The Role of Bias in New System Adaptation

Introduction

The base operating system of the human animal is optimized to operate in a pre-agricultural environment. Its prime purpose is to ensure survival to reproductive age and then insure the survival of offspring to reproductive age. Survival required killing, finding or stealing your next meal. In addition, there was a significant chance you could be a meal yourself. Survival in that environment requires fast reaction times and constant vigilance.

Obviously, most of us no longer live in that environment. However, our base operating system has not changed much, if any at all. Therefore, we have created layers of abstraction to adapt to environmental changes caused by advances in “Civilization”.

For example, food acquisition behavior has abstracted from hunting and gathering with sticks and stones to pushing the Uber Eats appThe biggest abstraction is that our ancestors were full time hunter and gatherers who directly participated in the killing, finding and preparing food. Most Modern humans earn money through jobs that have nothing to do with food acquisition. Our behavior has evolved from hunting food to working a job, earning money and buying our food from a merchant at the end of a global supply chain.

However, our base operating system still thinks it is 10,000 BCE. It is biased towards survival in a hunter/gatherer environment. This means that the brain will non-consciously react to stimulus in a fashion that it determines provides the best chance for survival. It creates behavioral routines that react autonomously to threats and opportunities to insure optimal reaction time. It creates a bias toward specific survivability based behavioral responses. This essay is too alert you to bias existence and to understand they will affect your adoption of an organizational and productivity system.

Cognitive Bias Definition

Cognitive Biases are information processing short cuts designed to improve survivability. An example is a cognitive bias that assumes all snakes are dangerous and poisonous. This is a universal human cognitive bias. This means you jump or kill first and ask questions later. Fortunately, with education and experience this bias can be changed.

As a former IT CEO I tend to use IT analogies. A bias is like a software subroutine that is initiated by specific inputs. The original bias subroutine was implemented by the base operating system. Over time, abstractions have corrupted the base subroutines and created non-conscious suboptimal responses to external and internal inputs. Our survival subroutines get buggy, and bugs are tricky and hard to deal with.

The following article goes into depth about the uses of cognitive bias and the downsides when they go wrong.

https://betterhumans.pub/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18

Cognitive Bias Examples

I am including a list of common cognitive biases at the end of this article. However, I am going to take the time to highlight a few of my favorite bias. These are ones that gives me the most trouble in my life.

Negativity Bias

This is one of your base operating system’s major survival mechanisms. You are evolutionarily hardwired to be more heavily influenced by negative events than positive ones. Evolutionarily “negative events elicit more rapid and more prominent responses than non-negative events” (Carretié, Mercado, Tapia, & Hinojosa., 2001, p. 75). Survival in a Hunter gatherer environment depends on rapid response that is biased toward survival. For example, if you instantly kill any snake without thinking, you may kill a non-poisonous snake. That might not be the best outcome, but you are still alive. If you make the opposite mistake, and mistake a poisonous snake for a non-poisonous snake, you may die.

Currently, anyone reading this article is not living in a Neolithic environment. Therefore, many of these quick response and negatively biased sub routines do not work well today. This is going to affect adaptation of any new system. The negative bias is going to reinforce the difficult parts of adaptation while minimizing the benefits.

Negativity bias functions as follows. If on a scale of 1 to 10 a negative event realistically has a level four impact on your life. Negativity bias will make it feel like a level seven impact. Similarly, if a positive event has a level 5 impact in your life, negativity bias will make it feel like a level two impact. This creates an imbalance between negative and positive events that can lead to bad decision-making.

Meta cognition is the key to overcoming negative bias. You need to modify your bias subroutines.Thinking about why you made past decisions is a critical component of this process. This will help you identify which behavior patterns but inappropriate negative bias. Seeking outside help in your evaluation helps. Others can shed light on your thinking and help you determine what was realistic and what was obscured by negative bias.

Negative biases have their purpose. They are not necessarily dysfunctional. However, they need to be examined and analyzed. With effort they can be updated or overwritten. Implementing a new productivity system will stir up some of your biases.Use this process to develop the ability to recognize and modify biases to your own advantage.

