38 AUGUST 2021 WorldWide Drilling Resource® The Un-Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. Cognitive Bias is the Loose Screw in Critical Thinking When I was a kid, I was enamored with movie stars who smoked cigarettes. As a teenager, some of my friends began to smoke. I wanted to smoke too, but my parents forbade it. I was also intimidated by the anti-smoking commercials warning me smoking causes cancer. As much as I wanted to, I was afraid. When I started college as a premed major, I worked in a hospital emergency room. I was shocked to see more than 90% of the nurses were smokers, but it was not quite enough to convince me smoking was okay. It was the doctors - 11 of the 12 emergency room physicians I worked with were smokers. If actual medical doctors thought smoking was safe, then so did I. I started smoking without concern because I had fallen prey to an Authority Bias which is a type of Cognitive Bias. Fortunately for my health, I wised up and quit smoking ten years later. It's Likely You're Unaware of These Habits- Have you ever thought someone was intelligent simply because they were attractive? Ever dismissed a news story because it ran in a media source you didn’t like? Ever thought or said, “I knew that was going to happen!” in reference to a team winning, a stock going up in value, or some other unpredictable event occurring? If you replied, “Yes,” to any of these, then you may be guilty of relying on a cognitive bias. In my last article, I wrote about the importance of critical thinking, and how in today’s Information Age no one has an excuse for living in ignorance. Since then, I recalled a huge impediment to critical thinking: Cognitive Bias. We are all culpable of leaning on these mental crutches, even though we don’t do it intentionally. What are Cognitive Biases?- The Cambridge English Dictionary defines Cognitive Bias as the way a particular person understands events, facts, and other people, which is based on their own particular set of beliefs and experiences, and may not be reasonable or accurate. PhilosophyTerms.com calls it a bad mental habit that gets in the way of logical thinking. And, according to Alleydog.com, a Cognitive Bias is an involuntary pattern of thinking that produces distorted perceptions of people, surroundings, and situations around us. In brief, a cognitive bias is a shortcut to thinking. It’s completely understandable; the onslaught of information we are exposed to everyday necessitates some kind of time-saving method. It is simply impossible to process everything, so we make quick decisions. As understandable as depending on biases may be, it is still a severe deterrent to critical thinking. Wikipedia lists 197 different cognitive biases. I am going to share with you a few of the more common ones. Confirmation Bias is when you prefer to attend media and information sources in alignment with your current beliefs. People do this because it helps maintain their confidence and self-esteem when the information they receive supports their knowledge set. Exposing oneself to opposing views and opinions can cause cognitive dissonance and mental stress. Anchoring Bias occurs when you become committed or attached to the first thing you learn about a particular subject. A first impression of something or someone is a good example. Similar to Anchoring is the Halo Effect which is when you assume a person’s positive or negative traits in one area will be the same in some other aspect of their personality. Misinformation Effect is when your memories of an event can become affected or influenced by information you received after the event occurred. Researchers have proven that memory is inaccurate because it is vulnerable to revision when you receive new information. Actor-Observer Biasis when you attribute your actions to external influences and other people's actions to internal ones. You might think you missed a business opportunity because your car broke down, but your colleague failed to get a promotion because of incompetence. False Consensus Effect is when you assume more people agree with your opinions and share your values than actually do. This happens because you tend to spend most of your time with others, such as family and friends, who actually do share beliefs similar to yours. Availability Biasoccurs when you believe the information you possess is more important than it actually is. This happens when you watch or listen to media news sources that tend to run dramatic stories without sharing any balancing statistics on how rare such events may be. For example, if you see several stories on fiery plane crashes, you might start to fear flying because you assume they occur with greater frequency than they actually do. Bandwagon Effect also known as Herd Mentality or Groupthink is the propensity to accept beliefs or values because many other people also hold them as well. This is a conformity bias that occurs because most people desire acceptance, connection, and belonging with others, and fear rejection if they hold opposing beliefs. Authority Biasis when you accept the opinion of an authority figure because you believe they know more than you. You might assume they have already thought through an issue and made the right conclusion. And, because they are an authority in their field, you grant more credibility to their viewpoint than you would for anyone else. This is especially true in medicine where experts are frequently seen as infallible. Understand More and Communicate Better - Learning these biases, and being on the alert for them when you make a decision to accept a belief or opinion, will help you become more effective at critical thinking. Robert Robert is an innovation/change speaker, author, and consultant. He works with companies that want to be more competitive through innovation and with people who want to think more creatively. Contact him via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com
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