The Illusion of Validity Essay

This is mainly because people’s memories continuously and automatically maintain stories about what is going on, and because the rules of memories are prone to making the stories as coherent as possible and to suppress alternatives. As such, people rarely doubt fast thinking. Although Daniel Kahneman’s theory focuses on individuals, the illusion of diversity can also be functional on a societal level. One way in which the illusion of validity could apply on a communal or societal level is through the optimistic bias exhibited by people. Optimistic bias is widespread in many cultures. Such frames help people in keeping things in context while making the stories. For instance, in the advertising community, marketers understand that if they present particular information in a certain way, it may influence the buyers without their knowing about it.

Presenting the same information in a different way would result in different outcomes from the buyers. Another interesting example of the framing effect of stories is in the organ donation campaigns in different countries. While in some countries the organ donation rate is almost 100 percent, in some countries like America, the organ donation rate is very low. Since such events are vivid in people’s minds, they stand out and appear more relevant and bigger than other experiences in life. People then tend to make their choices following such events. For instance, when people hear something in a commercial, or read it several times somewhere, or saw it written in bold, they tend to believe that thing is more correct. As such, people in the society are blinded by their natural tendencies toward what they have heard or seen before.

Another interesting example of the availability bias is when people buy popular name brands even when cheaper and better brands are available. The “growth mindset” is the opposite of a “fixed mindset” where people believe that their abilities and intelligence are things that are stuck to them due to outside circumstances, environment, and genes. Studies have shown the powers of a “growth mindset” in avoiding stereotypes and illusion of validity. For instance, in one study, when blacks were told that abilities and intelligence are “like muscles,” that can be exercised, they showed greater academic engagement, greater enjoyment of academic processes, and attained higher grade point averages. Another way of overcoming the illusion of validity is minimizing identification with labels. People should understand that what they repeatedly see or hear is not all that is there.

This bias exists mainly because of the confirmation bias in individuals that desire to find information that fits their predictions based on how much a particular situation resembles other situations. While Kahneman’s theory focuses on individuals, there is evidence to prove that the illusion of validity can be functional on communal or societal levels. For instance, the widespread presence of optimistic bias, framing effects of stories, and the availability bias in people is an indication of illusion validity. However, people can overcome this problem by cultivating a growth mindset, minimizing identification with labels, and becoming aware of inconsistencies in beliefs. Works Cited “Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior by Jonah Berger” Youtube, Jonah Berger uploaded by MinuteVideos, 11 Nov 2016 https://www. com/us/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201007/why-changingsomebody-s-mind-or-yours-is-hard-do.