Understanding Cognitive Biases: How They Shape Our Thinking
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Introduction
Have you ever wondered, when you make decisions, where they came from? Why do you find yourself liking people you've just met while showing little interest in those you've known for years, such as your peers or college classmates? Our belief that expensive equals to best.
Our world is growing at a rapid pace, and the amount of information is increasing day by day. Information in fields like physics, health, and education is constantly expanding with tons of new discoveries every year.
According to data, AI will grow by 38.1% between 2022 and 2030, and because of this, making decisions, whether it's how to respond to someone asking for a favor or deciding which new smart phone to buy, is becoming more confusing and time-consuming.
With so much information available, from communication skills tips to gadget reviews, there are hundreds of point of view to consider.
In this modern world, we sometimes have to rely on our instant decision-making ability, known as heuristics. What we know influences these quick judgments, which can sometimes lead us into trouble by compelling us to make incorrect decisions.
In this blog post, we will explore what cognitive bias is, its types, how people can use it against you, and strategies to overcome it.
What Are Cognitive Biases?
The term cognitive bias was first used by two scientists, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, in 1972. Cognitive bias is a combination of two words: cognitive, which is derived from the word ’cognation’ and means our ability to think, learn, and process information, and ’bias’, which means our inclination toward something or preference for a particular thing.
Cognitive bias is our preference for inclination toward a particular way of thinking, which causes errors in our decision making and information processing abilities.
So, we can define cognitive bias as an error in human decision making because of our inclination towards a particular way of thinking.
Types of Cognitive Biases
Anchoring bias
It is a cognitive bias in which people rely too much on the first piece of information that has been given when it comes to decision-making. First information acts as an anchor or referring point, which influences all the decisions.
For example, in the context of a job interview, when salary negotiation takes place. Typically, the interviewer introduces a lower salary range at first, establishing a subdued initial expectation. Surprisingly, when they offer a slightly higher figure, it feels like a generous offer. This may mean settling for less than attainable.
2. Availability zheuristic/Availability bias
It is the tendency of the mind to process a specific topic, concept, or section with whatever information is available easily or quickly. It's a mental shortcut used by our mind to avoid too much processing of information.
For example, if you're deciding where to go for dinner and remember that your friend recently told you about a new Italian restaurant in town, even though there are many other dining options available, you choose this particular restaurant because it's fresh in your mind.
3. Bandwagon bias
It is cognitive bias in which the decision of an individual gets influenced by the decision of other people. For example, if everyone around you begins to praise a political leader. Over time, you also begin to think positively about this leader without investigating their background, because you assume that if everyone else is saying good things, it must be true.
4. Conformation bias
Conformation bias is a cognitive bias in which the mind wants to confirm its existing beliefs, and it does it by looking for evidence and information that support it. For example, you want to start a new business about interior designing but have doubts about succeeding.
You seek advice from different people, and they say it's hard to start in this market or that current conditions are not good. This negative feedback confirms your initial doubts that caused you to believe you would fail, ultimately causing you to give up without trying.
5. Dunning Kruger effect
It was introduced by Justin Kruger and David Dunning in 1999. The Dunning Kruger effect can be defined as when people overestimate their ability in a particular area or domain where they lack competence. A study shows that 55% of drivers thought they were better compared to how others would rate them.
6. Outcome bias
This cognitive bias occurs when one solely evaluates or judges the quality of a decision based on its outcome without taking into account or analyzing other factors. People judge someone only on the outcome and underestimate or overestimate someone on the basis of the result only.
For example, Napoleon's invasion of Russia is considered a mistake, but if we look at history, at that time the decision was probably made based on Napoleon’s previous successes and strategic plans.
7. Halo Effect/Halo Effect bias
Halo effect bias arises when an individual forms a positive impression of another person based solely on a single positive quality. In book influence, new and expanded: the psychology of persuasion, the author describes a scenario where a woman forms a positive impression of an employee based solely on a single positive action—helping her in a difficult situation.
Despite allegations of the employee's poor performance, her positive image of him persists, demonstrating how one positive quality can overshadow other negative information.
8. Excess optimism/pessimism bias
It occurs when an individual overestimates the chances of a positive outcome and ignores the chances of a negative outcome. For example, consider someone who is investing in the stock market for the first time. They hear about stories of others making quick profits; they invest a significant amount of money.
They are so confident in the stock's potential that they ignore warnings about market volatility and the possibility of losing their investment.
Excess pessimism bias occurs when an individual overestimates the chances of a negative outcome and ignores the chances of a positive outcome.
9. Stimulus Bias
Stimulus bias is a phenomenon in which an external factor influences an individual's perception and response to a stimulus. For example, One study found that when bumblebees receive sucrose as a reward, they tend to identify uncertain flowers. In Pavlov's dog experiment, Dog, influenced by a stimulus such as a bell beach, believes he will receive a treat when the bell rings.
10. Self-serving bias
It’s a cognitive bias in which an individual attributes his or her success and achievements to personal factors and all failures and breakthroughs to external situations and people. In simple words, all my successes and good things are because of me, and all bad things that happen to me are because of other people and are external reasons.
11. Choice-supportive bias
It is the tendency to rank our choices better and more favorable than they actually are, only seeing positive attributes of them and overlooking negative aspects. For example, someone purchased a new mobile.
They chose a specific brand because it had advanced features and a gorgeous color. Over time, they began to notice some flaws in the model. But they downplay these negative aspects due to choice-supportive bias.
