Kantus exhibit a success-biased copying bias that produces counterproductive plot clustering

Evidence

This is not some obscure, isolated practice, and other cases of divination provide more evidence. In Indonesia, the Kantus of Kalimantan use bird augury to select locations for their agricultural plots. The anthropologist Michael Dove argues that two factors will cause farmers to make plot placements that are too risky. First, Kantu ecological models contain the Gambler’s Fallacy and lead them to expect that floods will be less likely to occur in a specific location after a big flood in that location (which is not true). … Second, as with the MBAs’ investment allocations in chapter 4 , Kantus pay attention to others’ success and copy the choices of successful households, meaning that if one of their neighbors has a good yield in an area one year, many other people will want to plant there in the next year. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 346

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the MBAs’ investment allocation behavior from chapter 4 — same conformist/success-biased copying mechanism appearing across domains. — connects to: Bird augury works as a randomization device countering cognitive and copying biases — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 347; Algorithmic filtering amplifies preexisting biases rather than causing them — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 414; Decategorization and recategorization strategies reduce bias sequentially rather than competitively — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 589 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Distinct strategies for reducing bias may operate sequentially rather than competitively #complicates (0.82)
• Decategorization and recategorization strategies reduce bias sequentially rather than competitively #complicates (0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 589
• Category-based perception serves adaptation, explaining why bias is automatic and unacknowledged #expands (0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 283
• An echo chamber requires both homophily and biased information diffusion #expands (0.77) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 442
• Algorithmic filtering amplifies preexisting biases rather than causing them #qualifies (0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 414
• Partial debiasing can make bias problem worse by hiding it #complicates (0.74) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 210
• Bird augury works as a randomization device countering cognitive and copying biases #responds-to (0.72) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 347