I like this remark. Quite possibly the “relativity heuristic” explains everything that I have in mind when I refer to “zero-sum bias.” I will have to think about this some more.
Regardless, I think that it’s worthwhile to isolate instances where the relativity heuristic pushes people in the direction of zero-sum thinking. From the point of view of people like myself who subscribe to utilitarian ethical principles, irrational zero-sum thinking is worse than some forms of irrational thinking, because when somebody engages in irrational zero-sum thinking, this has negative effects both on his or herself and on others, whereas some other forms of irrational thinking may not have systematic negative effects on others.
Here when I say “irrational” I’m referring to failure to exhibit “instrumental rationality” as opposed to failure to exhibit “epistemic rationality.”
I like this remark. Quite possibly the “relativity heuristic” explains everything that I have in mind when I refer to “zero-sum bias.” I will have to think about this some more.
Regardless, I think that it’s worthwhile to isolate instances where the relativity heuristic pushes people in the direction of zero-sum thinking. From the point of view of people like myself who subscribe to utilitarian ethical principles, irrational zero-sum thinking is worse than some forms of irrational thinking, because when somebody engages in irrational zero-sum thinking, this has negative effects both on his or herself and on others, whereas some other forms of irrational thinking may not have systematic negative effects on others.
Here when I say “irrational” I’m referring to failure to exhibit “instrumental rationality” as opposed to failure to exhibit “epistemic rationality.”