avoid them in order to make smarter, better decisions in any aspect of life.
Next, you'll look at the famous Occam's Razor, Status Quo bias, Decoy effect, and more, and learn how to not get trapped with these biases. And finally, you'll learn how False Memory, a major cognitive bias, occurs, and how to avoid it.
This bundle is worth nearly £588, but you can sign up for just £22.16.
Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day.
Joseph is also Executive Editor of Mashable's sister site, AskMen.
