Cognitive Bias at Scientific Comunications: An issue to be solved.

In a world increasingly shaped by science and technology, effective communication of complex ideas has never been more vital. When you share scientific information is important avoiding cognitive bias for several reasons:

• Promoting Accurate Understanding: Cognitive biases can distort the way people interpret information. By recognizing and mitigating these biases, communicators can present scientific findings more clearly, helping audiences understand concepts without preconceived notions clouding their judgment.
• Encouraging Critical Thinking: When communicators acknowledge their own biases and strive for objectivity, they model critical thinking for their audience. This fosters a more analytical approach to information, encouraging individuals to question and evaluate evidence rather than accept claims at face value.
• Building Trust: Transparency about biases and the limitations of scientific knowledge can enhance credibility. When communicators openly address potential biases, they demonstrate integrity, which helps build trust with their audience.
• Reducing Polarization: In a time of significant social and political divides, avoiding cognitive biases in communication can help bridge gaps between differing viewpoints. By presenting information fairly and empathetically, communicators can engage audiences more effectively and foster constructive dialogue.
• Enhancing Decision-Making: Public understanding of science often influences policy and personal choices. By minimizing cognitive biases in communication, scientists and educators can empower individuals to make informed decisions based on accurate information rather than misconceptions.

But... What is cognitive bias?

By definition a cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them and affects the decisions and judgments that they make. Yes the human brain is powerful but subject to limitations. Cognitive biases are often a result of your brain's attempt to simplify information processing. Biases often work as rules of thumb that help you make sense of the world and reach decisions with relative speed.

Some of these biases are related to memory. The way you remember an event may be biased for a number of reasons and that, in turn, can lead to biased thinking and decision-making. Other cognitive biases might be related to problems with attention. Since attention is a limited resource, people have to be selective about what they pay attention to in the world around them.

Because of this, subtle biases can creep in and influence the way you see and think about the world. The concept of cognitive bias was first introduced by researchers Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1972. Since then, researchers have described a number of different types of biases that affect decision-making in a wide range of areas including social behavior, cognition, behavioral economics, education, management, healthcare, business, and finance.

Cognitive Bias and Logical Fallacy are they related?

People sometimes confuse cognitive biases with logical fallacies, but the two are not the same. A logical fallacy stems from an error in a logical argument, while a cognitive bias is rooted in thought processing errors often arising from problems with memory, attention, attribution, and other mental mistakes.

Sings

Everyone exhibits cognitive bias. It might be easier to spot in others, but it is important to know that it is something that also affects your thinking. Some signs that you might be influenced by some type of cognitive bias include:

• Only paying attention to news stories that confirm your opinions
• Blaming outside factors when things don't go your way
• Attributing other people's success to luck, but taking personal credit for your own accomplishments
• Assuming that everyone else shares your opinions or beliefs
• Learning a little about a topic and then assuming you know all there is to know about it

When you are making judgments and decisions about the world around you, you like to think that you are objective, logical, and capable of taking in and evaluating all the information that is available to you. Unfortunately, these biases sometimes trip us up, leading to poor decisions and bad judgments in life and business.

Types

Learn more about a few of the most common types of?cognitive biases that can distort your thinking.

• Actor-observer bias: This is the tendency to attribute your own actions to external causes while attributing other people's behaviors to internal causes. For example, you attribute your high cholesterol level to genetics while you consider others to have a high level due to poor diet and lack of exercise.
• Anchoring bias: This is the tendency to rely too heavily on the very first piece of information you learn. For example, if you learn the average price for a car is a certain value, you will think any amount below that is a good deal, perhaps not searching for better deals. You can use this bias to set the expectations of others by putting the first information on the table for consideration.
• Attentional bias: This is the tendency to pay attention to some things while simultaneously ignoring others. For example, when making a decision on which car to buy, you may pay attention to the look and feel of the exterior and interior, but ignore the safety record and gas mileage.
• Availability heuristic: This is placing greater value on information that comes to your mind quickly. You give greater credence to this information and tend to overestimate the probability and likelihood of similar things happening in the future.
• Confirmation bias: This is favoring information that conforms to your existing beliefs and discounting evidence that does not conform.
• False consensus effect: This is the tendency to overestimate how much other people agree with you.
• Functional fixedness: This is the tendency to see objects as only working in a particular way. For example, if you don't have a hammer, you never consider that a big wrench can also be used to drive a nail into the wall. You may think you don't need thumbtacks because you have no corkboard on which to tack things, but not consider their other uses. This could extend to people's functions, such as not realizing a personal assistant has skills to be in a leadership role.
• Halo effect: Your overall impression of a person influences how you feel and think about their character. This especially applies to physical attractiveness influencing how you rate their other qualities.
• Misinformation effect: This is the tendency for post-event information to interfere with the memory of the original event. It is easy to have your memory influenced by what you hear about the event from others. Knowledge of this effect has led to a mistrust of eyewitness information.
• Optimism bias: This bias leads you to believe that you are less likely to suffer from misfortune and more likely to attain success than your peers.
• Self-serving bias: This is the tendency to blame external forces when bad things happen and give yourself credit when good things happen. For example, when you win a poker hand it is due to your skill at reading the other players and knowing the odds, while when you lose it is due to getting dealt a poor hand.
• The Dunning-Kruger effect: This is when people who believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. For example, when they can't recognize their own incompetence.

At times, multiple biases may play a role in influencing your decisions and thinking. For example, you might misremember an event (the misinformation effect) and assume that everyone else shares that same memory of what happened (the false consensus effect).

