Philosophy
Definition and Historical Universality Colonialism is the extension of authority by an established government over a territory and people where its rule did not previously exist. Far from being a unique or isolated phenomenon, colonialism is a universal human experience that spans the entirety of world history. Every country and
Philosophy
The widespread societal response to homosexuality is the lie that individuals are 'born' homosexual - in their God given nature - yet even for the secularists, this assertion cannot be substantiated with an explanation of the underlying biological mechanism. The notion of being born this way is a
Philosophy
The planning fallacy is a Cognitive Bias in which predictions regarding the time required to complete a future task exhibit an Optimism Bias and systematically underestimate the actual duration. First proposed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979, the concept describes a tendency for individuals and organisations to underestimate
Philosophy
Hindsight bias, commonly identified as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is a cognitive distortion where individuals perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were in reality. This phenomenon involves a systematic tendency to overestimate the ability to have foreseen an outcome once that outcome is already
Philosophy
Definition and Operationalisation Optimism bias is a Cognitive Bias where the tendency of an individual to overestimate the likelihood of experiencing positive future events and underestimate the likelihood of experiencing negative future events. This cognitive phenomenon is a hallmark of a healthy human psyche and is one of the most
Philosophy
Theoretical Foundations and Distinction from Risk Aversion While often conflated, loss aversion and traditional risk aversion are distinct Cognitive Bias mechanisms for decision-making under uncertainty. Risk aversion, a theory established around 300 years ago in 1738, describes a preference for a certain outcome over a risky prospect with a higher
Philosophy
Moral Foundations Theory is a descriptive account of human morality developed by Jonathan Haidt to explore the shared themes and similarities across disparate populations in terms that secularists might understand. The framework identifies several innate psychological systems that constitute a first draft of the moral mind. Christian's call
Philosophy
Status quo bias is a Cognitive Bias defined as a non-rational or biased preference for the current way of doing things. It involves a preference that the current state of affairs remains the same, taking the existing baseline as a reference point. This bias minimises the perceived risks associated with
Philosophy
The recency effect is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency of an individual to recall or prioritise information presented most recently within a series. It represents one component of the serial-position effect, which describes how the accuracy of recall varies as a function of an item's position
Philosophy
A fallacy is the application of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning in the construction of an argument. Such reasoning may appear to be well-structured if the error remains unnoticed. Logical fallacies are errors in the structure or content of arguments that render them logically unsound. These defects in reasoning are
Philosophy
Self-serving bias, or self-serving attributional bias, is a pervasive Cognitive Bias where individuals attribute positive outcomes to their own internal characteristics, such as skill or effort, while ascribing negative outcomes to external, situational factors beyond their control. This mechanism serves as a psychological buffer, allowing the mind to maintain and
Philosophy
Rosy retrospection is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency of individuals to recall past events more positively than they were experienced at the time of their occurrence. This phenomenon involves a selective memory process where the mind systematically enhances positive elements while filtering out or downplaying difficult, neutral, or