January 15th, 2024
Psychology Today recently published an article featuring Carey Morewedge, Professor of Marketing, discussing best practices for developing better judgment.
The goal of judgment is to arrive at the best solution. Everyone has truths and falsehoods about the world, as well as calibrated and uncalibrated expectations. Teaching people di-biasing strategies can help with effective decision-making for all. A common mistake that people make in judgment is confirmation bias, overweighting information that confirms one’s beliefs.
When discussing how to cultivate judgement, Morewedge states, “I think it’s useful to get kids to not just look for reasons why their idea is right. Push them to think about evidence for alternatives or reasons why their idea might be wrong. Help them think about questions such as Am I thinking about all the information available? What would suggest that this idea is wrong? Is there information that would refute the idea that I’m testing?”
Viewing judgment as a skill to be improved on is good for people and the world.