#74 Christopher Chabris: The Invisible Gorilla, and Other Cognitive Illusions
Dr. Christopher Chabris is a Professor at Geisinger, an integrated healthcare system in Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, France. He has taught at Union College and Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology and A.B. in computer science from Harvard. His research focuses on attention, intelligence (individual, collective, and social), behavior genetics, and decision-making. His work has been published in leading journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, Psychological Science, Perception, and Cognitive Science. Chris is also co-author of the bestselling book The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us, published in 20 languages.
In this episode, we center the conversation around the book The Invisible Gorilla, and we go through all of the cognitive illusions covered there. Topics include: illusions of attention; illusions of memory; illusions of confidence; illusions of knowledge; illusions of cause; illusions of potential; and how to counter their negative effects.
Time Links:
Are illusions errors of cognition?
Illusions of attention, or why can’t you see the gorilla
Our memory doesn’t work like a video camera (illusions of memory)
Are cognitive illusions innate or cultural constructs?
Being overconfident (illusions of confidence)
We think we know much more than we do (illusions of knowledge)
The sunk cost fallacy
Seeing causal relations everywhere (illusions of cause)
Believing that we are capable of anything (illusions of potential)
Ways to counter cognitive illusions
Follow Dr. Chabris’ work
Follow Dr. Chabris’ work:
Personal website: http://www.chabris.com/
Book The Invisible Gorilla: https://tinyurl.com/ycl3352y
Twitter handle: @cfchabris
Also, watch the video on which The Invisible Gorilla is based: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY