I asked myself if I’m the problem and we said no

We like to think of ourselves as logical beings and tend to underestimate our own cognitive biases. From an investigative department’s perspective, it's more advantageous when a murder is committed on a cloudy morning — we remember events better when we're in a worse mood due to bad weather. We overestimate the likelihood of historical events. It seems obvious to us that World War I had to happen, and we fail to understand why brokers in 1914 didn’t see it coming.

We ignore methods of influence such as the halo effect (physically attractive people receive sentences for murder that are, on average, five years shorter), and we follow irrational strategies like the “sunk cost fallacy.” We seek confirmation of our beliefs rather than falsification and tend to “freeze” our opinions, even when presented with contradictory evidence. Our views become more radical in a group setting.

Delusions help us survive — especially in difficult times. Reptilian conspiracies and flat-earthers are extreme examples, but think about our everyday delusions: projection, self-deception, misinterpretation. But if not those, then what?

 Curators: Wiktoria Kozioł, Tomek Nowak