I had a big one regarding psychology after taking an introductory psychology course with the best textbook I’ve ever read on anything, ever. The textbook was so inclusive, and my recall of it so great, that it quickly became very common for me to shoot down (extremely) basic psychology misconceptions, and I acquired an over-estimated view of my understanding of psychology. The primary trouble was how it only covered a few of the standard biases, like hindsight bias and illusion of control, so I thought I was much less biased about psychology than I actually was...
I also had one regarding knowledge. If you talked to me a couple of years ago, I could have waxed endlessly on uncertainty and the unknowable nature of infinity and all sorts of nonsense, which was only starting to dissolve when I finally discovered LessWrong, after which I realized I had been a complete fool, and it dissolved completely
I had a big one regarding psychology after taking an introductory psychology course with the best textbook I’ve ever read on anything, ever. The textbook was so inclusive, and my recall of it so great, that it quickly became very common for me to shoot down (extremely) basic psychology misconceptions, and I acquired an over-estimated view of my understanding of psychology. The primary trouble was how it only covered a few of the standard biases, like hindsight bias and illusion of control, so I thought I was much less biased about psychology than I actually was...
I also had one regarding knowledge. If you talked to me a couple of years ago, I could have waxed endlessly on uncertainty and the unknowable nature of infinity and all sorts of nonsense, which was only starting to dissolve when I finally discovered LessWrong, after which I realized I had been a complete fool, and it dissolved completely
It’s practically cruel of you to say this without telling us the textbook’s name. Even after bringing up this downside, I’d want to read it.
I don’t even consider that a downside. Heuristics and biases isn’t a huge field of psychology. That was me using my knowledge foolishly.
The book is Psychology, by David G. Myers.
(I wanted to recommend it here, but I haven’t read enough introductory psychology textbooks to qualify.)