💭what works better: reflection or discussion?

Falsifiable Friday #1

Happy Friday! 😄

As some of you might have noticed, I’ve started publishing again! It’s for real. I’ll publish an essay on cognitive science, social epistemology, psychology, philosophy - something like that - each Friday from now on. ✍

I’ve quit Medium (which seems to be dying?), my PhD is coming to a close, and I put a lot of work in researching what I write. So, like many other writers, I ask a small contribution in exchange for access to the content and the community. 🙏

Today’s essay contrasts two views on effective means to gain better beliefs.

Many fields of study have shown that group discussion generally improves reasoning performance for a wide range of tasks. Yet many people grossly underestimate the benefits of argumentation for reasoning. They instead think solitary reflection by very wise people such as philosopher-kings is a more effective way to find the truth. I explore the research refuting this common intuition in this week’s post: People Have Wrong Intuitions about the Efficacy of Group Discussion Vs. Solitary Reflection.

Cheers,

Maarten