Akshay Vemulapalli
Allen ISD Steam Center
Advanced Computer Science III
Mr. Ben-Yaakov
December 9, 2022
Introduction
Sometimes, without realizing it, people make decisions based on factors that are not relevant to the decision at hand, which can lead people to make choices that can have negative impacts. This is called decision bias, and it can influence people in many different situations, from everyday decision-making to more significant life choices. As my group and I work together to progress our ISP project, we will have to make many decisions along the way, and it is very likely that many of these decisions will be affected by various decision biases. Some of the biases that could negatively influence our project-related decisions include complexity bias, habit bias, confirmation bias, anchoring and adjustment bias, and impact bias.
Complexity Bias
Complexity bias is the tendency for individuals to be influenced by feelings of stress or anxiety when making decisions, which can be caused by a variety of factors, including time pressure, uncertainty, and the potential consequences of making the wrong decision. It is important to manage your stress levels when making important decisions (Arnott, 2017). If our group procrastinates, and doesn't do enough work on our ISP until it is very late, then we will have a lot more stress when trying to complete it, because of the upcoming deadline, which could cause us to make uninformed and hasty decisions. We can avoid this by making sure to follow the plan we set out in our Gantt chart, which will help us keep track of our progress and avoid putting off the work until it is too late to make well thought-out decisions.
Impact Bias
Impact bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency for people to overestimate the lasting impact of events or experiences on their emotions. This can lead people to believe that they will feel much more intensely about an event or experience than they actually do. For example, a group member could be nervous to present an idea, because they might overestimate how others will react to it (Blackett, 2017). In my personal experience, I have sometimes held myself from presenting ideas during a group project because I would overestimate how others would feel about my idea being bad. In reality, it is better to give out both bad and good ideas rather than being scared of what others will think and not presenting any ideas. I have mostly gotten over this fear myself, but we can help prevent this for everyone by making all our group members feel included, and to always consider people's ideas without dismissing them too quickly, so that everyone is comfortable throwing out as many ideas as possible, which can help us come to the best solution to the problems that arise during our ISP project.
Anchoring and Adjustment Bias
Anchoring and adjustment bias is a type of cognitive bias that occurs when individuals rely too heavily on the first piece of information they receive when making a decision, and fail to adequately adjust their beliefs or judgments based on new information. This also affects relationships between people, because people subconsciously weigh their first impression of a person more than subsequent impressions. This can lead to people making flawed decisions based on how they feel about a person, if their first impression was not representative of the person’s true character. If, for example, one of our group members has a bad first impression of another, it could cause them to not consider their input and ideas as much, which could make us miss out on potentially considering great ideas. It is important for us to keep this bias in mind, and make sure to consider new experiences with the same weight as first impressions.
Habit Bias
Habit bias is a type of cognitive bias that occurs when individuals make decisions based on their past experiences and established habits, rather than considering new information or alternative options. For example, if an individual has always relied on a certain process to solve a particular problem, they may continue to use that process even if it is no longer effective or if a better solution has become available. This can lead people to make decisions based on outdated or irrelevant information. We can try to prevent habit bias by being more open-minded. Being open-minded means being willing to consider new ideas and information, even if they contradict your pre-existing beliefs or habits. Individuals who are not open-minded may be more susceptible to habit bias, as they may be less likely to consider alternative options or to seek out new information (Freemire, 2007). It is important to actively seek out new information and perspectives when making decisions, in order to avoid being influenced by habit bias and to make the best possible choices.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias that occurs when individuals seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, and ignore or discount information that contradicts those beliefs (Arnott, 2017). For example, in our ISP, we could mistakenly believe that our AI model is performing really well, and unintentionally discount the times when the AI doesn't work properly, which could cause us to decide not to try further improving the AI, because we might only remember that times that the AI works properly and confirms our beliefs that it is doing really well. The best way to help prevent this bias is to be more aware of the bias and actively remember information that challenges their beliefs, in order to avoid making decisions that are based on flawed or incorrect information.
Conclusion
By learning about and being more aware of biases like these, we can adjust our thinking processes to reduce our susceptibility to these biases, and make sure that the decisions we make will result in the best possible outcomes for our project.
Arnott, D. (1998). A Taxonomy of Decision Biases.
Blackett, G. (2017). Know Your Prejudices: Cognitive Biases & Why They Matter In Stress Management. Stress Management Coaching & Training With Biofeedback. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.stressresilientmind.co.uk/articles/know-your-prejudices-cognitive-biases-stress-management
Freemire, C. (2007). Authentic happiness. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletters/authentichappinesscoaching/open-mindedness#:~:text=Open%2Dmindedness%20is%20the%20willingness,of%20thinking%20for%20one's%20self.