Take the final check: recognize the biases and fallacies in a set of cases and put it all together into one big picture.
Before the final
What you can do now
You've walked the thinking detective's whole route:
— you saw in illusions that the brain fills in reality and is systematically wrong;
— took apart the biases: confirmation, anchoring, availability, survivorship bias, the halo;
— learned to catch logical tricks: the straw man, ad hominem, the false dilemma, the red herring, appeals to popularity and to authority, “after this, therefore because of this”;
— understood the probability traps: the gambler's fallacy, base rates, the conjunction fallacy;
— learned to see the techniques of advertising and propaganda;
— put together a five-question checklist for important decisions.
The main skill isn't in the names but in a reflex: notice a fast, confident, emotional conclusion in yourself — and slow down. The final test will check exactly that reflex on new cases. Good luck, detective.
Lesson notes
What you can do now
You've walked the thinking detective's whole route:
— you saw in illusions that the brain fills in reality and is systematically wrong;
— took apart the biases: confirmation, anchoring, availability, survivorship bias, the halo;
— learned to catch logical tricks: the straw man, ad hominem, the false dilemma, the red herring, appeals to popularity and to authority, “after this, therefore because of this”;
— understood the probability traps: the gambler's fallacy, base rates, the conjunction fallacy;
— learned to see the techniques of advertising and propaganda;
— put together a five-question checklist for important decisions.
The main skill isn't in the names but in a reflex: notice a fast, confident, emotional conclusion in yourself — and slow down. The final test will check exactly that reflex on new cases. Good luck, detective.