Availability Heuristic

I introduced some cognitive bias in the previous blog. In last month, I found a comic strip in the Seattle Times. It is not only funny, but it is also a good example to explain what availability heuristic is. 

Article: The Seattle Times

The availability heuristic refers to judgments based on how easy it is for us to bring specific examples to mind, according to The Social Animal.

In this comic strip, there is a conversation between an angel and a movie star. I focused on the angel's statements. For example, he (I guess the angel is Ernest, so he is male.) said "In Hollywood everybody gets plastic surgery... we all have eternal youth!" This is obviously related to the availability heuristic because as far as I know, many stars do not get plastic surgery. Only some stars get it. Also, he said "We don't have celebrity parties, but we are surrounded by stars." He added " And celebrities fly on private jets while up here we all have our own wings." These comments have the same problem. In short, being surrounded by stars and owning a private jet is not typical of the overall picture for Hollywood stars.

Finally, I am going to add typical quizzes which are often referred by textbooks:

1. Fortune magazine ranked the following 10 corporations as being among the 500 largest United States-based firms according to sales volume for 2008: Group A (Apple computer, Hershey Foods, Kellogg, McDonald's, U.S. Airways); Group B (Altria Group, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson, Valero Energy). Which group would you say (A or B) had the larger total sales volume?
2. Which of the following causes more deaths in the United States each year? a). Stomach cancer b). Motor vehicle accidents

So, what do you think that you have 100 percent confidence to answer the questions correctly? Sometimes our perception is distorted, but not every single time, even our perception of beauty. WE LIVE IN WHAT WE PERCEIVE. Watch out women who wear makeup.

Let's Learn about Cognitive Bias

I have read Freakonomics blog. In that blog, this video was introduced. How funny it is, but not only fun but also useful to learn various kind of cognitive bias.

We do not live a life without cognitive bias. When making decisions, perceiving, and behaving something, cognitive bias is always close with us. In my opinion, it's difficult to avoid those bias, so what we need to correspond to those bias is that we recognize them and then what we positively accept them is more important to enhance a quality of making decisions and so on.

Marathon Race

I completed the Honolulu marathon with six hours and five minutes last Sunday. It was good weather to run a marathon, which means moderate warm not too hot but not too cold. The start time was 5AM. Actually, I was sleepy. Anyway, This marathon was the first time for me to run a marathon and complete 42.195km (although I did not keep running throughout the race...). I felt like 26.2mile was too long. In fact, during the race I did want to give up from time to time.

So, how was I motivated? According to last my blog, hot joggers was supposed to make me enhance my motivation to run the race. However, unfortunately, this did not work well for me because during the race, especially in the second half, I was too exhausted not to be able to afford to look for hot joggers. Rather, my eyes stayed on looking at the road, of course though it was boring. I could not look up! Instead, I was encouraged by the runners who were the same situation as me which is too tired. When seeing them, my feeling was that I did not want to lose them because they were from younger than me to older such as they looked like 80 or something years old. They were amazing for me because they were much faster and tougher than me who is 24 years old. At that point, I realized that I should train for the race a lot, but it's too late to regret because I don't like something to lose.

Eventually, I completed the race as a result of maintaining my motivation to run. After the marathon, I wanted to appreciate everybody who participated in it including the volunteers. This accomplishment was by not only my effort, but by others' support such as cheering me up at the roads, distributing water on the aid stations, and running with me regardless of intentionality. Thanks everybody!

But, I would never try to run a marathon. Thanks again.

How to Motivate

Yesterday I was jogging around my house. I am supposed to run in Honolulu in this weekend. Is it possible for me to complete the race? I am not sure. Rather, It seems to be impossible. Anyway, I will challenge it!

Suppose we need a training and study to accomplish something. How do we keep doing it? An answer is motivation. There is a means to get motivation: identification.

Article: The Seattle Times

The term identification describes a response to social influence brought about by an individual's desire to be like the influencer, according to The Social Animal.

In this comic strip,  a guy wearing glasses tells his dog "I think I'm pushing myself too hard." And then, he explains that the motivation for him to run too hard is " I was watching some hot girl jogger and ran into a building." This is obviously an example of identification because his jogging results from an influence to watch or hopefully get along with girl joggers.

To run the whole distance (42.195km), I may need to find a hot girl jogger.