Hypothetical situations involving dragons, robots, spaceships, and vampires have all been used to prove and disprove arguments. Statements about things that do not exist can still be true, and can… Read the rest of the article: The most logical logical fallacy of them all, the existential fallacy

Here is a logic puzzle created by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. "Linda is single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply… Read the rest of the article: How you can avoid committing the "conjunction fallacy"

We often overestimate and overstate just how much we can learn about a claim based on where that claim originated, and that's the crux of the genetic fallacy, according to… Read the rest of the article: Why you judge things on the basis of the source of information

Without realizing it, you sometimes apply a double standard to the things you love, believe, and consider crucial to your identity. If you do this while arguing, it is sometimes… Read the rest of the article: How you make excuses in order to maintain your beliefs

If you believe something is bad because it is…bad, or that something is good because, well, it's good, you probably wouldn't use that kind of reasoning in an argument –… Read the rest of the article: Circular reasoning is bad because it isn't good

You don't treat all of your beliefs equally. For some, you see them as either true or false, correct or incorrect. For others, you see them as probabilities, chances –… Read the rest of the article: How to get the most out of realizing you are wrong by using Bayes' Theorem to update your beliefs

Each one of us has a relationship with our own ignorance, a dishonest, complicated relationship, and that dishonesty keeps us sane, happy, and willing to get out of bed in… Read the rest of the article: Why we are unaware of how unaware we are

When you desire meaning, when you want things to line up, when looking for something specific, you tend to notice patterns everywhere, which leads you to ask the question, "What… Read the rest of the article: The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy

When your identity becomes intertwined with your definitions, you can easily fall victim to something called The No True Scotsman Fallacy. It often appears during a dilemma: What do you… Read the rest of the article: How to spot and avoid the "No True Scotsman" fallacy

Why do you try to drain the world of color when backed into a rhetorical corner? Why do you have such a hard time realizing that you have suggested the… Read the rest of the article: Why human brains are prone to the black and white fallacy

When confronted with dogma-threatening, worldview-menacing ideas, your knee-jerk response is usually to lash out and try to bat them away, but thanks to a nearly unavoidable mistake in reasoning, you… Read the rest of the article: Why your brain creates straw men and doesn't realize it

If you have ever shared an opinion on the internet, you have probably been in an internet argument, and if you have been in enough internet arguments you have likely… Read the rest of the article: The best logical fallacy of all: The Fallacy Fallacy

How strong is your bullshit detector? And what exactly IS the scientific definition of bullshit? In this episode we explore both of those concepts as well as what makes a… Read the rest of the article: How to become better at smelling and avoiding the many varieties of bullshit

You've likely wondered if the internet is having a negative effect on your brain. Perhaps you've thought this after realizing the world wide web now serves as a trusty resource… Read the rest of the article: How search engines make us feel smarter than we really are

In psychology they call thinking that you see the world as it truly is, free from bias or the limitations of your senses, naive realism. According to our guest in… Read the rest of the article: Why you often believe people who see the world differently are wrong

In a way, you can simply will yourself into a new physical form – that is if you use your will to routinely move heavy things, run around, or eat… Read the rest of the article: How to willfully alter your brain's ability to willfully alter your brain's abilities

Reframing is one of those psychological tools that just plain works. It's practical, simple, and with practice and repetition it often leads to real change in people with a variety… Read the rest of the article: How to turn your fears and anxieties into positivity and productivity with cognitive reframing

Over the years, when most patients have first met psychiatrist Michael I. Bennett, they have tended to believe they would soon to get to know a trusted confidant who would… Read the rest of the article: How the illusion of control leads you to perpetually wait for your life to begin

Before we had names for them or a science to study their impact, the people who could claim the most expertise on biases, fallacies, heuristics and all the other recently popularized quirks of human reasoning were scam artists, con artists, and magicians.

Psychology studies are almost always about WEIRD people: Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic – the kind of people who make up less than 15 percent of the world's population.