The Difference Between Type I and Type II Common Thinking Errors

There can be no doubt that thinking in today's world is subject to a variety of errors. Although it would be nice to believe that people are always rational or usually believe the correct ideas, such is rarely the case. Sadly, the human mind is subject to a wide variety of irrational and error filled thoughts. We can trace the fallacies in human thinking to a variety of sources, from "after the fact reasoning" to "Hume's Maxim". While we assume a great variety of labels to failed reasoning, perhaps the easiest way to classify errors in judgement is to break down these cases into either Type I or Type II errors. While the two are very different in nature, it must be kept in mind that there is a definite danger in following either of these.

When we discuss Type I errors, we are basically referring to the idea of denying or rejecting an idea that is true. We can see this type of false thinking in the misinterpretation of historical events. Perhaps the clearest picture of Type I error would be to find a person who is innocent of a crime guilty. Type I error can be a very dangerous thinking problem. Of course we can see this if we follow the justice system example above, but there are also many other problems that can arise from Type I errors in judgment. Type I errors are commonly referred to as false positives. False positives can be seen as a problem in many areas of every day life. In the post September 11^th world, perhaps one of the easiest places to see common false positives would be airport security.