The following is Chat GPT’s structural analysis of Negativity Bias

Negative bias refers to the tendency of individuals to give more weight and attention to negative information or experiences compared to positive ones. It is a cognitive bias that can influence decision-making processes and have significant effects on various aspects of our lives. Here is a concise summary of negative bias and its effects on decision making:

1. Magnification of negative events: Negative bias can lead to the exaggeration or magnification of negative events, emotions, or outcomes. People may focus more on the potential risks, downsides, or failures associated with a decision, which can lead to a heightened perception of negativity.

2. Disproportionate influence on judgments: Negative information tends to have a stronger impact on our judgments and decision-making than positive information. We often assign more weight and importance to negative factors, even if they are outweighed by positive factors. This bias can skew our evaluations and lead to suboptimal decisions.

3. Avoidance of risk and loss aversion: Negative bias is closely linked to a preference for avoiding risk and loss. People may be more inclined to choose options that minimize potential negative outcomes, even if it means sacrificing potential gains. This can hinder taking calculated risks and exploring new opportunities.

4. Filtering of positive information: Negative bias can cause individuals to selectively filter out positive information while focusing on and remembering negative information more vividly. This filtering process can distort our perception of reality and limit our ability to consider a balanced view of the available information.

5. Impact on emotions and well-being: Continuous negative bias in decision making can contribute to increased stress, anxiety, and overall negative emotions. By constantly focusing on negative aspects, individuals may experience decreased motivation, lowered self-esteem, and a pessimistic outlook on future outcomes.

6. Limited exploration of possibilities: Negative bias can restrict our willingness to explore new possibilities or consider alternative perspectives. People may be hesitant to try new experiences or make changes due to an underlying belief that negative outcomes are more likely to occur.

Awareness of negative bias is crucial for making sound decisions. By consciously acknowledging and challenging negative biases, individuals can strive to adopt a more balanced perspective, consider positive information, evaluate risks objectively, and make decisions that are more aligned with their goals and well-being.

Negative biases have their purpose. They are not necessarily dysfunctional. However, they need to be examined and analyzed. With effort they can be updated or overwritten. Implementing a new productivity system will stir up some of your biases.Use this process to develop the ability to recognize and modify biases to your own advantage.

.

Confirmation Bias

Have you ever been exposed to something that questions your beliefs on a particular subject, and felt immediate resistance and the desire to dismiss the information prior to even reading the material? The feeling is heightened when the information contains facts that challenge our beliefs. Often times, this leads us to ignore the facts and discredit the source without fairly evaluating the information. This is called confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the human mind always looking for facts and ideas that validate their existing opinion. It also discards facts that contradict pre-established beliefs.

Confirmation Bias leads to corruption of your brain’s database. It creates blind spot and can cause you to believe your own hype. Blind spots cause bad decisions. The following is Chat GPT ‘s analysis.

Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency of individuals to interpret and seek out information that confirms their preexisting beliefs or hypotheses while disregarding or downplaying contradictory evidence. It leads people to selectively process information in a way that supports their existing viewpoints, rather than objectively evaluating all available evidence.

When affected by confirmation bias, individuals are more likely to actively seek information that aligns with their preconceived notions, actively avoid information that challenges their beliefs, and interpret ambiguous or ambiguous evidence in a way that confirms their existing ideas. This bias can influence decision making by distorting the perception of reality and leading to flawed judgments and choices.

Confirmation bias can have significant effects on decision making by limiting exposure to diverse perspectives, hindering the evaluation of alternative options, and impeding critical thinking. It can reinforce existing biases and prevent individuals from considering alternative explanations or solutions. Consequently, decision makers may overlook valuable information, make hasty or biased judgments, and miss opportunities for better outcomes.

Confirmation bias feeds incomplete information into your base operating system. A severe case can lead to catastrophic consequences. It is particularly dangerous for people in positions of power. I always use the fable of “The emperor has no clothes” to remind me of what happens when you believe your own hype.

