TOP-10 Human Biases

Posted on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 00:50 | by The Insider

Research shows that 90% of people consider themselves to be less biased and less subjective than an average person. In fact, quite many of us see ourselves as being to a large extent bias-free. Yet even though most of us would like to think of ourselves as fully rational human beings, there are certain irrationality traps in which our minds get caught over and over again. Below you can find some of the most common ones – the biases that are present in our daily lives.

The aim of this article is not to free you from any bias that a typical human being might have (as in some cases it might actually harm you). Instead, the article provides you with a piece of information that allows you to become aware of the systematic drawbacks that your mind has and to recognize the situations in which it does not operate fully rationally. And, of course, by providing the information, the article aims to make this world a better place and to improve the precision of economical and finance models, most of which rest on the somewhat naive assumption of human rationality.

Before you go on with the article, ask yourself a question – how biased do you think are you? And, after you have finished reading it, ask it again.

10. Self-serving bias

People tend to attribute success to internal factors and avoid responsibility of failures by writing them off to external factors. For instance, doing particularly well on an exam will be seen as a confirmation to one’s superior intelligence, while failing one will be ascribed to factors outside ones control, e.g. noisy roommates, lack of time for studying, etc. This is mostly done unconsciously in order to protect one’s fragile self esteem.

9. Fundamental attribution error

Oddly enough, the opposite of the previous bias is true when observing the behaviour of others – we attribute their success to external factors, while failures are a clear indication of their internal features, e.g. they failed an exam because they are stupid or they tripped over a rock because they are clumsy.

The upper two biases are also among the main reasons why the majority of population view themselves to be considerably more intelligent than an average person.

8. Halo Effect / Reverse halo effect

In another attempt to simplify others we tend to attribute positive traits to people who have firstly exhibited desirable qualities and vice-versa. To give a vogue example - we often expect good-looking people to be also intelligent and talented. Conversely, if you would hear someone chatting about serial-killers first associations that would come into your mind would most probably be negative (even though it is highly likely that they are great fathers, loving husbands and eager animal rights activists).

Self-fulfilling expectations will also ensure that our initial impression will influence the interpretation and perception of the person’s subsequent behaviour, thus repeatedly confirming our initial perception of the individual.

7. In-group bias

Tendency to give better treatment to members of your group. The term group here is a rather loose expression as it may refer to anyone starting from your classmates, colleagues or compatriots to other blondes, working mothers or bookworms, depending on your individual sense of belonging to a particular cluster.

6. Self-fulfilling prophecy

To instinctively act in a way that results in the expected outcome, confirming our faith that initial expectations were correct, even though they were in fact false and a different outcome might have been achieved. In other words, if you believe that you will fail a certain test you may stop studying, write the exam in a sloppy manner and eventually fail it not because you couldn’t have passed but because you strongly believed in failing and thus missed the opportunities to engage in behaviour that would have helped you to succeed.

Morale of this bias? Writing an exam and believing that you have a chance, even the tiniest one, of passing will get you a higher grade than writing one with a solid belief of failing.

5. Confirmation bias

This bias refers to selective thinking, when people look for information that confirms their existing attitudes or beliefs, while neglecting opposing facts. Extremely often seen in discussions – when a person engages in an argument with others he will typically look for information confirming his point of view. This bias is also often present in various studies, where a researcher has chosen to overlook the data contrasting his point of view in a naive attempt to increase the credibility of his study.

4. Negativity bias

People tend to give more weight to negative rather than positive information. Various researches show that if a person is exposed to an equal amount of positive and negative information regarding a certain topic his attitude will be negative, rather than neutral. Also, if a person experiences a good and a bad event in a short period of time, he will most likely feel worse as to compared with a situation in which nothing noteworthy has happened.

Curiously, this bias tends to diminish as people grow older and eventually may even disappear.

3. Stereotyping

As funny as it may sound, this is also among the main cognitive biases of our mind. To give a precise definition – stereotyping means holding a popular, standardized and simplified opinion regarding certain social group and making further inferences based on these beliefs.

As harmful as it might seem to some people, there are quite a few great ways to benefit from this.

For instance, if you wish to be perceived in a specific way, join a group which is known for having the characteristics you desire!

2. Restraint bias / Self-control bias

You cannot predict your behaviour in situations dominated by feelings, e.g. arousal, hunger, anger etc. In a rational state one will always overestimate his capability to resist a temptation.

In a wonderfully immoral experiment one of the world’s best known behaviour economists, Dan Ariely, tested the effects of sexual arousal on decision making. The findings confirmed that in high-emotion situations people are far more likely to get involved in immoral actions than they normally think they would. In situations like these rationality steps back to give place to emotions.

1. Bias blind spot

A strong confidence that you have no biases or that you are, on average, substantially less biased than an average person. Are you?