What Is Cognitive Bias? | Definition, Examples & Types
Cognitive bias describes the way we tend to act irrationally because our ability to process information objectively is limited. It isn’t inherently bad, but it can affect how we perceive things.
It can also cloud our judgment about people or situations and how risky a set of circumstances might be.
As a result, the older employee might be offered fewer opportunities for training, development, or career advancement. This might cause the worker to suffer from age-related workplace discrimination.
No one is immune to cognitive bias, so academics and researchers have to be aware of its possible effect on their research. Otherwise, cognitive bias might undermine their work.
What is cognitive bias?
Cognitive bias is a term that describes why our responses to judgment-based and decision-based problems can be flawed. Our responses follow patterns that are systematic and nonrandom, but which are also flawed. As a result, they often go against probability or logic because they are based on our experiences and beliefs.
Everyone is susceptible to cognitive bias to some degree, even though we tend to think of ourselves as rational creatures who behave and act logically according to the data we encounter.
If we had to process all the available information before every decision we made, we would become paralyzed. Cognitive biases help us filter out excessive information when we make decisions. This is why “overthinking” is seen as negative and a barrier to making decisions.
To help us filter out unnecessary information, our brains call on our beliefs and experiences, using mental shortcuts known as “heuristics.” These shortcuts are largely intuitive or unconscious processes, so we normally don’t realize we’re acting on them. But they underpin many of our judgments.
Cognitive bias examples
Because there are so many types of cognitive bias, and because we are all susceptible to it, there are many possible consequences.
Serious consequences might follow in a medical situation where even seasoned doctors can experience cognitive bias.
Other serious consequences of cognitive bias can be found in academia.
Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow found that when marking two-question examination papers, the quality of the first answer influenced his grading of the second question because of confirmation bias. He therefore grades all the first answers, followed by all the second answers.
Types of cognitive bias
These are the most common cognitive biases:
- Actor-observer-bias
- Confirmation bias
- Anchoring bias
- Halo effect
- Availability heuristic
- Framing effect
- Representativeness heuristic
- Baader-Meinhof phenomenon
- Affect heuristic
- Belief bias
Actor-observer bias
Actor-observer bias is when we tend to see external factors as responsible for what happens to us and internal ones as responsible for what happens to others. For example, if we have a car accident, we might blame the road conditions. However, if it happens to someone else, we might blame the driver.
Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias describes our tendency to look for evidence that confirms what we already believe. It also leads us to ignore evidence that seems to support a view opposite to our own. For example, if we believe that drivers who wear hats are always slow, then we will notice all slow-driving hat-wearers, rather than all slow drivers, and this then appears to confirm our belief.
Anchoring bias
Anchoring bias is when we rely on the first piece of information we receive, especially in the case of numbers. If you see an old lamp at a garage sale for $50 it might seem expensive, then when you see a novel for $5 it can seem cheap because it’s much less than the “anchor” $50.
Halo effect
The halo effect describes the tendency to allow one positive trait to influence our perception of a person’s whole character. For example, we might incorrectly assess a person’s intelligence because they are physically attractive. Conversely, we might make negative assumptions about someone based on their accent: this is known as the horn effect.
Availability heuristic (availability bias)
The availability heuristic (or availability bias) is when we place more importance on information that is easily available to us (or that we recall quickly). For example, you might be more nervous flying soon after news of a major air disaster than at other times.
Framing effect
The framing effect is when our decisions are influenced by how a choice is presented to us. For example, a computer might frame a “lower quality print” as “faster printing speed,” which makes us more likely to choose that option.
Representativeness heuristic
The representativeness heuristic describes our tendency to predict the probability of something based on its similarity to other, known events. We use a stereotype or similar situation to compare it to.
For example, we might not call into a roadside diner, because there is a large number of big motorcycles outside, and we have absorbed the stereotype that motorcycle gangs are dangerous. However, it’s possible that those bikes belong to the Sirens Women’s Motorcycle Club, who deliver breast milk to premature babies for free across New York City.
Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (frequency illusion)
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (or frequency illusion) is named after a 1970s West German terrorist group, and it describes our tendency to see patterns, new information, or names “everywhere” soon after we hear about them. For example, if you are thinking of changing your car, it might seem that you see the model you are interested in “everywhere” for the next few days or weeks.
