[People Met Through Books] The Beginning of the "I'm Right" Error... Just Recognize That You Can Be Wrong

A Society That Thinks and Criticizes Easily
Errors Can Be Reduced by Trying, but Only Slightly
Reduce Pointing Fingers at Others and Acknowledge One's Own Mistakes

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] When watching brilliance and excellence, it feels as if I too could become the main character. I think the clothes that highlight the model's beauty would shine just as brightly on me, and when watching singers passionately perform, I imagine the same melody flowing from my mouth. However, as many have experienced, the clothes are not the same clothes, and the song is not the same song. What seemed easy is actually not as expected.

The same goes for dancing. Professor An Woo-kyung, Sterling Professor of Psychology at Yale University, showed his students a 6-second dance video of BTS during class and offered a prize for those who could imitate it well. He showed the 'Moonwalk,' Michael Jackson's backward walking dance, dozens of times and invited volunteers. About ten students, thinking "It's only 6 seconds, how hard can it be?" confidently stepped onto the stage. But the results were unexpected. Some wildly waved their arms and jumped around, while others threw out mistimed, random kicks. One gave up after 3 seconds, and soon everyone stopped dancing.

Professor An explains this as the 'fluency effect,' an illusion that makes one think, "I can do this too." Many situations in daily life where people think easily and criticize easily are based on this psychology. To reduce the gap between error and reality, the most effective method is to actually confront the task, but Professor An says, "Only a very few put it into practice." He argues that this 'thinking error' can be recognized through cognitive psychology to make the world a better place. We posed questions to Professor An Woo-kyung, author of the book Thinking 101 (Flow Publishing).

- You said cognitive psychology can make the world a better place. What is the biggest problem in today's era, and how can cognitive psychology help compensate for it?

▲ There are so many thinking errors that it's hard to pick just one, but I would cite 'confirmation bias.' One mechanism of confirmation bias is that when a method succeeds, people think it is the only correct answer. For example, it is believed that eating seaweed soup after childbirth increases milk production. I also ate a lot of it and do not deny the benefits of seaweed soup. But it may not be only because of the seaweed soup. Maybe the warm broth is good, or simply having a lot of fluids is beneficial, or perhaps just eating anything is enough. There are infinite other possibilities, but confirmation bias is when people only see cases that fit their initial hypothesis and make a conclusion. This error occurs frequently both individually and socially. Eliminating this error does not solve life’s problems like removing a tumor, but to prevent negative effects, one must understand the causes and mechanisms. Then, at least, one can have the mindset that conclusions once thought obviously correct might be wrong.

- Korean society experiences intense conflicts due to confirmation bias. Is Korea particularly severe in this regard?

▲ The distance between progressives and conservatives is also growing in the United States. The internet is one of several reasons. Algorithms on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc., recommend only what they think users will like, which can also be called confirmation bias. People also look only for evidence supporting their own thoughts. For example, a cataract patient suspicious of surgical side effects searches for 'cataract surgery side effects,' reads articles about side effects, and becomes convinced their suspicion is correct. In human relationships, when people associate with those who share their opinions, an 'echo chamber effect' forms, where they share the same opinions like an echo, reinforcing their convictions.

- Are there cognitive psychological methods to escape confirmation bias?

▲ There is no experimentally verified method yet. It is not a problem solved by a few hours of training. Humans are cognitively frugal and tend to follow inertia, wanting to do things as they have always done. In such cases, trying something new is necessary. For example, instead of searching 'cataract surgery side effects,' try searching 'cataract surgery.' Institutional changes are also needed. In the U.S., when COVID-19 broke out, many ignored vaccinations thinking it was no big deal, but by blocking school attendance without vaccination, significant effects were seen. Ultimately, the most important thing is to acknowledge that everyone has confirmation bias. Whether thoughts are the same or different, recognizing this fact allows focus on problem-solving.

- As information acquisition becomes more convenient, 'experience' is overlooked. People mistakenly think they know something because they can search anytime, and the experiences of older generations are sometimes disregarded.

▲ Watching YouTube, it seems there is no dish you cannot cook and no item you cannot fix. The same goes for finding places on Google Maps. It looks easy, but I have been wandering for nearly 50 minutes for three weeks trying to find Yale-NUS College, a 10-minute walk from my home in Singapore, where I teach a semester-long course. This is explained in the book as the 'fluency effect.' Nowadays, everything is explained simply and easily, inducing the illusion that I can do it too. Thinking and actually doing are different. In that sense, 'experience' is very important.

- 'Fake news,' which cunningly distorts the truth, is also pointed out as a social problem.

▲ Recently, many cognitive science studies on fake news have emerged. Some relate to the aforementioned cognitive frugality. The human brain has limited memory capacity and tends to forget relatively less important things. When acquiring new facts, people remember content better than the path or process. Take the turtle ship as an example. Many know it was made by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, but few remember when or from whom they learned this. Fake news is similar. If one overlooks that information comes from rumors or low-trust media, only the fake content remains and is soon regarded as true. Doubt requires energy, so cognitively frugal humans consider most of what they hear as fact. Even when doubting, repeated exposure to false information makes it easy to fall into falsehood.

- Sometimes interpretations differ even with the same facts. Especially in politics, opposite interpretations of the same situation confuse the public.

▲ This happens not only to strange or selfish people but to all of us. Humans interpret every moment based on what they know. This is called 'top-down processing' in technical terms, and without it, survival is impossible. Imagine a tiger ahead. Because we have knowledge about tigers, even if it shows no threatening behavior, we interpret it as dangerous and think we must run immediately. This helps survival. The problem is that everyone has different background knowledge, so interpretations vary. Since we cannot change these differing backgrounds, aligning thoughts is nearly impossible. To communicate with those who interpret differently, it is important not to see others as bad or foolish just because their interpretations differ.

- But biased interpretations can be problematic. How should we deal with them?

▲ One of the hardest thinking errors to fix is biased interpretation. However, pointing fingers and saying someone is wrong is not very helpful. Assuming differences exist, focusing on finding solutions that can be agreed upon despite those differences is a more efficient way to solve problems.

- Even if errors and biases are discovered, change does not easily follow. What advice do you have for readers who read your book and try to change?

▲ The book discusses various thinking errors, including confirmation bias. I want to ask readers not to read it as nagging that they must fix all of them. Almost nothing can be forced. While writing the book, I tried to explain with examples why many errors and overconfidence occur and what their consequences are. I hope that understanding these explanations naturally leads to recognizing and wanting to correct errors in daily life. I also hope the experiments and examples in the book become opportunities to discuss and debate with others.

Who is Author An Woo-kyung?

He is Sterling Professor of Psychology at Yale University. After graduating from Yonsei University and earning a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he served as an assistant professor at Yale University and associate professor at Vanderbilt University. He is the first Korean scholar to become a full professor in an Ivy League psychology department and received the Lex Hixon Prize, awarded to outstanding teachers at Yale University, in 2022.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.