Christopher Chabris received his B.A. in computer science and his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University, where he was also a Lecturer and Research Associate for many years. He is now Assistant Professor of Psychology at Union College in Schenectady, New York, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology at Albany Medical College, and a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. His research focuses on two main areas: how people differ from one another in mental abilities and patterns of behavior, and how cognitive illusions affect our decisions. He has published papers on a diverse array of topics, including human intelligence, beauty and the brain, face recognition, the Mozart effect, group performance, and visual cognition. Chris also writes occasionally for the Wall Street Journal. Chris is also a chess master and poker amateur.
Daniel Simons is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. Simons received his B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Carleton College and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Cornell University. He then spent five years on the faculty at Harvard University before moving to Illinois in 2002. His scholarly research focuses on the limits of human perception, memory, and awareness, and he is best known for his research showing that people are far less aware of their visual surroundings than they think. His work is published in top scientific journals and is discussed regularly in the popular media. His studies and demonstrations have been exhibited in more than a dozen science museums worldwide. In his spare time, he enjoys juggling, bridge, and chess.
showed the video of the gorilla with the white t's playing ball
the fact that we don't notice that we don't notice
illusion that what you're seeing is not what it actually is
what you want to do - is know when you have limitations, or that you'll be missing things.. make efforts toward limiting your consequences
difference between tracking and noticing the unexpected
the bad part is that we assume we won't miss things.. when actually we will
the more you know yourself - the more you can teach yourself self-awareness
the illusion of knowledge - shows how rarely we self-assess ourselves..
collective intelligence with computer - but that doesn't mean we all the time know where the knowledge is and where to retrieve it..
when we see a headline - we have surface familiarity.. if we don't continual self-test it
flash bulb memories - we have an illusion of memory - esp the extreme experiences - that we assume accuracy
justin kreuger and david dunning - the curse of overconfidence - the people worst at something are usually the most confident??
they end up ignoring the richer nuance.. trend for most people
it's only after you have a bit of knowledge that you realize what you don't know
very easy to get off on any data and miss what's important
illusion of cause - we quickly decide that two things related - the first caused the second - we reason based on individual stories
illusion of potential - seeking quick fixes
thinks dan coyle etc have gone too far in the other direction - saying there is no talent..
financial crisis - a historical event is an anecdote. all we know is now.
compensation - in a lot of cases, judgment of success is based on how company is doing.. a lot of time, could be doing well regardless of ceo and vice versa.. we assign cause and responsibility when you don't have good reason
we don't hear about all the risk takers that took a risk and failed..
self help industry boosts self-confidence - if you are more confident - even if it's false - it does help