Rational decisions?
Something I've mentioned a few times on this blog is my interest in rationality and unbiased thought. In fact, at one point I was going to do a whole series of posts about rationality and atheism, which I still hope to do eventually, when I can work up the enthusiasm.
So it's not very surprising that this article caught my eye.
The short version; a study has shown that judges in Israel (but presumably this will also be true elsewhere) are most likely to be lenient -- at least in terms of granting parole -- just after they've had a meal, and this tails off to almost total denial of parole just before they're due to have a meal or finish for the day.
In a way, this seems unremarkable. It's natural enough that we feel more forgiving when we've just had a meal, and less forgiving when we're tired or hungry.
But these are judges, making important decisions which they're supposed to do objectively! And the sheer scale of the effect is staggering; on average, almost two-thirds of parole requests made just after a meal or break were granted, while almost none made just before a break were. It's a good (and slightly terrifying) example of how we can be biased without even being aware of it. We all like to think that our decisions and beliefs are perfectly sensible and balanced, but we really have no idea how massively we're biased by factors we're probably not even aware of.
So it's not very surprising that this article caught my eye.
The short version; a study has shown that judges in Israel (but presumably this will also be true elsewhere) are most likely to be lenient -- at least in terms of granting parole -- just after they've had a meal, and this tails off to almost total denial of parole just before they're due to have a meal or finish for the day.
In a way, this seems unremarkable. It's natural enough that we feel more forgiving when we've just had a meal, and less forgiving when we're tired or hungry.
But these are judges, making important decisions which they're supposed to do objectively! And the sheer scale of the effect is staggering; on average, almost two-thirds of parole requests made just after a meal or break were granted, while almost none made just before a break were. It's a good (and slightly terrifying) example of how we can be biased without even being aware of it. We all like to think that our decisions and beliefs are perfectly sensible and balanced, but we really have no idea how massively we're biased by factors we're probably not even aware of.