from Diary 2022-10-01 Difficulty in verifying the usefulness of means and bias in perceptions
The usefulness of means Y for an objective X can only be determined by comparing the results of using means Y with those of not using means Y for objective X.
- relevance - Looking for reasons not to
- But if someone is already using means Y, and thinks it is beneficial to objective X, why would he bother to examine the consequences of not using it?
- They think it’s beneficial, so they’re going to do unconscious actions to affirm it.
- Then experiment with people who don’t think it’s beneficial.
- If the cost of acquiring means Y is high, we think, “I can’t spend time learning something I don’t know if it’s beneficial or not.
- After all, decent comparative data is hard to come by, and is it unhelpful behavior to expect it to be available, to wait for it to be available, or to use the fact that it is not available as a reason not to do it?
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