Cognitive bias is the tendency to act irrationally due to our limited ability to process information objectively. It's not always negative, but it can cloud our judgment and affect the clarity with which we perceive situations, people, or potential risks. Everyone is susceptible to cognitive biases, and researchers are no exception. Cognitive biases can therefore be a source of bias in research.
Where do cognitive biases come from?
Cognitive bias is an umbrella term used to describe our systematic but imperfect response patterns to problems related to judgment and decision-making. As expected, these patterns are not random. Although based on our beliefs and experiences, they often run counter to logic or probability.
Although we like to think of ourselves as rational beings who process all information before making a decision, this is often not the case. Everyone is subject to cognitive biases to different degrees.
Cognitive biases are hardwired into our brains and can help us manage the information overload inherent in everyday life. If we had to think carefully before all our actions, it would be really difficult to function.
To be more effective, our brains rely more on our experiences and beliefs than we think. These become mental shortcuts (also called heuristics). These rules of thumb help us make judgments and predictions. Because this process is intuitive or subconscious, people often do not realize that they are acting based on biases or preconceived ideas.
Causes of cognitive biases
Our tendency toward cognitive biases can come from many different sources. A few of them include:
Limited information processing capacity. Because our minds have a limited capacity to store and recall information, we simply cannot take into account all relevant information when we make an inference or decision. Usually we are forced to focus on a subset of the available information.
Emotions. If our decision involves those close to us, rather than complete strangers, we will evaluate the situation differently.
Motivation. Our judgments are influenced by our existing attitudes and beliefs. We are very likely to choose the beliefs and strategies that are most likely to help us reach the conclusions we want to reach.
Social influence. People tend to conform to the opinions previously expressed by others or to act in socially desirable ways. This can influence collective behavior, such as voting.
Heuristics or mental shortcuts. Our mind uses simple rules to achieve a conclusion in a “quick and frugal” manner. The goal is not to grasp the problem in all its complexity, nor even to arrive at the optimal solution, but to quickly arrive at a “good enough” solution while minimizing mental effort.
Age. There is evidence to suggest that older adults demonstrate less cognitive flexibility. This implies that as we age, we are more likely to exhibit cognitive biases.
Relying on mental shortcuts in our daily lives is effective and leads to faster decision-making when timing is more important than precision. However, cognitive biases can cause us to misunderstand events, facts, or other people. This, in turn, can affect our behavior in a wide range of situations.
Cognitive biases can have a negative impact:
Our decision-making capacity, limiting our receptivity to new or conflicting information.
How accurately can we remember incidents, for example an event we were eyewitnesses. Inaccurate or incomplete recollection of events can lead to recall bias.
Our anxiety levels force us to focus only on negative events or aspects of our lives.
Our relationships with others, when we are too quick to judge their personality based on a single trait.
Our critical thinking leads us to perpetuate misconceptions or erroneous information that can be harmful to others.
What are cognitive biases?
While there is no comprehensive list of all types of cognitive biases, below are some common ones that often distort our thinking.
Anchoring bias is the tendency to rely on the first information offered. This especially applies to numbers. Traders use anchoring bias by starting with a number that is too low or too high. They know that this number will set the bar for subsequent offers.
The framing effect occurs when people make a choice based on whether the options presented to them are framed positively or negatively, for example in terms of loss or gain, reward or punishment.
Actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute our actions to external factors and the actions of others to internal factors. For example, if you and a classmate both fail a test, you may think that your failure was due to the difficulty of the exams. questions, while your classmate's is due to poor preparation.
The availability heuristic (or availability bias) applies when we place greater value on information that is available to us or that comes to mind quickly. For this reason, we tend to overestimate the likelihood of similar things happening again.
Confirmation bias refers to our tendency to seek out evidence confirming what we already believe, viewing the facts and ideas we encounter as further confirmation. Confirmation bias also causes us to ignore any evidence that appears to support an opposing view.
The halo effect refers to how our perception of a single trait can influence how we perceive other aspects, particularly when it comes to a person's personality. For example, when we consider a person to be physically attractive, this often determines how we evaluate their other qualities.
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (or frequency illusion) is the tendency to see new information, names, or patterns "everywhere" shortly after they are first brought to our attention.
Belief bias describes the tendency to judge an argument based on the plausibility of the conclusion, rather than the amount of evidence provided to support those conclusions during the argument.
The affect heuristic occurs when our current emotional state or mood influences our decisions. Instead of assessing the situation objectively, we rely on our “gut feelings” and react based on how we feel.
The representativeness heuristic occurs when we estimate the probability of an event based on its similarity to a known situation. In other words, we compare it to a situation, a prototype or a stereotype that we already have in mind.
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