{"id":7014,"date":"2022-04-29T02:16:39","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T23:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themind.ro\/articole\/scurtaturile-pe-care-ne-merge-mintea-sau-despre-erori-cognitive\/"},"modified":"2022-05-02T14:08:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T11:08:42","slug":"shortcuts-our-minds-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themind.ro\/en\/articole\/shortcuts-our-minds-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Shortcuts our minds take"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHORTCUTS OUR MINDS TAKE <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s start with a few simple questions; answer as honestly and quickly as possible:<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself a better driver than the average? Do you postpone bedtime (even though you need a lot of sleep) to watch another episode of your favorite Netflix show? Have you ever sat through a play or a movie even though it was unbelievable boring?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve answered Yes to these questions, you\u2019ve just taken the first step to be more aware of certain cognitive errors that your mind is making on autopilot.<\/p>\n

Cognitive sciences use “bias” or “cognitive error” to define the failure to think clearly from a logic standpoint (logical fallacies); the term was coined in the 1970s by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. The two authors explain how our mind, faced with an enormous informational input, uses certain shortcuts or mental strategies to be able to process information quickly and generate decisions. These shortcuts are not always an advantage and can lead us down the wrong path, resulting in misinterpretations of situations and false assumptions. In a nutshell, biases contradict logic and lie behind many of our irrational, stupid behaviors.<\/p>\n

It is important to be aware of these inner workings of our brains to make better decisions, professionally and personally.<\/p>\n

(In 2002, Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics – without actually ever taking an economics course – for the manner in which he has integrated psychological insights on decision-making in the financial field.)<\/p>\n

Returning to the topic cognitive biases, it is useful to know that almost 200 such errors have been identified, all gathered in a codex of cognitive biases. No, we will not discuss them all, only the ones triggered by the questions from the beginning:<\/p>\n

The optimism bias <\/em><\/strong>| Do you think you\u2019re a better driver than the average?<\/em><\/p>\n

If your answer was positive, know that you are among the approximately 90% of people who self-assess as better than the average driver, confidently defying the laws of statistics. Something doesn’t add up.<\/p>\n

This cognitive bias refers to our misperception that when it comes to us, negative events are less likely, positive ones are more likely, and our personality traits or abilities are more favorable than others\u2019. This extreme optimism underlies irrational decisions and behaviors such as unhealthy eating, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, speeding, but also our life-changing New Year’s resolutions (which 80% of us discreetly abandon on the first week of February).<\/p>\n

And, as a footnote: there are some authors who mention this bias as one of the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n

Present bias <\/em><\/strong>| Do you postpone bedtime (even though you need a lot of sleep) to watch another episode of your favorite Netflix show?<\/em><\/p>\n

Or did you plan to go for a jog immediately after work, but you lay in your couch just a little bit, resting (a little bit = until you go to sleep)? Do you read just one more interesting article (the seventh, in fact) about the life of marine animals before you start working on your tasks?<\/p>\n

These examples speak for themselves: we tend to overestimate the immediate reward, turning our backs to the long-term one. We let ourselves be guided by pleasure or our temporary mood, not by the goals we\u2019ve set for ourselves. Why is that? It is simpler (we avoid putting in the effort), and we also unconsciously prefer the certainty brought in by the present moment versus the uncertainty of the future.<\/p>\n

Sunk cost fallacy <\/em><\/strong>| Have you ever sat through a play or a movie even though it was unbelievable boring?<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been unhappy for years in your couple relationship and even though there are no objective constraints, you\u2019re still hanging on to that relationship?<\/p>\n

This is the rule: the more we invest in something, the harder it is for us to give it up. The time or the resources already invested become the criteria for getting even more involved, even when the actual costs outweigh by far the benefits. We are utterly self-defeating creatures.<\/p>\n

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AT WORK <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s see how the above cognitive biases look like in the workplace:<\/p>\n

The optimism bias<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It can look like this:<\/p>\n