The tricks our minds play on us

We all like to believe that we are rational, sensible people. Nevertheless, almost every day, we exhibit certain irrational thought and behaviour biases without realising. 

These errors, however, are completely normal and emerge as a largely inevitable feature of human cognition as we try to navigate through the world.

Known as cognitive biases, these unconscious thought processing errors occur as a result of mental shortcuts that help us learn swiftly, making judgements and decisions in pace with our surroundings.

Despite the potential for errors, mental shortcuts are essential to cognition as the mind is limited - it does not have the resources to pay attention to everything, to take in each piece of information and evaluate it. So, it simplifies and generalises bits of information, occasionally leading us to mistakes.

Who’s to blame for our shortcomings?

The fundamental attribution error, also known as correspondence bias, is a cognitive error that refers to our tendency of over-attributing others’ behaviour to their dispositional qualities, undermining the effects of the situation.

It goes hand in hand with the self-serving bias, which posits that we attribute our successes to internal causes, such as one’s intelligence, while attributing our failures to external factors.

For example, if you and a coworker are late to a meeting, you are more likely to blame the traffic, while attributing your coworker’s lateness to them being irresponsible - when they might have been stuck in traffic as well.

Are we exaggerating how good people really are?

A frequent bias in human cognition, the halo effect refers to our tendency to believe that if someone exhibits one positive characteristic, then they must possess other positive characteristics as well, even unrelated ones.

So, if someone is kind, then they must also be smart, honest, etc. Their kindness influences the rest of our perception of them, creating a “halo” around their personality, even though intelligence is not even necessarily related to kindness.

But, the effect is not limited to our perception of human beings. The halo effect can also be observed in how we perceive companies, organisations, and more.

Do you really reap what you sow?

A powerful socio-psychological phenomenon, the self-fulfilling prophecy, is how one’s expectations and beliefs can directly lead to an outcome by influencing one’s behaviour, even if unconsciously.

Observations of the expected behaviour, in turn, strengthen the beliefs that triggered it in the first place, leading to a circle.

For example, a teacher might believe that one of their students is not so bright, and so holds back from pushing them or paying more attention to them, thus triggering a self-fulfilling prophecy of the said student not excelling in that class.

This phenomenon is closely associated with the Pygmalion effect, which suggests that high expectations prompt better results, and vice versa.

Is more always merrier?

While it is not exactly a cognitive bias, groupthink is a prevailing psychological phenomenon that imperils decision making in groups.

Groupthink emerges when individuals in a given group put consensus and cohesiveness above all else, conforming with the general attitude of the group. This can lead to faulty decision making as individuals refrain from rocking the boat and expressing conflicting beliefs to what the group, in general, seems to agree on.

In fact, the Bay of Pigs invasion, one of the greatest failures in US foreign policy, is a primary case study on the subject.

Scientists have suggested that if some members of the decision making group under then-president John F. Kennedy, such as Arthur M. Schlesinger, had not censored themselves for the sake of consensus, the fiasco could have been avoided.

Are we cherry picking?

Among perhaps the most misleading biases in judgement and decision making is the confirmation bias. This particular bias posits that the human mind has a tendency to confirm its already existing thoughts and beliefs, be it by interpreting information accordingly, favouring certain bits of information, or even choosing where to search for information.

This bias in gathering information can be observed in recalling information as well, meaning that without knowing, we actively dismiss information that contradicts us.

But that’s not the case for you… right?

Not necessarily. According to research, most people tend to have a bias blind spot, which is a cognitive error in itself.

The bias blind spot suggests that people have an inclination to think that others are relatively more influenced by cognitive biases, creating a “blind spot” for when it comes to turning to look at themselves and face their own errors.

So, if you think that you’re free of bias, maybe it is worth taking another look.

The human mind is tricky. It never wants to accept that it is wrong, even when it commits itself to a mistake.