our brain runs on autopilot.
we resort to various mental shortcuts for solving the tasks we do daily. psychologists call these mental shortcuts ‘heuristic’. To proceed to any solution or decision, heuristic plays a great role. It blinds us to form decisions with trial and error method.
You rarely notice that when you have to make a decision abruptly, you fall back on heuristics.
we think we are logical and rational yet our mind tricked us to make decisions fast through these heuristics which leads to cognitive bias. There is no workaround to completely avoid it. This is natural.
Most decisions taken on spur of moment are faulty. They are the results of the biased thinking that our brain is wired with. we are unconsciously getting controlled by these mental errors.
Exaggerating your own beliefs over other’s opinions.
And that brings us to our first bias. Psychologists call it confirmation bias.
when you start exaggerating your own beliefs over others. That’s when confirmation bias is fully in action. You don’t want to see the other side of the situation. Moreover, you are so obsessed with your own beliefs that you prefer to not accept any outrageous comments about that beliefs.
However, confirmation bias has some pros and cons. A major pro is relying on only selective information it can boost your confidence which inturn leads to more self-esteem. on the contrary, it has a few cons such as sometimes it maintains your fake persona that impairs your decision-making skill.
A perfect example of confirmation bias is opting for only those opinion that interests you. consider yourself while watching tv, you love listening to your favorite political candidate that only reflects your views and try to unlisten to those who oppose your viewpoint regardless of whose viewpoints are good or bad.
Relying on the first piece of information
You went shopping and a price tag caught your attention. It seemed inexpensive, so you considered buying it. However, when you moved on to the next store, you saw the same item listed at an even lower price. Now, you begin to think you made a mistake and contemplate buying it in the first place.
Research says
“The first piece of information acts as an anchor, and people adjust their subsequent opinions based on this anchor. Even if it is irrelevant or inaccurate. It’s called the anchoring effect.”
it blinds you to make decisions based on the first information you receive.
Resisting the change
Change can be a scary thing for many people, often being perceived as a loss or detriment. That’s why you avoid change because you don’t want to take risks. you love staying in the same job or relationship because that remains your comfort zone for so long. If you fear change and you don’t want to bring the change maybe you should start blaming your thinking for this. And this bias ingrained in your thinking has a name for it known as status quo bias
Leave a Reply