Causes

If you had to think about every possible option when making a decision, it would take a lot of time to make even the simplest choice. Because of the sheer complexity of the world around you and the amount of information in the environment, it is necessary sometimes to rely on some mental shortcuts that allow you to act quickly.

Cognitive biases can be caused by a number of different things, but it is these mental shortcuts, known as heuristics, that often play a major contributing role. While they can often be surprisingly accurate, they can also lead to errors in thinking.

Other factors that can also contribute to these biases:

• Emotions
• Individual motivations
• Limits on the mind's ability to process information
• Social pressures

Cognitive bias may also increase as people get older due to decreased cognitive flexibility.

Impact of cognitive bias

Cognitive biases can lead to distorted thinking. Conspiracy theory beliefs, for example, are often influenced by a variety of biases. But cognitive biases are not necessarily all bad. Psychologists believe that many of these biases serve an adaptive purpose: They allow us to reach decisions quickly. This can be vital if we are facing a dangerous or threatening situation.

For example, if you are walking down a dark alley and spot a dark shadow that seems to be following you, a cognitive bias might lead you to assume that it is a mugger and that you need to exit the alley as quickly as possible. The dark shadow may have simply been caused by a flag waving in the breeze, but relying on mental shortcuts can often get you out of the way of danger in situations where decisions need to be made quickly.

Cognitive bias.. Marketers are able to capitalise on them?

Yes, they are. Marketing techniques have evolved greatly in the modern era. Marketing is no longer limited to just the idea of advertising and branding products. It is about creating awareness about products in the mind of the consumer such that a particular product can resonate better. Marketing activities nowadays are much more targeted and look to influence the potential customers which are more likely to buy the product. This customer targeting can be done using a number of different ways. One of the most common techniques used for this is the use of cognitive biases. These biases exist in humans inherently and they can influence a consumer's rational and his or her reasoning ability. For instance, an old adage in marketing strategy is that the more a product is visible, the higher is its ability to generate sales. So let’s have a look at the cognitive biases that will make your marketing strategy more effective:

1. Loss aversion

Creating a fallacy of a potential loss of something is one of the oldest tricks of marketing. The loss aversion bias is responsible for this technique being so popular. If a brand manages to create an image in the mind of the consumers that by not buying a particular product, they are likely to lose out on something, it can successfully manage to achieve higher sales of its products. People are more willing to avoid a loss as compared to gaining a similar amount.

2. Choice supportive bias

Humans are more likely to make a choice and then justify it to their near and dear ones. According to this bias, consumers often make illogical choices and then later on make logical arguments in order to justify their purchase. In terms of marketing, if a product manages to create a desirability factor in the mind of the consumer, they will buy it and then later on justify their decision.

3. Framing effect

According to the framing effect, consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on the way a product is presented. For instance, if a shortcoming of a product is presented as a beneficial feature by making use of wordplay, it becomes more likely to be a success. Framing bias is widely used in the world of marketing.

4. Anchoring

According to the anchoring bias, a consumer is likely to purchase a product that was presented to him or her as the first piece of information.?Anchoring?creates a brand recall in the mind of the consumers which results in the specified product being sold. Anchoring bias can be used by salespersons in stores to ensure that a particular product is pushed harder.

5. Confirmation bias

Confirmation Bias is another common form of cognitive biases. According to this bias, the new information processed by the human mind confirms the pre-existing beliefs. Humans tend to hold on to their beliefs strongly and look for confirmation of such beliefs. For instance, if a brand can create a situation where it can affirm the belief of the consumer pertaining to certain ingredients of the product, it is more likely to be a success in the market.

6. Bandwagon effect

The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias which is well exploited by consumer goods companies as well as political organisations. According to the principle, a consumer is more likely to purchase a product that is being purchased by others. This is because it can create an illusion of being useful. A good way for marketers to exploit this effect is by creating advertising content that is focused on high sales already achieved by the product as well as popularity graphs. This attracts new consumers and helps in achieving higher sales.

7. Salience

This bias originates from the human tendency to buy products which stand out from the others. Marketers can make use of this bias by providing attractive packaging or branding to their products. If a product has a packaging or a label that is completely unique then it id likely to stand out in the minds of the consumer. Additionally, if a product has a unique feature which separates it from the rest, it is more likely to be purchased. Marketers can make use of words such as “exclusive” in order to exploit this bias and boost the sales of their products.

8. In-group favouritism

Consumers look to buy products which are preferred by their group or their circle. For instance, if a product is chosen by the close friends of an individual, they are more likely to go for it, rather than following a person out of their group. In order to exploit this, marketers can promote products based on groups or regions. They can create an illusion that a particular product is favoured by the people of a particular region. This way, new consumers from the area will be attracted to the product, resulting in better sales and potentially more profits.

9. Zero-risk bias

According to the zero risk bias, a consumer is more likely to purchase a product if they feel it is low on risk, even if this is not entirely true. For example, if a brand can create the illusion of durability regarding a product, the consumers are more likely to buy it. This holds true especially in the case of electrical equipment which can have certain inherent risks in operation. If the consumer is convinced that there is zero risk, it helps in driving sales.

10. Mere exposure effect

As the name suggests, mere exposure to a product can help in swaying the purchase decision of the consumers. If a product has high in-store visibility, a consumer is more likely to believe that the product is a popular one, hence creating a trigger for a purchase decision. Such a bias is commonly exploited by the consumer goods industry. Store shelves are packed with goods that have better margins so that the consumer goes for that particular product, resulting in better sales.

Hope this help, see you at work!