Jan 06 2009
How to Avoid Mental Biases and Make the Right Decisions By Dr. Larina Kase
How to Avoid Mental Biases and Make the Right Decisions By Dr. Larina Kase
You know that feeling when you’re faced with an important decision, and you can feel your blood pressure rising? You’re nervous about making the wrong choice. The issue is an important one and you don’t want to mess up by selecting the wrong path.
I like to say that fear is often more than “False Evidence Appearing Real.” It is sometimes there for a reason, to tell us to proceed with caution. This is true with decision-making because our minds fall prey to many biases.
For example, noble-prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman and his colleague Amos Tversky discovered a mental short-cut that we tend to take when making decisions, which they called the “availability” heuristic.
We don’t weigh all of our options equally. Instead, we assign greater weight to options that we readily think of, assuming that if we think of them readily, they must be more frequent. For example, if I can easily think of red BMWs I assume that red is one of the common BMW colors.
This is only partly true. We think of options readily if they are dramatic or easy to remember. A red car is easier to remember than a grey car. I may have a neighbor and a client with a red BMW so it’s fresh in my mind.
As another example, if your friend had just told you how horrible a new restaurant is, you would probably decide not to go there, despite reading a dozen positive reviews. Or if someone asked you what the leading cause of death is: accidents or diseases, you may say they are equal or you may say accidents (recalling all those vivid 11pm news programs), when in reality diseases are 16 times more likely to lead to death than accidents.
So what do we do about these mental biases?
First, we need to be aware of them. When making a decision, ask yourself if it’s possible that you are being swayed by a mental short-cut. Ask yourself, “What would be the path of least resistance for my brain to go down?” If a mental bias is present, resist its influence.
Second, realize that everyone has different biases. If a decision is an important one, collect opinions from different people to balance out one another’s bias. A study by financial analyst Paul Johnson showed that group predictions (for who would win an Academy Award) consistently outperform individual predictions.
Third, use thought and memory bias to your advantage. If, for instance, you’re a business owner make your testimonials vivid by filming people genuinely and enthusiastically sharing their stories. This will help prospective clients or customers remember the benefits of your business. If you get my marketing newsletter you know that I’m always advocating for standing out. This is another reason why you want to stand out and be memorable.
Larina Kase, PsyD, MBA is a business psychologist and New York Times bestselling author. She helps service professionals and information experts to build their businesses using the psychology of marketing. Get additional tips on how to stand out at http://www.pascoaching.com





















