Richard Burr Quotes

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

Our pride is tied up in being right. We tend to favor data that confirm our beliefs, so we don't see alternatives. Too often, leaders practice defense routines that become self-reinforcing.

We believe what we want to believe, what we like to believe, what suits our prejudices and fuels our passions.

A man sees what he wants to see, And disregards the rest.

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

We all have mental models: the lens through which we see the world that drive our responses to everything we experience. Being aware of your mental models is key to being objective.

As partisans of our own way of life, we cannot help thinking in a partisan manner.

People believe what they want to believe.

The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble upon a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then to make it representative of a whole class.

Men quickly find a theory that adapts itself to their desires.

I think if somebody is so set in their ways about what they feel about something - and you get this a lot in academia, of course, and also different sorts of journalism too - you're going to sweep under the carpet the facts that don't suit your thesis. And I think that happens quite a lot in the courtroom, for instance.

We perceive through our senses a person, a situation or an event, and in an instant, we project our mental models - our fears, background and experiences - onto that perception. This often results in cognitive errors, which means we judge and respond incorrectly.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it. The moment we want to disbelieve anything we have previously believed we suddenly discover not only that there is a mass of evidence against it but that this evidence was starting us in the face all the time.

All of us show bias when it comes to what information we take in. We typically focus on anything that agrees with the outcome we want.

As people's opportunities to succumb to confirmation bias increases online - only seeking out information that confirms their prejudices - ignorance, extremism and close-mindedness have continued to rise unabated.

We are all very ready to believe what we like.

Men's arguments often prove nothing but their wishes.

It is true that from a behavioral economics perspective we are fallible, easily confused, not that smart, and often irrational. We are more like Homer Simpson than Superman. So from this perspective it is rather depressing. But at the same time there is also a silver lining. There are free lunches!

If you're saying something that people don't want to hear or accept, a significant proportion of them will reply with hostility. Not because they know the facts, or because they have researched it themselves, but because they're so psychologically involved in believing good news that they will oppose it with a reflex.

I think it's a very firm part of human nature that if you surround yourself with like-minded people, you'll end up thinking more extreme versions of what you thought before.

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don't it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.

Far from being a loathsome aberration that ought to be purged from our behavior, it turns out that stereotypes are essential life tools, are accurate much more often than not.

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.

In intelligence you can justify almost anything you want to if you go about it with enough zeal and effort which is what happened.

Most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices.