Beating cognitive biases
Decades of psychological research on human behavior and decision making have revealed that one of the traits that helped us prosper as a species can also undermine our ability to make rational, objective decisions. The trait we’re referring to, of course, is cognitive bias. Understanding cognitive bias and learning how to counteract it is the subject of this week’s episode of The Better Show.
We explore the nature of cognitive bias to understand what it is and what role it plays in our overall well-being and also look at the ways that it can affect our decision making in predictable, but often irrational, ways. Finally, we share some tips for how you can recognize situations where cognitive bias might be playing a role in your life and offer suggestions on ways to minimize its effect on your own decisions.
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Show Notes
- 4:52 — What exactly is cognitive bias, what research led to the discovery of it, and why should we pay attention to it.
- 7:50 — The different types of cognitive bias and how they affect our decisions in everyday life.
- 9:18 — The parallels between how we establish unconscious biases and how we form habits.
- 11:25 — Is it even possible to remove all cognitive bias and if we could would we even want to?
- 12:40 — The summary of different biases as categorized by Buster Benson.
- 19:05 — The problems caused by cognitive bias, including missed details, and incorrect conclusions.
- 20:18 — Why humans are predisposed to see faces in inanimate objects.
- 22:27 — March quizzes Ian and Darren about some common cognitive biases.
- 34:14 — The Ben Franklin effect and how you can use it to strengthen your relationships.
- 36:28 — The IKEA effect and how it affects many of the products you buy.
- 38:30 — The Google effect and what it has to do with Darren’s ability to accurately spell words.
- 45:33 — What cognitive bias has to do with one’s base level of happiness.
- 47:55 — Tips for making better decisions to counteract cognitive bias.
- 50:20 — Using decision making frameworks to counteract cognitive bias.
- 54:40 — The value of making decisions slowly.
- 56:00 — Ian, Darren, and March each pick one of the methods discussed in the show improve their individual decision making.
Mentions
- 📰 Wikipedia article: List of Cognitive Biases
- 🔧 Tool: Cognitive bias cheat sheet
- 🔧 Tool: the Pugh Matrix
- 🎙 Show: The Better Show episode on the Eisenhower Matrix
Episode Transcript
Coming soon.
