A nice collection of biases in our judgment that are illusions that lead us to false conclusions and false knowledge.
http://www.businessinsider.com/behavioral-biases-2012-12#clustering-illusion-8
“Our brains are terrible at assessing modern risks. Here’s how to think straight about dangers in your midst.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200712/10-ways-we-get-the-odds-wrong
Here is a handout I made based on this article:
An essay that summarizes the ideas in the book Descartes’ Error discussing the relationship between emotion and reason in human decision making.
“Since Descartes famously proclaimed, “I think, therefore I am,” science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person’s true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—”one of the world’s leading neurologists” (The New York Times)—challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.” -Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Descartes-Error-Emotion-Reason-Human/dp/014303622X
There is an age old debate about the roles of emotion and reason in our decision making. Are decision made free from emotion better? Are they possible? The conventional views have been to try to disregard emotion when making decisions but there is interesting research that disputes these ideas. Below are some interesting articles discussing these issues.
http://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shapes-decision-making/
See a contrasting view by checking out Plato’s allegory of the chariot.
https://toktopics.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/how-do-we-decide-reason-vs-emotion/
One of the most famous and controversial political ads in American history, LBJ’s “Daisy Ad” was a great example of an appeal to emotion argument. Rather than present a reasoned argument or discuss facts, the ad takes one of the scariest prospects of the time, or any time, nuclear war, and tries to capitalize on people’s emotions by saying that a vote for the other guy would lead to nuclear war. The ad was only aired once but had a huge impact.
What would life be like if you were missing emotions that others have? What would be the consequences of life without fear? Would it be a blessing or a curse?
Article on a woman who doesn’t feel fear.
https://www.yahoo.com/health/meet-the-woman-who-feels-no-fear-108746157003.html
Part of a podcast, Invisibilia, about the same woman
“If you are among those people who are mystified by moods, new research offers hope. A new study shows that certain types of reading can actually help us improve our sensitivity IQ. To find out how well you read the emotions of others, take the Well quiz, which is based on an assessment tool developed by University of Cambridge professor Simon Baron-Cohen.”
Here is a handout I made based on the quiz
can you read people_s emotions
Click below for the full quiz
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/well-quiz-the-mind-behind-the-eyes/
TOK Topics 