Book & podcast collection

How We Know What Isn't So

byThomas Gilovich

Psychologist Thomas Gilovich examines the mental processes that lead intelligent people to accept beliefs unsupported by evidence. He explains how people misread random patterns, seek confirmation, remember successes more readily than failures, and construct persuasive explanations after events occur. Examples from sports, medicine, finance, social judgment, and everyday superstition show that these errors are systematic rather than signs of stupidity. The book offers an enduring introduction to skeptical thinking, demonstrating how basic statistical reasoning, comparison groups, and active testing of alternative explanations can help us separate what feels true from what the evidence actually supports.

Publisher

Free Press

Publication date

1991

Format

Print edition

Pages

216

ISBN

9780029117057