A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “self-perception”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott Alexander explores whether people can be honestly mistaken about their own experiences, presenting counterexamples and attempting to reconcile them with the idea that we can't be wrong about our immediate subjective experiences.
Scott Alexander examines the Forer Effect, reframing common 'psychic' statements as insights about human nature and self-compassion tools.
Scott Alexander examines seven cognitive traps that lead doctors to believe they're above-average, potentially applying to other client-choice professions.
Scott Alexander reviews a study on 'enlightenment', finding it involves internal changes in self-perception and cognition, often without noticeable external effects.
Scott reviews psychological research showing that people don't have introspective access to their own mental processes and instead guess at their reasons for behavior in the same way they would guess at others' motivations.
Scott recounts the case of Simon Browne, an 18th-century preacher who claimed to have lost his soul and consciousness after killing a robber in self-defense, yet continued to write and reason brilliantly, potentially representing a real-world philosophical zombie.