12. Overconfidence bias
It is once tendency to overestimate their abilities and skills more than reasonable limits. Nokia and BlackBerry are excellent examples. They dominated the smartphone industry at the time, but due to their overconfidence in their brand, they were unable to predict the future and failed to evolve over time.
13. Belief Perservace/Backfire Effect
It is an individual's tendency to maintain a belief despite new evidence that firmly contradicts it or tells the opposite. Cognitive distance doesn’t like inconstancy. For example, some people believe that bulls become enraged by the color red.
Because of cartoons and other sources, they believed this idea as a child. But in reality, they are actually colorblind. Despite this new, credible information.
14. Framing effect/Framing bias
It is used to manipulate our decision-making by presenting information in a certain way. The framing effect is used in marketing. I remember when I was buying a laptop, I saw one website was selling the model I wanted for $200 off, and it specifically mention this deal is only for one week. But 1 month later, I saw the same deal with the same discount and 1 week offer.
15. Rosy retrospection
It is a type of bias in which a person recalls past more positively than present. For example, you have probably heard that people say our childhood was really good or last year's Christmas was really great compared to this year.
16. Bias bias/blind spot bias
It is the ability of an individual to see the biases of others but fail to see our own biases or consider ourselves less biased from others.
Impact of Cognitive Biases on Everyday Life and Mental Health
Everyday life
Imagine While you're browsing online, you notice a product that was previously $150 marked down to $100. Because your attention is drawn to the original price, the anchoring bias causes you to sense a fantastic deal even when the object isn't worth $100.
Similar to this, confirmation bias might cause you to ignore any negative feedback and just read reviews that confirm what you already thought about the product. Social media companies design their algorithms to feed your existing beliefs.
You've probably noticed that if you like one particular type of post, similar kinds of posts start to appear more frequently. Due to confirmation bias, this leads to more engagement and increased watch time.
Mental health and well-being
Cognitive biases can result in negative thought patterns that can cause mental health conditions, including sadness and anxiety. People who suffer from depressive disorders, for instance, get stuck in negative thought patters and biases.
Biases like belief perservace, conformation bias and choice supportive bias, in which they tend to emphasize bad experiences and ignore pleasant ones. This may set off a vicious loop that intensifies depressing and dark thoughts.
Strategies to Recognize and Overcome Cognitive Biases
Increase Awareness
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge, as Stephen Hawking said. This illustrates how difficult it is to acquire knowledge when we believe we already have it, often caused by cognitive biases.
There are things we know we don’t know, called known unknowns, and there are things we don’t know we don’t know, and these things are infinite. So the more we know, it will help us to be aware that there is a lot of the unknown knowledge.
Therefore, we must increase our knowledge, and the more we learn and understand, the more we realize that there are numerous aspects of this world that we remain ignorant about. Thus, by expanding our knowledge, we become more aware of the unknown unknowns.
Seek diverse perspetive
Try to bring diversity to your personality by not just sticking to one belief system but also by respecting the beliefs of others. In this world, there are as many belief systems as there are people, so we should respect others perspectives and not force anyone to adopt our own beliefs.
Lets agree to disagree, in his book 'Ego is the Enemy,' author Ryan Holiday demonstrates how ego can cause us to stop ourselves from learning, which may result in sticking to one belief system only. To gain diverse knowledge, try to learn about perspectives other than your own.
Take Time to Reflect
Reflective thinking means pausing for a moment and taking time to carefully assess your judgments and thoughts. Instead of making quick decisions, take the time to consider the about information you have and how you reached at your decision.
This approach can help you recognize any cognitive biases that might be influencing your thinking. Regularly try to see things from another person's perspective and challenge your belief system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, cognitive biases affect our everyday decision-making because they are deeply embedded mental short cuts. Recognizing these biases enables us to acknowledge how they affect our behavior and thinking. These biases can result in inaccurate observations and incorrect conclusions; they frequently lead us to ignore crucial information or base decisions on insufficient information.
The impact of cognitive biases can extend beyond our decisions; they can also significantly affect our mental health and well-being. Confirmation bias, belief perseverance, and choice-supportive bias can make negative thought patterns stronger, which can lead to conditions like anxiety and depression.
It is crucial that we become more conscious of these biases and actively try to understand various points of view. We can reduce the impact of cognitive bias by increasing our knowledge, accepting different points of view, and trying to think things through before acting. Effective methods for overcoming these biases include developing a practice of reflective thought and remaining open to challenging our own belief systems.
We can ultimately make better informed decisions and support mental health by recognizing and correcting cognitive biases. This makes our personal lives better, but it also makes our social and work environments a more fair and reasonable place to interact.
References
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Roy, M. M., & Liersch, M. J. (2013). I am a better driver than you think: examining self‐enhancement for driving ability. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(8), 1648–1659. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12117.
Strang, C., & Muth, F. (2023). Judgement bias may be explained by shifts in stimulus response curves. Royal Society Open Science, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221322.
Pavlov’s Dogs Experiment & Pavlovian Conditioning Response. (2024, February 2). Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html.
Researchers Find Everyone Has a Bias Blind Spot - News - Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/june/bias-blind-spot.html.
Holiday, R. (2016). Ego Is the Enemy. https://amzn.to/4cfTYn7.
Cialdini, R. B. (2021). Influence, New and Expanded. Harper Business. https://amzn.to/4dcc5M0.