188 Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases codex is a wonderful piece of work, which brings together all or perhaps most of cognitive biases of humans. If you click on interactive version of the wheel you will be able to find a detailed explanation to each of the cognitive biases: Interactive Version

Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment, which results from reliance on heuristics - simple, efficient rules, either hardwired or learned, that we use to form judgments and make decisions.

Why are there so many of those biases? Are we capable at all of making sense of the world around us if we are so prone to biases of judgment?

The cognitive biases are the result of us not being able to deal with the level of complexity, which we created around ourselves.

According to Yuval Noah Harari ancient hunter-gatherer was at the individual level the most knowledgeable and skilful human in history.

To survive he had to possess deep, varied understanding of his surrounding, which we lack due to vast knowledge we have built over the ages. Would you survive alone, without experts who can fix your car, build the house, manufacture your phone and computer?

Heuristics, which hunter-gatherer was using very effectively to cope with challenges of life are not helping anymore to the same extend when you face decisions that require sophisticated ability of statistical thinking, you have too much or too little information, the pace is too fast or you need to remember something from too many things happening around.

Can we cope effectively with 188 cognitive biases? How useful is this complex framework to help you to deal the challenges you face with decisions and judgment? Professor Kahneman was not optimistic about the potential for personal control of biases. They sit too deeply in the way our brain is wired. You can try, however, to apply some techniques to mitigate some of their impact on your judgment.

Develop Awareness of Biases: The first step in mitigating cognitive biases is recognizing their existence and understanding how they can distort your thinking. Although I don’t believe you can realistically learn all 188 of them (I am certainly not capable of that), it is important to get familiar with the basic mechanics and circumstances in which you are the most prone to them and this is when you are emotional, tired, you have to act fast, you are under group pressure, have people with strong opinion around.

Practice Mindfulness and Attention: Emotions can significantly influence your susceptibility to biases. Practicing mindfulness and attention can help you to recognize when your judgments are being clouded by emotional reactions and take steps to return to a more neutral, objective standpoint.

Seek Diverse Perspectives: One effective way to counteract biases, especially confirmation bias, is to actively seek out and consider perspectives different from your own. Encourage individuals to engage with a diverse range of viewpoints and to have open discussions with people who have differing opinions or backgrounds.

Pause Before Deciding: In our fast-paced world, fast judgments are common, but they often lead us astray due to our biases. Encourage a habit of pausing to reflect before making important decisions. This "think twice" approach allows you to consider whether a cognitive bias might be influencing your judgment and fight overconfidence, which is a major limitation of our minds.

Use Decision-Making Frameworks: Introduce simple decision-making frameworks that help structure thinking and mitigate biases. For example, simple algorithms and checklists, outside view, premortem technique.

Reflect on Past Decisions: Encourage a habit of reflecting on past decisions to identify when and how biases might have influenced the outcomes. This reflective practice can improve future decision-making by making you more aware of their cognitive tendencies.

Limit Information Overload: In our information-rich world, the sheer volume of data available can lead to information overload, making biases more likely to occur. Try to limit information intake to relevant, high-quality sources and to take regular breaks from information consumption.

Educate on Statistical Thinking: A basic understanding of statistics and probability can go a long way in combating biases related to misjudgment of likelihood and causality.

What is your take on this? Do you have your own techniques, which you use to improve your judgment and decision making abilities?