Thank you for your observation! You’re absolutely right—our brain often takes shortcuts based on familiar ideas. These shortcuts are incredibly useful for navigating complex environments, but they can also lead to cognitive biases. I aimed to explore how these biases manifest and how these shortcuts influence our judgments. Your perspective adds depth to the discussion—thank you for sharing it!
I remember hearing this riddle back in the 80’s. It plays a clever trick on our brains, exploiting how we process information.
But, it’s more about how the brain is engineered to process data than it is about gender bias.
Here’s why:
It starts by focusing on the father (primacy effect), locking him in as the key figure, and ends with the emotional weight of his death (recency effect), which sticks in your mind.
Then, when the surgeon enters, your brain takes a shortcut—relying on the most familiar idea (i.e., the availability heuristic) that pops up (father).
The way the story is structured intentionally makes it easy to miss the simple answer: The surgeon could be the boy’s mother.
It’s not so much rooted in bias but cognitive neuroscience and is a great example of how our brains are engineered to take shortcuts and UNDERthink situations in order to be able to process situations more quickly for sake of survival of our species.
I have « netflix version » despite my feminism and open mind about the possibility of an other father. Thank you for remind us to rewiew constantly a situation with a second reading. It s like theather: see another message behind and an other interpretation above.
Thank you for your observation! You’re absolutely right—our brain often takes shortcuts based on familiar ideas. These shortcuts are incredibly useful for navigating complex environments, but they can also lead to cognitive biases. I aimed to explore how these biases manifest and how these shortcuts influence our judgments. Your perspective adds depth to the discussion—thank you for sharing it!
I remember hearing this riddle back in the 80’s. It plays a clever trick on our brains, exploiting how we process information.
But, it’s more about how the brain is engineered to process data than it is about gender bias.
Here’s why:
It starts by focusing on the father (primacy effect), locking him in as the key figure, and ends with the emotional weight of his death (recency effect), which sticks in your mind.
Then, when the surgeon enters, your brain takes a shortcut—relying on the most familiar idea (i.e., the availability heuristic) that pops up (father).
The way the story is structured intentionally makes it easy to miss the simple answer: The surgeon could be the boy’s mother.
It’s not so much rooted in bias but cognitive neuroscience and is a great example of how our brains are engineered to take shortcuts and UNDERthink situations in order to be able to process situations more quickly for sake of survival of our species.
I have « netflix version » despite my feminism and open mind about the possibility of an other father. Thank you for remind us to rewiew constantly a situation with a second reading. It s like theather: see another message behind and an other interpretation above.
Nice metaphor! Recognizing that we all see the world through a filter, fosters empathy and helps navigate difficult situations with ease.