Thinking 101 Quotes

“Specific examples and anecdotes can oftentimes be too powerful, leading us to violate important rational principles. In 2020, for example, it was not uncommon to hear people say things like, “My grandfather tested positive for COVID-19, and he recovered in one week. COVID is just the flu, after all,” or “My friend never wears a mask, and he didn’t catch COVID.” For many people, one or two anecdotes from people they know are more persuasive than scientific evidence based on much larger samples.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“When we keep trying to find answers to questions that are probably unanswerable, we may start to feel worse and worse.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“In fact, smarter people can be even more prone to biased interpretations, because they know more ways to explain away the facts that contradict their beliefs.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Once we realize there are always multiple possible causes for an event, we can assess credit as well as blame more fairly (chapter 3).”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Knowing how we can fall prey to anecdotes, framing, and loss aversion allows us to outsmart people who try to outsmart us by exploiting those techniques (chapter 5).”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“if you feel like you’re hurting yourself to achieve rewards and the only thing you enjoy is the final goal and not the process, it’s probably time to rethink—not just about your priorities but the way you think about them.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” (Albert Einstein) would be copied as “Ifacluttrddskisasignofacluttrdmind,ofwhat,thn,isanmptydskasign?”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” (Albert Einstein) would be copied as “Ifacluttrddskisasignofacluttrdmind,ofwhat,thn,isanmptydskasign?”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Not only does excessive self-control impede our mental health and happiness, it impairs our physical health, especially among those who are less advantaged in terms of their socioeconomic status.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Why did we create a society that not only forces most people to work to live but also makes even the most privileged feel like they have to work desperately hard all the time?”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“make people laugh at us in the future. Why did we create a society that not only forces most people to work to live but also makes even the most privileged feel like they have to work desperately hard all the time?”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“The only sure way to know what others know, believe, feel, or think is to ask them.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“What psychopaths are lacking, however, is emotional theory of mind. They are callous, cold-hearted, and pitiless because they are oblivious to other people’s feelings.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“smart people who know a lot are not necessarily good teachers or coaches, partly because of the curse of knowledge.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“sometimes the only way to counteract one system is with another—one that is explicitly, equitably, and intentionally designed to protect the greater good.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“there are always a lot of thoughts going through our mind and we need to select which ones to attend to and which ones to let go.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Understanding that biased interpretations are inevitable is a good first step when we are figuring out what we can do to counter their perils.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“we also need to look at the cases in which the new skin cream was not used. The data summarized in the table below show that in 107 out of 128 cases (or about 84 percent of the time) when the new skin cream was not used, the rash got better.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Having a biased interpretation of reality because of what we already believe is extremely common.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“The framing effect is so powerful that it can literally be a matter of life and death.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“cognitive bias known as the framing effect.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“The notion of probabilities was not even introduced to human culture until the 1560s.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Stephen Colbert had the perfect response: “Global warming isn’t real because I was cold today! Also, great news: World hunger is over because I just ate.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“only six of the 6.8 million people who had received the J&J vaccine so far had developed such clots. So,”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Discounting a second potential cause for a phenomenon when one cause is known happens automatically. Sometimes, it can reflect the reality; but it can be blatantly wrong and damaging too, as we have seen.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“The strategy of trying to prove oneself incorrect must be super-confusing when the goal is to find a correct rule.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“He diagnosed her with anorexia and then asked only questions that would confirm that belief. As a result, all of his evidence was positive: a young woman who throws up frequently, is very thin, does not enjoy food, and overreacts to questions about possible mental problems.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“The more their illusion of knowledge was shattered, the less extreme they became.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Metacognition guides our actions: knowing what we know tells us what to avoid, what to search for, or what to dive or not dive into. We can’t live without it.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

“Metacognition is a very important component of cognition.”
― Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better