Fix these 6 biases to be more successful.

In 2016 Cognitive Psychologists Stephen Walmsley and Andrew Gilbey conducted a study on pilots. They found aviators underestimated the dangers of flying into inclement weather if another pilot had successfully navigated the storm preceding their attempt.

At Georgetown University Catherine Tinsley studied hurricane survivors.? She discovered if someone endured a hurricane unscathed, they were less likely to purchase flood insurance before the next threatening scenario.?????

At Harvard Business School, researchers studied scientists who fabricated test results after examining a drugs efficacy.? If the drug turned out to be safe and effective, patients were less critical of the scientist’s “unethical behavior”.

What’s the point?

People are terrible at managing risk and often make bad decisions that can be catastrophic.

It’s called “outcome bias” and it forces people to judge the outcome of decisions based on conclusions without examining every variable that could impact the results of our choices.

Outcome bias highlights human fallibility and demonstrates the irrational nature of how people make decisions.? It’s one of many reasons most businesses fail.

Outcome bias isn’t the only bias that gets people into trouble either.

“It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias”.

Here are 6 biases to be improved so we can become more successful:

Confidence

Optimism is great until it leads to overconfidence and forces us to make bad decisions based on an unrealistic assessment of our abilities.? In the process we fail to examine the danger of risky endeavors and embrace the idea we are infallible.? Researchers at Harvard Business School discovered most entrepreneurs believe their business will succeed even when they were told by experts it wouldn’t.???

Control

I encourage people to focus on what they can control.? This approach provides people with a sense of confidence that enables them to focus on being proactive instead of feeling hopeless when life circumstances create uncertainty.? The problem, many take it too far.? They believe they control more than they do.? This thinking can lead to controlling behavior and inappropriate evaluation of risk.

Vacuum?

Many people live in a vacuum reinforced by social media feeds and news sources that validate their opinions.?? It’s called confirmation bias and its ruining American Culture.? Once people form an opinion its easy to seek information that supports our beliefs and that question the validity of our ideas.? Once we get married to a desired outcome its virtually impossible for people to deviate from information that doesn't confirm their position.??

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend”.

Closed

Related to the previous point is a disconnection in the human brain that forces people to seek validation to affirm their beliefs.? When they are exposed to contradictory information inconsistent with their ideas, they become recalcitrant.? Their defiance compels them to be closed minded about opposing beliefs to reduce the stress that coincides with inconsistency.

Pursuit

Research shows that 50% of all new money invested in the stock market was placed in 10% of mutual funds with the best performance in the previous year.? Any legitimate financial planner will caution people that past performance is no indication of future success.? However, people can’t resist chasing trends, fads or patterns that seem successful.??

Scarcity

Humans posses a strong scarcity bias.? Once we believe something is scarce, we place tremendous value on its importance.? This drives up demand or creates the impression of limitation.? The run-on toilet paper beautifully illustrates this point during the first wave of COVID 19 lockdowns.? Scarcity also distracts us from placing value on things that are available in abundance.? This explains why so many people struggle with seeing anyone succeed.? They believe there’s less opportunity for them.?????

“It’s easy to criticize prejudice from the past.? Its more difficult to recognize our own dangerous thinking.”

?Sum it up.

Any other biases that get people in trouble? ?Share your thoughts in the comments section and please like and share this article. I love learning from you as well.

About Steve:

Steve Wohlenhaus is CEO of Weatherology, the leading company in the world at disseminating audio weather information.?? Steve began his career as a major market television weather anchor in Minneapolis, where he received several Emmy Awards for science programming.? Steve is an author and host of the podcast program Anatomy of Success.? Reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn.? Learn more about my work and grab the free Weatherology mobile app by clicking any picture in this article!