Cause of misjudgment № 2
Liking/Loving Tendency
We distort our judgment to favor people, products, and ideas we like — ignoring their faults and accepting whatever they tell us.
Human beings are born to like and love, and that affection quietly bends our thinking. Once we like someone, we tend to overlook their faults, comply with their wishes, and favor the things they favor — including their facts and their opinions. The feeling comes first; the reasons we give ourselves come after.
A concrete version shows up every time a likable salesperson outsells a more knowledgeable but colder colleague. The buyer is not coolly comparing specifications; they are, in part, buying from someone they like, and then assembling justifications. The same mechanism explains why a charismatic founder can raise money on a flawed plan, or why we trust a product endorsed by a person we admire even when we know nothing about the product.
This is not an argument against affection — Munger thought admiration of the right people was one of the best things in life and a powerful spur to learning. The danger is letting it run unexamined. The defense is to notice when you like the source and to ask whether you would still believe the claim coming from someone you found unpleasant. If the answer is no, your affection is doing your thinking for you.
