It starts as children when we try to please and impress our parents. That need to please follows us to school as we try to impress our teachers and coaches–and ultimately to our adult lives as we go out of our way to please our bosses. And this isn’t only true for people who tend … Read more
If you think about what the “burden of proof” means for a minute (or you look it up), it makes perfect sense. This is something that you probably face in one form or another every day. While the concept of “the burden of proof” is commonly used in law, it also plays a critical role … Read more
What would happen if you dropped a mirror and it broke? Well, aside from having to buy a new mirror, you would probably expect seven years of bad luck to be ahead of you. But, if you think back to our article on the Post Hoc Logical Fallacies, you know this popular belief stems from … Read more
One common thing I hear people say (and I tend to believe myself) is, “No news is good news.” I was recently proven wrong by this saying when I spoke with a good friend of mine for the first time in several weeks. It’s not that we had lost touch–we are just both so busy … Read more
When you’re trying to make an argument for (or against) something, you need to construct a claim to get your listeners to believe what you’re saying. And there are few better ways to do this than to say something that your listeners already believe to be true. Like other cognitive biases, we often rely on … Read more