cognitive bias

The rise of psychologists’ interest in behaviourism, linguistics, neuroscience and computer science saw a shift in the scientific community where humanistic psychologists focussed on humans as a whole rather than simply their minds. 

This movement was known as the cognitive revolution and whilst he wasn’t the person who coined the term. Noam Chomsky played an influential role in the early days of the movement. A renowned American linguist, Chomsky argued against the supposed narrowness of behaviourism when considered without the role of the mind. 

1. Liking or Loving Tendency (Preference blindness)

 This is how we fail to see the faults or failures of people and products that we like (either consciously or unconsciously). We are naturally inclined to always relate our past negative and positive experiences to similar experiences in our present, meaning the biases we formed in the past always construe how we perceive certains aspects of life, be they people, places, television shows, books or products. This is why parents defend their children despite their criminal records or naughty behaviour; or why some people defend celebrities or online influencers found guilty of crimes - people can easily fall blind to defend what they love and care about. 

2. Inconsistency Avoidance Tendency (Dislike of change) Many people conserve their ‘head-space’ energy by being reluctant to change. We create comfort zones out of the reliable and predictable, and any form of change can threaten the stability of what we know and love, which is why so many people are frightened of change. Though, the true reason why so many people are reluctant to change is that they know that external change will always demand them to change. People have to change and adjust as the world around them shifts economically, structurally, culturally and scientifically. Progress walks hand and hand with change, and if we do not change as time changes, we risk becoming irrelevant. 

3. Similarity-Association Tendency (Similarity is safe)

 In the same way as preference blindness, similarity-association bias works through relating the present to a past context in accordance with our positive and negative experiences. People largely prefer to stick to that which is familiar, and that which they’ve concluded as safe (even if it’s technically not). For example, a child raised in an emotionally abusive household may likely seek out adult relationships which emulate that of their parents or guardians because they find safety in the familiar, even though their familiar is far from safe. This is because it’s harder to process that which is out of our realm of familiarity, so our brain chooses to take the easiest association neurological pathway. COGNITIVE BIAS 

4. Pain-Avoidance Denial (Dismissal of what causes us pain) 

We all can fall into a trap of distorting facts so that they can become bearable for our views. The main way this bias presents itself in today’s society is through our comparison of our present state and our desired state. Many of us have things we want in life which we lack, such as security, or a particular body shape, money or love. We know in our subconscious and conscious mind that we lack these things because the way we live our life is not conducive to these results, but rather than confronting and undergoing to grueling process of change, we shy away: we give up, carry on eating what we’re eating, don’t engage in daily exercise or berate ourselves with negative self-talk.

 5. Overoptimism Tendency (All of my plans work) 

We tend to be overoptimistic of the plans and ideas that we like. Many people are unconsciously reluctant to take responsibility for their own lives, as they have this natural faith that things will just happen for them. They may project this belief in the form of a faith in a God, Karma or the universe, but whatever their vehicle of choice, all believe that something else will ensure their life turns out OK. Even amongst the athetistic, there are those who were raised by their parents to believe they are special, and thus entitled to a fantastic job, salary and life. Nothing in life is ordained for us; we are responsible for creating the life we want, and we aren’t entitled to anything in the world, whether that’s love, respect or success - we have to earn it. 

6. Sensory Anchoring Bias (Memory Reliance) Whenever someone makes a decision, they will instinctively ‘anchor’ down onto a detail or value about that thing. This first detail people anchor down onto becomes the bias to adjust themselves to within their circumstances. This is why the phrase ‘you never make a second first impression’ exists: people will anchor onto the first piece of information you reveal about yourself (i.e. you were late, you were rude, you were loud, you cursed, etc). The same goes for other people: when we’re young and impressionable, we will pick up the biases our parents hold because we, instinctually, want to survive and therefore want to appease and agree with our primary caregivers. We will pick up on little things like their disgust of certain habits, foods, dislike of certain people and animals, styles and even shops! Sensory anchoring also affects our memory. Our sensory anchoring bias is responsible for some of our distorted memories when it comes to relationships, events and our self-perception. Important questions to ask ourselves when it comes to challenging our biases include: How do I know this is bad? Where did this idea come from? Who taught me this was good/bad? How authentic is this thought to me? COGNITIVE BIAS

 7. Availability Heuristic (Self-Justification) Also known as a mental short-cut, Availability Heuristics is when we rely on information which comes quickly to us and estimates the value of our own experience more than others’. When we try to make a decision, a number of related events or statistics may jump to the forefront of our mind, which results in us putting more statistical weight and value in their probability. This is because, when we are in situations which are somewhat dangerous or anxiety-inducing, our brain needs to make a quick decision. Say you’re nervous about leaving your dog tied up outside a shop and you’re suddenly able to recall several news articles and stories about dog-napping - you will suddenly perceive dog nappings as more common than they actually are and therefore perceive yourself at a greater risk of being a victim to it. This, obviously, also affects our relations with other people because the examples you have to hand may conflict with someone else’s: this is why we become closed-minded to counter-arguments, conflicting evidence or conflicting anecdotal evidence in debates and discussions. 

