If you don’t believe your brain is cheating on you, that could be a cognitive bias at work. There are close to 200 cognitive biases recognized by psychology and the list is growing.
What is a cognitive bias?
A cognitive bias is a subconscious mistake in thinking. They’re automatic brain processes that allow you to make decisions more efficiently. But that efficiency can come at the expense of accuracy, because it means you sometimes misinterpret information and come to false conclusions.
Biases can be caused by mental shortcuts, or emotional and social pressures. A bias is a tendency to view a person, or an idea, in a way that’s unfair. The conclusion we reach is a logical mistake. Biases can be useful to make quick and intuitive decisions, but they can also create harmful prejudice.
If you want to test your brain, try this classic puzzle:
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Most people give the intuitive answer and say the ball costs 10c. But it’s wrong, the correct answer is 5c.
One theory to explain this common mistake is substitution bias. When your brain confronts a difficult problem, it saves time by substituting an easier one.
When you read the bat and ball problem, instead of reading the bat costs $1 more than the ball, your brain leaves out “more than” and instead reads, the bat costs $1. Resulting in a bat worth $1 and a ball worth 10c.
You might be wondering how you ever get any answers right if your brain is cheating on tests without you even knowing about it. But let’s not be hasty and make an unfair judgement against your brain. First we should ask, are these intuitive shortcuts always bad?
In the study, When Intuitions are Helpful, researchers tested the supportive role of intuitions and the substitution bias theory.
They devised an adaption of the bat and ball problem. The price of a bat and ball at $1 and 10c isn’t outlandish enough to be unbelievable, so instead they asked people about cars.
The modified question was:
A Ferrari and a Ford together cost $190,000. The Ferrari costs $100,000 more than the Ford. How much does the Ford cost?
If the substitution bias theory is right, in this version of the problem people should read the Ferrari costs $100,000, which is a believable price for a Ferrari. Predictably, most people’s brains cheated on the test and flunked. Only 11% of people solved it correctly.
But then the researchers swapped the question around and asked:
A Ford and a Ferrari together cost $190,000. The Ford costs $100,000 more than the Ferrari. How much does the Ferrari cost?
If the theory is correct, people will read, The Ford costs $100,000. Now while $100,000 is a believable price for a Ferrari, everyone knows a Ford isn’t worth anywhere near that price.
With this unbelievable version of the problem, 27% of people solved it correctly.
So what happened?
When people read that a Ford costs $100,000 it contradicted what they already know about the price of Fords.
The researchers suggest the results could be explained by the selective processing account of reasoning. This account proposes that:
“…people typically follow their intuition when the response is congruent with their beliefs, only to switch to a more effortful reasoning when the response is incongruent with their beliefs.”
Instead of jumping to conclusions, the contradiction between the sentence and our prior knowledge of Fords, made our brain switch out of intuitive mode. Now it has to read the math problem carefully instead of making up its own easier version.
So, what else does your brain get up to while you’re not watching? Here are some examples of common cognitive bias.
Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency to only seek out information that supports your existing beliefs. You also tend to interpret any new information so it confirms your pre-existing beliefs and opinions.
You can help to overcome this subconscious tendency by intentionally seeking out information that contradicts your views. Interpret opposing views charitably before you judge them.
Self-serving bias
Self-serving bias refers to the tendency to take personal responsibility for positive results and blame external factors for negative results.
For example, athletes think their success is caused by hard work, but their failures happen because of bad weather or an unfair referee. People assume promotions happen because of their performance but when they’re fired they often blame external factors.
This bias helps protect our self-esteem so it’s more difficult to overcome. But you can be kind to yourself even if you make mistakes or fail. This allows you to learn the lessons of your mistakes and improve from the experience.
Inattention Blindness
Take this selective attention test:
Half the people didn’t notice the gorilla.
This selective attention bias happens when a person fails to notice something in plain sight because their attention is directed elsewhere.
Anchoring bias
This bias happens when we rely too much on the first piece of information (the anchor) or pre-existing information when we make a decision.
If you see a jumper that costs $500 and then see a second one that only costs $50, you’re more likely to think the second one is cheap than if the price of the first one was $100. The price of the first one influences how cheap you think the second one is.
Retailers probably know about this one and exploit it, so remember it and save money next time you’re out shopping.
Everyone has these biases, they’re useful and efficient. We’re bombarded with a huge amount of sensory information, and the brain filters it very effectively. The best protection against these tendencies is to be aware they’re happening.
If you’re aware your brain is cheating on you, you can intentionally think more carefully and outsmart your own brain.
