What Are Cognitive Biases?
When making a decision one prefers to be rational and a free thinking individual where necessary factors are considered before making a decision, than rushing through them immediately and making poor decisions. These decisions we make in our day-today life are often influenced by biases that one is completely unaware of. Biases are the annoying glitches in our thinking that makes us arrive at questionable decisions and make erroneous conclusions. Cognitive biases also known as Decision biases are “Ways of thinking or a thought process that produces errors in judgment or decision making, or at least departures from the use of normative rules or standards” (Gilovich and Griffin 2002). It is a systematic pattern that deviates from the normal,
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Heuristic or mental shortcuts in problem solving were used to evaluate differences in decision making and judgement, by focusing on scenarios where a person’s decision differs from rational choice theory. These cognitive biases makes people create their own type of social reality i.e. a subjective reality that is created from their perceptions. But this construction of reality is not objective and can make a person behave irrationally. This type of cognition can result in perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgements, illogical interpretations etc. Cognitive Biases originate from a variety of mental processes and can be quite challenging to identify. These include Heuristics, mental noise, framing or presentation, limited processing capacity, emotional and moral motivators and also social influences. It is important to be aware of the factors that influence our judgements. Knowing how the mind works is beneficial for reasoning, logic, critical thinking and argumentation. In a broader sense, it also helps in being aware of the manipulation and the influence another could have on biases. For example, in political campaigns and marketing strategies.
A substantial body of research clearly prove that every one of us are susceptible to a huge number of biases. These biases create distortions in our perception that can create an impact in our decisions. Identifying all the types of biases is beyond the scope of this
Heuristic or mental shortcuts in problem solving were used to evaluate differences in decision making and judgement, by focusing on scenarios where a person’s decision differs from rational choice theory. These cognitive biases makes people create their own type of social reality i.e. a subjective reality that is created from their perceptions. But this construction of reality is not objective and can make a person behave irrationally. This type of cognition can result in perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgements, illogical interpretations etc. Cognitive Biases originate from a variety of mental processes and can be quite challenging to identify. These include Heuristics, mental noise, framing or presentation, limited processing capacity, emotional and moral motivators and also social influences. It is important to be aware of the factors that influence our judgements. Knowing how the mind works is beneficial for reasoning, logic, critical thinking and argumentation. In a broader sense, it also helps in being aware of the manipulation and the influence another could have on biases. For example, in political campaigns and marketing strategies.
A substantial body of research clearly prove that every one of us are susceptible to a huge number of biases. These biases create distortions in our perception that can create an impact in our decisions. Identifying all the types of biases is beyond the scope of this