Occlumency

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 191702

 
> > Pippin:
> > Oh my. Please understand that  the term "cognitive bias" is not derogatory. It is a term from psychology that  refers to a systematic human tendency to make decisions based on cognitive factors rather than evidence. This is not my field, and I may be getting things horribly wrong, but I will try to explain. <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I will definitely read up on it, but yeah, if I understand it correctly, this term seems to imply that the arguments I made are based on what my subconscious tells me, rather than on factual evidence that I read in the books and interpret differently from you, correct? 

Pippin:

Absolutely not. 

I am only talking about the probability of an event. That tells me *nothing* 

zip, zilch, nada

about whether the event has occurred.

 Suppose I tell you that I am an American, and the CDC says that sixty something percent of adult Americans are overweight. Have I implied that I am overweight? No. You have no more information about my weight than you did before. All you have is the odds of winning a bet  about it. 

Now it's possible that some readers will form a stereotype, that is, a belief that *all* Americans are fat. When they imagine an American they are going to think of a fat person. And then they'll be surprised if they meet an American who's skinny.  But that's happening in their heads, and as you say, I can't do anything about it.

I think if you examine my posts you will see that I never said that you in particular had any unconscious bias at all. I think there is a probability  based on the theory that all the readers are human and humans can form cognitive biases easily. However let me say once again  the existence of the probability does not imply anything about you  and I don't claim to have any information. I do not say that all humans form cognitive biases. 

 You are perfectly free to disagree with the theory, and avoid reading posts about it if the idea upsets you. 

Of course I will happily theorize on the subject of Harry's cognitive biases, and I think it would be fascinating to discuss the use of cognitive illusions in the books (ie, information presented in such a way that the reader is likely to misinterpret it because of cognitive bias.) I think JKRowling may be the DaVinci of cognitive illusions. 

 But I agree that the biases of an individual reader cannot be discussed, not only because it would be rude but because there is no way to get information about them.


Pippin