Overconfidence and Its Effects

    I am typically a confident kid. I am on a mission and life and rolling with friends. Unfortunately, this translates into my tendency to be overconfident, or the idea of one being more confident than correct, and to over-estimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgements. I will provide a sports example that can relay a plethora of ideas, as sports can explain all of life's problems: Chris Johnson, the running back of the Tennessee Titans, had a terrible year two years ago. After a season that was considered one of the greatest the position of running back history, he started to decline a bit, but still remained solid. The next year, he was just horrendous. He couldn't seem to find a hole and pick up big yardage. Immediately, I, along with numerous Titans fans, began to put blame on Chris Johnson. What I failed to realize was that the Tennessee Titans had probably the worst offensive line in the NFL. The Offensive Line in responsible for blocking for the running back, and they were failing to do their job. Instead of realizing that it was their fault, I was simply upset at Chris Johnson and couldn't find a reason why he was playing so poorly. This story reflects functional fixedness, or the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions. I failed to find that alterante blame in a source other than Chris Johnson. Additionally, I came to the initial conclusion that he just lost his skills, and after a poor game I would confirm my opinion. I failed to look at his better games and take note of those. This idea is known as the confirmation bias, which is when our search for information supports our preconceptions and ignores contradictory evidence. In general, it is important to look at all perspectives, as sometimes the fault is elsewhere.