8. The Bandwagon Effect (If you go, I’ll go) 

Have you ever been asked ‘and if all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?’ This phrase is connected with the bandwagon effect, a psychological phenomenon which causes people to do something just because everyone else is doing it, even if it conflicts with their personal values. We all went through teenage years of influence where we did and said things because we wanted to fit in and be accepted by our peers, but even in adulthood, we find ourselves manipulated by this effect by politics and consumerism. Herd mentality is responsible for waves in politics, fashion trends, music hits, technological development, and shifts in social acceptance and culture. We become so stimulated by what other people do and invest time into that we adopt their behaviours, attitudes and interests. The problem arises when we surround ourselves with people who aren’t living worthy and fulfilling lives: people who engage in unhealthy or dangerous habits, have little to no aspiration, are unkind and judgemental, etc. We are the sum of the five core people we surround ourselves with: so we should make a conscious effort to surround ourselves with empowered, passionate, energetic, kind and like-minded people who are striving for something greater than themselves. 

9. Personal Blind-spot Bias (I’m ok, you’re not ok)

 Most of us know what we don’t like in other people and things: being judgemental is easy. The trouble is, very few of us are able to turn the critical eye in on ourselves where necessary. Of course, there will be many of you reading this who are incredibly self-critical people who claim to know all their flaws - but the reality is, self-critical people also have blind spots. In fact, overly self-critical people tend to be critical in the wrong areas, because their criticism COGNITIVE BIAS stems mainly out of self-shame rather than honest critique with an empowered intention to change. Our blind spots develop out of our desire to see ourselves more positively - something which most self-critical people crave the opportunity to do. After spending a lifetime of criticising ourselves, what could be more perfect than taking fifteen minutes to critique someone else whilst turning a blind eye to all our own (probably very similar) flaws? However, personal blind spots not only occur more frequently in people who don’t think they’re biased but also amongst people who are the least receptive to criticism and advice. 

10. Confirmation Bias (I determine what’s right and wrong) We are all inclined to accept ideas which validate our beliefs more than those which challenge them, regardless of whether or not our beliefs are positive or negative. For example, most of us have been in a situation where we’ve texted a friend who never replied to us and have been left wondering if they hated us because we’d upset them somehow. Whether the information is given to us or we seek it out, we are all inclined to finding ways to validate our beliefs, opinions, thoughts and actions, even if this confirmation puts us in a worse state and leads to self-sabotage. Confirmation bias serves to show us that we rarely look at ourselves and circumstances objectively: if we have incredibly low self-esteem, we seek out words in conversations which we believe implies insult or criticism; if we’re struggling with our health but don’t want to challenge it now, we seek out people who don’t tell us to lose weight; and if we agree with one political party, we only surround ourselves with others who align with us politically, refusing to converse with those who challenge or question our stances. Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel prize-winning psychologist and economist whose best-known research is in the fields of psychology of judgment, decision-making and behavioural economics. Kahneman argued that cognitive biases are like an optical illusion: people think as they see. 

1. Fact and Information Bias (Qualifications/Competency) Knowledge may equal power, but more knowledge isn’t always better. Information bias is when people get caught in the need to seek and validate information which doesn’t lead to effective or affirmative action. There’s a big difference between being an innovator and imitators: there are people who will gather ideas just to talk about them, whilst there are others who will gather ideas and then apply them into meaningful action. 

2. The Placebo Effect (The Secret & Manifestations) This bias is one which inadvertently brings about the effects we predicted would happen i.e. a self-fulfilling prophecy. As we know, the placebo effect stems from scientific experiments where patients were given a fake drug which they were told would cure them and found that the positive mindset of believing they were receiving an effective drug alleviated many patient’s symptoms. COGNITIVE BIAS The problem is that this can happen both ways, depending on the negativity or positivity of our mindset: when we are biased towards our inefficiency, we’ll fail because we won’t try to disprove ourselves. We cannot expect things to happen to us in life just because we think good things and, in the same way, we shouldn’t expect only bad things to come about because we think so. We cannot manifest a reality: we can only make a reality. 

3. Fixed Outcome Bias (Judge, Jury & Executioner) This is when people judge the soundness of a decision by its outcome rather than the process as to how the decision came about. An example of this would be someone getting away with driving drunk and believing the decision to drive drunk was sound because no one was hurt and they arrived home safely. The same goes for our relationships with others: we judge people for what they do and how they act without considering what they may have gone through which caused them to be the way that they are (and, therefore, have an ability to change). 

4. Pro-innovation Bias (Greatness bound by Dependency)

 Being innovative is fantastic, but innovation can only take people so far. The problem that occurs with innovation bias is when proponents of an innovation overvalue its usefulness and undervalue its limitations. This shows itself in our relationships when being part of an initiative becomes more important than the initiative itself: people join movements, community groups or even political parties, but become bogged down and distracted with their status within the group rather than focus on what the group is supposed to accomplish and the reason why it was established in the first place. 

5. Stereotyping & Generalising (All Intentions are Good) Stereotyping is when a person lays expectations for a person (or group of people) to have certain qualities, thoughts and behaviours without knowing anything about them personally. Whilst stereotyping arguably has a psychological advantage for its use to categorise strangers as safe or dangerous (eg. a child can be taught to categorise a man they do not know as someone they shouldn’t trust without their parent), the cultural divisions and socio-political climate has blurred this line thanks to skewed media portrayals and socio-cultural conditioning of who ‘looks good’ and who ‘looks bad’. As adults, we cannot allow ourselves to accept socially indoctrinated or experienced concepts of what people are and who they will be based on a category they may fit on a surface level.