Work in social, developmental, and cognitive psychology has revealed a variety of common cognitive errors. Examples of such erroneous thinking include confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, fundamental attribution error, blaming the victim, and many more. Most have their roots in egocentrism. Because the errors are self-serving, studying our logical fallacies doesn’t help much. A better approach is to learn to recognize the egocentrism in our own thinking, through social engagement and the scientific process. Just as modern science became powerful when it began testing theories, thinking becomes powerful when it is based firmly on evidence.
Alan Gilchrist is emeritus professor of psychology at Rutgers University, Newark Campus, having taught visual perception and critical thinking for 45 years. He is a consulting editor for the journal Perception. He has delivered invited lectures at over 90 universities around the world.
