j_andrew_rogers comments on The Good News of Situationist Psychology - Less Wrong

55 Post author: lukeprog 01 April 2011 07:28PM

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Comment author: moshez 01 April 2011 08:53:13PM 1 point [-]

That resonates well with me...when I decided I liked the way the people in the Bay area did things, I moved here. It had made my life much better.

Comment author: j_andrew_rogers 02 April 2011 04:47:52AM 1 point [-]

That sounds an awful lot like confirmation bias. ;-)

Comment author: moshez 02 April 2011 02:58:09PM 3 points [-]

It's not confirmation bias when two people agree. It's confirmation bias when one refuses to take into account contradictory evidence. Do you have any?

Comment author: j_andrew_rogers 04 April 2011 06:30:55AM 1 point [-]

It is more or less what khafra stated. I'm not saying it is true in your case (hint: winking smiley) but it is very common for people to evaluate their life choices as you did without regard for the evidence. To put it another way, your statement would only distinguishable from the ubiquitous life choice confirmation bias if you stated it had made your life much worse.

I can imagine several places worse than the Bay Area for many people (and several places better), so it is not as though your statement was not plausible on its face. :-)

Comment author: khafra 03 April 2011 03:58:59PM 1 point [-]

I read Rogers as saying "that does not sound materially different from what someone under the influence of confirmation bias would say, so I'm not updating my beliefs based on your story."