Ideas worth spreading

En qué confiar en un mundo “posverdad”

1,956,968 views |

Alex Edmans |

TEDxLondonBusinessSchool

• May 2017

“Solamente si estás en verdad abierto a la posibilidad de estar equivocado, puedes aprender”, afirma el investigador Alex Edmans. En una charla muy esclarecedora explica cómo el sesgo de confirmación (tendencia a aceptar únicamente la información que respalde tus creencias personales) puede llevarte a información errónea en las redes sociales, en el plano político, etc. Ofrece tres herramientas prácticas para encontrar evidencia en la verdaderamente puedas confiar. Sugerencia: asigna a alguien para que haga de abogado del diablo en tu vida.

“Solamente si estás en verdad abierto a la posibilidad de estar equivocado, puedes aprender”, afirma el investigador Alex Edmans. En una charla muy esclarecedora explica cómo el sesgo de confirmación (tendencia a aceptar únicamente la información que respalde tus creencias personales) puede llevarte a información errónea en las redes sociales, en el plano político, etc. Ofrece tres herramientas prácticas para encontrar evidencia en la verdaderamente puedas confiar. Sugerencia: asigna a alguien para que haga de abogado del diablo en tu vida.

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About the speaker

Alex Edmans

Finance professor, editor

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Alex Edmans uses rigorous academic research to influence real-life business practices -- in particular, how companies can pursue purpose as well as profit.

Alex Edmans | Cambridge University Press, 2020 | Book

Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit

There are many common criticisms of capitalism — CEO pay is not linked to performance, shareholder activism pressures companies to be short-termist, and share buybacks line investors' pockets at the expense of society. In contrast, it’s often claimed that ethical business always pays off. These claims are not based on evidence but have become widely accepted due to confirmation bias. This book sets the evidence straight but is far from a defense of capitalism. Instead, it argues that business needs to be urgently reformed to serve wider society — but a grounding in evidence is critical to inform us about the most effective solutions.

Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West | Allen Lane, 2020 | Book

Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World

This book highlights the many ways in which we are frequently misled by data – falling for claims of causation when the data only supports correlation, not recognising that data may be a selected sample that only presents a small part of the picture, and ignoring researchers’ incentives to hand-pick the methodology that gives them the results they want. This rigorous but highly readable book explains how to spot the common ways in which people mislead us, either deliberately or unintentionally, and call it out in a constructive and professional way.

Alex Edmans | alexedmans.com, 2020 | Article

"Evaluating Research"

A simple cut-out-and-keep user’s guide to help discern whether an academic study is reliable.

Alex Edmans | alexedmans.com, 2017 | Article

"A Layman's Guide to Separating Causation from Correlation … and Noticing When Claims of Causation are Invalid"

In today's big-data world, it's very easy to find statistics that are correlated with each other. It's also easy to claim causation — particularly if the story is one that people want to believe in. This article explains how to tell if people are trying to pull the wool over your eyes — and how you can legitimately claim causation rather than just correlation.

Raymond S. Nickerson | Review of General Psychology, 1998 | Article

"Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises"

This article summarizes the academic research on "confirmation bias" — the temptation to accept any evidence that supports your pre-existing viewpoint, and reject any evidence that contradicts it.

Matthew Syed | Portfolio, 2015 | Book

Black Box Thinking: Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes -- But Some Do

This insightful book highlights the value of using evidence to spur continuous improvement. In particular, it stresses the need to consider all evidence — including evidence that makes you feel uncomfortable — and the dangers of jumping to your preferred interpretation of a particular set of data.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxLondonBusinessSchool, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Visit Full Fact to check commonly-claimed facts.