24 Cognitive Biases That Are Warping Your Perception of Reality

[Jodi LeBlanc]

A friend shared this on LinkedIn last week and I thought I would share it in this group, I find our hidden biases have a lot to do with how inclusive we are.

"24 Cognitive Biases That Are Warping Your Perception of Reality" from the folks at https://yourbias.is/ via https://lnkd.in/eiCfSbv

[Maciej Neumann]

"Confirmation bias" - the most common one from my experience and probably the most difficult to fight with (both in myself and in others). Do you think presenting to the people some of the biases that they are using could help or this isn't enough? It's nice to know them, but presenting them in the discussion (about inclusivity or another topic) just would lead to the "backfire effect".

[Jodi LeBlanc]

That's a good point @Maciej Neumann I have noticed in teaching I have attended on Bias is that by talking about it, it raises our awareness. It really is something we have to tackle personally. So the more I know about the different biases, when I see myself making an assumption, I can question that, take a step back and then make a better decision. It really comes down to the individual wanting to break through their biases.

[Dara]

To add my background in (neuro)psychology to this: The best way to deal with subconscious thought and behaviour patterns is indeed to make people conscious of them. It will still take some time to dismantle (our first reaction is always the subconscious one, the conscious mind is slower to react), but people can indeed change their behaviours, then their thought patterns and in time this seeps into their subconscious reactions.

The really important thing though is how you present this to people. If people feel like you're saying that they themselves are wrong they will quickly go on the defensive. Making sure they understand the difference between conscious thought and subconscious thought, and the fact that the latter is learned from the environment around us (including media) and thus is subject to 'mistakes', is key. 

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Thanks for sharing Dara, yes communication (style and delivery of message) is crucial.