Master Cognitive Biases And Improve Your Critical Thinking

Upgrade Your Mindware! Master Cognitive Biases and Learn New Strategies to Improve the Quality of Your Thinking

What you'll learn
Understand what cognitive biases are and why they're so important for critical thinking.
Understand the concept of "mindware" as a component of improving critical thinking and reasoning.
Understand how ignoring cognitive biases can open the door to disastrous decisions, reduced performance and social injustice.
Understand why many businesses and industries are offering cognitive bias training to their managers and employees.
Be able to describe several important cognitive biases – such as confirmation bias, pattern-seeking, anchoring, and hindsight bias – and give examples that illustrate how they operate.
Understand what "debiasing" is, and be able to describe several effective strategies for reducing the harmful effects of cognitive biases.
Explain why many businesses and organizations resist implementing debiasing strategies.
Requirements
Students do not need any special background to benefit from this course. Just a willingness to think, learn and discuss!
Description
Critical thinking is one of the most important skills anyone can learn. Let philosopher Kevin deLaplante introduce you to the cutting edge of critical thinking education, with this entertaining and enlightening introduction to cognitive biases and their importance for critical thinking. 
Interest in Cognitive Bias Training Has Exploded
Books and articles on the impact of cognitive biases in business, finance, management, teaching, science, politics, and many other fields, have exploded in popularity in recent years. Many industries have started offering cognitive bias training to management and workers, and the trend is growing. 
Benefits of Understanding and Mastering Cognitive Biases 
Cognitive biases undermine critical thinking by making us vulnerable to faulty beliefs and bad decisions. Cognitive bias training is motivated by a desire to avoid disasters, improve performance, and promote social justice. 
The good news is that there are proven strategies for neutralizing or minimizing the negative effects of cognitive biases. These "debiasing" techniques can be surprisingly simple and effective. 
What You Will Learn in This Course
This course will get you up to speed on what cognitive biases are, why they're important for critical thinking, why cognitive bias training has become popular, and what sorts of "debiasing" techniques have been shown to be effective in improving the quality of thinking and decision-making.
Check out the free preview videos in the "Getting Started" section for a full breakdown of the topics covered in the course, and how the course is organized!

Overview

Section 1: Getting Started

Lecture 1 Welcome to the Course!

Lecture 2 Who is Kevin deLaplante?

Lecture 3 What Will I Learn in This Course?

Section 2: What is a Cognitive Bias?

Lecture 4 What is a Cognitive Bias?

Lecture 5 "Biased" does NOT mean "Prejudiced" or "Bigoted"

Lecture 6 An Example: The Gambler's Fallacy

Lecture 7 The Most Important Discovery of Modern Psychology

Section 3: Cognitive Biases and Their Importance for Critical Thinking

Lecture 8 A Central Aim of Critical Thinking

Lecture 9 "Mindware": Tools for Smart Thinking

Section 4: Why Are So Many Industries Offering Cognitive Bias Training To Their Employees?

Lecture 10 Why is Everyone Talking About Cognitive Biases?

Lecture 11 Reason 1: Avoiding Disasters

Lecture 12 Reason 2: Improving Performance

Lecture 13 Reason 3: Promoting Social Justice

Lecture 14 All of This is Just APPLIED CRITICAL THINKING

Section 5: A Gentle Introduction to Cognitive Biases

Lecture 15 There Are Hundreds of Cognitive Biases

Lecture 16 We'll Look at FOUR in Detail

Section 6: (1) Confirmation Bias

Lecture 17 What is Confirmation Bias?

Lecture 18 Biased Memory and the Lunar Effect

Lecture 19 Biased Search for Information (I): Interviews and Framing Effects

Lecture 20 Biased Search for Information (II): How Questions Can Manipulate Memory

Lecture 21 Biased Interpretation of Information: Mulder, Scully and Giant Alien Spiders

Section 7: (2) Pattern Seeking

Lecture 22 We're Very Good at Seeing Patterns … Maybe Too Good

Lecture 23 We See Faces Everywhere: Why?

Lecture 24 Cognitive Biases and Adaptive Shortcuts

Lecture 25 Stairway to Heaven, Britney Spears, and Backmasking

Lecture 26 Looking for Meaning in German Carpet Bombing Patterns

Section 8: (3) The Anchoring Effect

Lecture 27 What is the Anchoring Effect?

Lecture 28 How Much is This Jacket Really Worth?

Lecture 29 The Basic Shortcut: "Anchor and Adjust"

Lecture 30 Irrelevant Anchors: Judges Literally Roll Dice on Damages

Lecture 31 How to Use Anchoring to Manipulate Public Opinion

Section 9: (4) Hindsight Bias

Lecture 32 What Is Hindsight Bias?

Lecture 33 How Hindsight Bias is Demonstrated

Lecture 34 Hindsight Bias, 9-11 and Earthquake Prediction

Section 10: Introduction to Debiasing Strategies

Lecture 35 Debiasing Strategies: Overview

Lecture 36 What is Debiasing?

Lecture 37 Debiasing the Decision-Maker

Lecture 38 Debiasing the Environment

Section 11: Why Businesses Often Resist Debiasing

Lecture 39 Five Reasons Why Businesses May Resist Debiasing

Lecture 40 We Have a BLIND SPOT When It Comes to Our Own Biases

Section 12: Debiasing Strategies that Work

Lecture 41 The General Problem: Narrow Thinking

Lecture 42 (1) Consider the Opposite

Lecture 43 (2) Make People Accountable

Lecture 44 (3) PREMORTEM Analysis

Lecture 45 (4) The Value of Checklists

Lecture 46 (5-1) The Benefits and Risks of Group Decision-Making

Lecture 47 (5-2) The Debiasing Effects of Diversity

Lecture 48 (5-3) How to Get the Most Out of Brainstorming

Section 13: Wrapping Up

Lecture 49 What's Next?

Lecture 50 Bonus Lecture: Other Courses I Teach and Services I Offer

Anyone who is interested in improving their critical thinking skills.,Anyone who wants to learn about what psychology has taught us about human judgment and decision-making over the past forty years.,Anyone working in business or other organizations who wants to improve the quality of thinking and decision-making in their organization.