Cognitive Bias
Systematic errors of thinking or rationality in judgement that influence our perception of the world and our decision-making ability.
Cognitive biases increase our efficiency
Rather than thinking through every situation, we conserve mental energy by developing rules of thumb to make decisions based on past experience. These mental shortcuts enable us to make quick decisions without needing to analyze every detail. But they can also influence our decision-making processes and judgement without our awareness.
Example: confirmation bias
We have a tendency to seek out, interpret, and recall information in a way that confirms our preconceived notions and ideas. This is known as confirmation bias, and it can make having a logical discussion about a polarizing hot-button issue with someone incredibly difficult.
Building awareness
Understanding our own biases may not eliminate them from our decision making – but it can help us identify them. Being aware can safeguard us against fallacious reasoning, unintentional discrimination or costly decisions.
Origin
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the notion of cognitive biases in 1972 after they observed people’s inability to reason intuitively with greater orders of magnitude. In a series of replicable experiments, Tversky, Kahneman and their colleagues demonstrated that human judgement and decision making is seperate from rational choice theory.