Will Storr Quotes & Sayings

We build our understanding of the emotional world through the myths and legends of our culture. We are all, in part, made of fairy tales. — Will Storr

I know that I am not right about everything, and yet I am simultaneously convinced that I am. I believe these two things completely, and yet they are in catastrophic logical opposition to each other. — Will Storr

We typically have a bias that tells us we are less susceptible to bias than everyone else. — Will Storr

We are betrayed by our maps of salience. They plot our narratives, identify our enemies and then coat them in distorting layer of loathing and dread. We feel that hunch - withdraw - and then conduct a post factum search for evidence that justifies it. We are motivated to fight our foes because we are emotional about them, but emotion is the territorial scent-mark of irrationality. — Will Storr

the only thing necessary to trigger tribal behaviour in humans is the creation of two completely arbitrary groups. Leave them alone in a room and watch it all begin: — Will Storr

Exposure to a mixed body of evidence made both sides even more convinced of the fundamental soundness of their original beliefs.' Confirmation bias is profoundly human and it is appalling. When new information leads to an increase in ignorance, it is the opposite of learning, the death of wisdom. — Will Storr

People say, "I wouldn't have done that." But they haven't been exposed to any of the things, culturally, that might have made them do it. And the warning I take is that the number of people in a group who will stand out against these cultural forces are much smaller than you think, and you're probably not one of them. In fact, I think you can probably tell if you are because you're pretty bolshie already. If you've got a good career, and you're pretty sociable and you're going up the hierarchy and all the rest of it, where are you going to get your sudden revolutionary spurt from? — Will Storr

we go through our social lives convinced that everything we are saying, doing and feeling is being closely examined by those around us even though, in reality, they are all preoccupied with themselves, equally convinced the spotlight is on them. — Will Storr

Intelligence is no protection against strange beliefs. — Will Storr