Affect heuristic
The affect heuristic is when our emotions or current mood affect our decisions. We might buy a lottery ticket because we are feeling lucky, even though that has no impact on our likelihood of winning.
Belief bias
The belief bias describes our tendency to base our judgment on how plausible we find something rather than the evidence provided. A lack of understanding of probability, for example, can make outcomes seem implausible. It is almost impossible to believe that every single genuine shuffle of a deck of cards, from the time the standard deck was developed, has produced a unique order of cards. But probability tells us that two identical shuffles are all-but impossible.
What causes cognitive bias?
The tendency for cognitive bias has a number of causes. A few of these are:
- Information-processing capacity limits. We only have a limited capacity for storing and recalling information. In many situations, we simply cannot take all the relevant information into account when we make a decision. Instead, we rely on a smaller subset of information that is available to us.
- Motivation. Our existing beliefs and attitudes influence our judgments, and we typically choose strategies that most likely lead us to the desired conclusions.
- Emotions. We evaluate situations differently if they involve our loved ones rather than total strangers. This impacts our decision-making.
- Mental shortcuts, or heuristics. By using some simple rules and shortcuts, our brains reach conclusions quickly in a “fast-and-frugal” way. This often means that the solution might not be the best one, but it is frequently “good enough” and hasn’t overtaxed our mental powers.
- Age. Studies suggest that older people are less cognitively flexible than their young counterparts, so it seems likely that our susceptibility to cognitive bias increases as we get older.
- Social influence. We can be influenced by others around us and the desire to conform or please them. This can affect our behavior in crowds or groups, for example.
What is the impact of cognitive bias?
Mental shortcuts make decision-making in everyday life quicker and simpler. In many cases, this is helpful. It can, however, lead us to misunderstand a situation and make a poor decision as a result.
Cognitive bias: Negative
A patient is rushed into the ER, apparently unconscious. They are dirty and disheveled, and they fit the stereotype of a drug user. The under-pressure physician assumes that the patient has taken a drug overdose, and fails to spot that the person has in fact choked on some food. Cognitive bias has put the patient’s life in danger.
Some of the negative consequences of cognitive bias include:
- Inaccurate incident recall. We tend to assume that eyewitness accounts are reliable forms of evidence, but cognitive bias can lead them to be of limited value.
- Anxiety. Dwelling on negative aspects of our lives or situations can be a result of cognitive bias and can lead to anxiety.
- Impaired decision-making. Cognitive bias limits the information we use to make a decision, which sometimes leads to poor choices.
- Flawed critical thinking. When we don’t recognize our own cognitive biases, it is easy for them to affect our critical thinking. This, in turn, will negatively impact the quality of any research or writing we undertake.
- Harm to our interpersonal relationships. When our cognitive bias leads us to judge others on the basis of a single character trait, we harm or impair our ability to form and maintain relationships.
Frequently asked questions about cognitive bias
- What is attention bias?
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Attention bias is a cognitive bias that affects how we perceive the world around us. We cannot process all the information our senses provide us with, so we filter them out.
Attention bias can have positive and negative impacts. For example, when hiking in the wilderness, we might be more attuned to spotting snakes or other dangerous wildlife.
On the other hand, if we are on a diet, we might find ourselves drawn to the dessert section of the menu at a restaurant.
- What are signs of cognitive bias?
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Cognitive bias is very difficult to spot in our own thinking, but there are some things to watch out for if we want to maintain intellectual integrity.
- Try not to filter out information that doesn’t align with our existing beliefs, because that can lead to our missing vital evidence.
- Be aware of when the initial information we receive can color our assessment of subsequent data.
- Try to be aware of our own stereotypical views to guard against confirmation bias.
- What is myside bias?
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Myside bias is very similar to confirmation bias (a subtype of cognitive bias), and some people use the terms interchangeably. In its specific meaning, it refers to our tendency to process information in ways that emphasize our existing beliefs. It is particularly prevalent in politics, but can also be seen in sports.
For example, a possible infraction in a soccer game will be seen as an obvious foul by one group of fans, but not by the other group of fans.