We naturally use unconscious routines to face the decision making, whatever the topic we are dealing with. These routines are based on experimentation, trial and error methods, and are proved to be potential psycological traps that may blind the dicision makers and undermine their decisions.
Some traps identified and detailed in this case are: ° Anchoring ° Framing ° Status Quo ° Estimating and Forecasting ° Sunk Cost ° Over-confidence / Prudence ° Confirming Evidence ° Recallability
The best protection against psycological traps is awareness. We have to understand them and avoid having miopia in our perceptions to reduce the probability of falling into the traps…
Past events, trends, initial impressions, estimated or data may modify subsequent thoughts and judgements; they are anchors that can establish terms on which a decision will be made, so it can be used as a bargaining tactic.
We have to view problems from different perspectives, think about a problem by our own before consulting with someone else, be opened-minded but don’t reveal our perception to our advisers.
The status quo trap lies in our desire to protect our egos from damage, avoid criticism and regret. In business taking action tend to be punished more severely than omissions. We must always remind the objectives, identify options in adittion to status quo, evaluate alternatives in terms of future, avoid exaggerating the cost to move from status quo and force ourselves to choose.
Making choices to justify past choices, and the unwill to admit a mistake are definitions to the sunk cost trap,to avoid this we should be less pride and remind that even smart choices have bad consequences, don’t cultivate failure fearing culture, and listen to views of people that are univolved with the earlier decision. The confirming evidence trap occurs when we miss objectiveness following insticts finding in research supporting