Understanding Psychology (not just logic) makes one a Good debater

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AgnosticBoy
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Understanding Psychology (not just logic) makes one a Good debater

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Post by AgnosticBoy »

After years of debating and watching others debate, I've come to realize that being a good debater not only requires understanding logic but also psychology. I say this because there are many cognitive biases that affect our thinking and reasoning.

For instance, just in my recent debates, esp. in the politics section, I've encountered confirmation bias from others on several occasions. Knowing that this is potentially what would be keeping someone from accepting arguments, I usually try to tailor my points to expose that bias. When debating in the politics section, I also tend to encounter an overconfidence, and it seems to come more from Democrats, to where they presume most of the world sees the world as they do. For instance, someone tells me that most people look at a fair election as being one where there's cheating but the overall result still stays the same. I simply asked myself if this is the way many Democrats are framing this issue or would they have a different standard had their guy loss the election? Whenever, I suspect this bias is going on, I always push for people to prove that most are thinking as they do and to explain how that justifies that the thinking is valid. Now there are obvious reasons for everyone to be biased, especially when it comes to politics, but I find it unfortunate that many are not willing to check their biases before drawing conclusions.

*I don't pretend to be immune to bias (although I am an agnostic and all ;) ), but I can say that I've learned from myself as to how bias effects thinking and of course I've learned by observing others in debate.

List of some cognitive biases:
Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. In addition, individuals may discredit information that does not support their views

Overconfidence: Overconfidence bias is the situation when people are inclined to trust their capability to make correct decisions too much. They are tended to overrate their abilities and skills as decision makers.[31]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias
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