MindCraft Challenges

Hindsight bias (“I knew it all along”, “I saw it coming all along”) can lead to problems with learning and decision-making. Because of hindsight bias, people fail to search long enough for explanations for mistakes or unwanted outcomes (cognitive myopia). People also believe they have the best understanding of situations (overconfidence). Thus, people avoid learning from mistakes.

Challenge:
One of the best ways to counteract hindsight bias is with the consider-the-opposite strategy. When faced with the results of a decision, you can use consider-the-opposite to think about what other outcomes could have occurred and what steps might have led to those other outcomes. You might also think about how other steps could lead to the same outcome. Try using consider-the-opposite to better understand educational or social outcomes for a week. Did you learn anything about alternative actions or possibilities?

Read More:
About hindsight bias:
https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612454303

Principle:
Believing incorrect information is a psychological problem. However, there are some easy actions that you can take when searching for information on the internet that can protect you from being misinformed.

Challenge:
Add lateral reading and click restraint into your habits for internet searching.

Read more:
On the psychology of misinformation:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y
On sharing misinformation:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.007