CEUs: PPAB 1, CCPDT 1, IAABC 1, KPA 1
Given how behaviorists, ethologists, neuroscientists and veterinarians often get into conflict, this talk discusses how our cognitive biases impact knowledge acquisition. Cognitive biases makes us reject information that we should accept, and accept information that we should reject. In this talk, the presenter will discuss a handful of them:
- The curse of knowledge.
- Authority bias.
- The illusory truth effect.
- The availability cascade.
- Tribal epistemology.
- Confirmation bias.
- The Semmelweiss effect. The backfire effect.
- Reactance.
- The Dunning-Kruger effect.
The aim of this session is to open attendees’ minds more to how biases come about and how problematic this is – and facilitate those difficult discussions with people who have other backgrounds.
Level of difficulty: Beginner – Intermediate (not difficult concepts but to many people a lot of new terms, maybe)
About Your Presenter
Prof. Karolina Westlund helps pet parents and animal professionals attain happier animals that thrive in the care of humans. She grew up pining for a kitten and pestered her parents until they finally gave in. The resulting black, green-eyed, half-Siamese cat she got for her seventh birthday became a true friend who lived to be 21 years old but was an easily startled cat who often went into hiding when there were visitors. She had grand ideas about becoming a field biologist, but instead she majored in ethology and developed a passionate interest in animal welfare as seen through a multidisciplinary lens, including behaviour analysis and affective neuroscience. She is now an associate professor of ethology at the University of Stockholm, Sweden where she mainly teaches about how behavior management can be used to improve animal welfare. She also conducts live seminars, free online webinars and masterclasses in addition to more extensive courses, as well as the occasional scientific publication on the topic of enrichment, animal training and well-being.