I find one of the of the best ways to deal with confirmation bias is to actually seek out information that contradicts your beliefs. You have to force yourself to read the information, because it will cause a negative reaction in your mind. However, this is an opportunity to ask yourself why you’re feeling the way you are, and to honestly examine the information. It may be that your original view was correct, or that this information, modifies or changes it. The process of dealing with your confirmation bias will help mitigate its impact on your decision making.

Status Quo Bias

Humans, on the whole, are uncomfortable with change. It creates risk that activates the survival subroutines. It is an integral part of your base operating system. The following is Chat GPTs structural analysis of Status Quo Bias

Status quo bias refers to the tendency of individuals to prefer maintaining the current or existing state of affairs over making changes. It is a cognitive bias that influences decision-making processes and can have significant effects on various aspects of our lives. Here is a concise summary of status quo bias and its effects on decision making:

1. Preference for familiarity: People tend to favor options that they are already familiar with or have been using for a while. They perceive the current state as more comfortable and less risky, leading to a bias towards maintaining the status quo.

2. Inertia in decision making: Status quo bias can create a reluctance to make changes or explore alternative options. People may stick to familiar choices even when better alternatives are available, simply because they are more comfortable with what they already know.

3. Endowment effect: Individuals tend to place a higher value on things they already possess compared to identical items that they do not own. This bias can make people resistant to giving up what they have, making it difficult to switch to different choices or alternatives.

4. Loss aversion: Status quo bias is closely related to the fear of loss. People are often more concerned about potential losses associated with changing the current situation than the potential gains from trying something new. This aversion to loss can lead to a strong preference for maintaining the status quo.

5. Cognitive effort and uncertainty: Making decisions and taking action require cognitive effort and can be associated with uncertainty and risk. Status quo bias can be driven by a desire to avoid the mental effort and potential negative consequences of change, even if the current situation is suboptimal.

6. Resistance to innovation: Status quo bias can hinder innovation and progress as it discourages exploring new ideas, technologies, or approaches. People may be inclined to maintain existing systems and resist change, even when advancements could lead to improved outcomes.

It is important to be aware of status quo bias and its potential impact on decision making. By recognizing this bias, individuals can consciously evaluate alternatives, weigh potential benefits and risks, and make more informed choices that may lead to better outcomes.

Status Quo Bias impacts the adaptation of a new system.Your mind will resist the change and subconsciously create obstacles that impede your progress. Therefore, it is very important that you take this into consideration during implementation process. What is important to look out for these obstacles and analyze if they’re real or a result of the bias.

Present Bias

Present bias is the tendency to value an immediate reward over future reward. For example, we may value two dollars today more than ten dollars in a month. I this impacts the way we allocate our attention resources. This makes it particularly easy to divert from difficult tasks with a long-term payoff to simple tasks with a short-term payoff. The following is chat GPT’s analysis of present bias.

Present bias is a cognitive bias that involves prioritizing immediate gratification and short-term rewards over long-term benefits or goals. It refers to the tendency of individuals to disproportionately value immediate outcomes and underestimate the importance of future consequences when making decisions.

When affected by present bias, individuals may choose immediate rewards or pleasures even when they conflict with their long-term objectives or well-being. This bias can lead to impulsive decision making, procrastination, and difficulties in planning and self-control.

Present bias can have significant effects on decision making by undermining long-term goals such as saving for retirement, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or pursuing education. It can result in actions that provide immediate satisfaction but may have negative consequences in the future.

To mitigate the impact of present bias, individuals can employ strategies such as setting clear long-term goals, breaking them down into manageable short-term objectives, creating incentives for future outcomes, and practicing self-discipline and self-awareness. By considering the long-term consequences and resisting the allure of immediate gratification, individuals can make decisions that align with their broader goals and promote better overall outcomes.

The impact of present bias on system adaptation becomes very apparent early on in the process. Time and time again there will be opportunities that present short term rewards that divert you from the system adaptation process. They provide the perfect rationalization. You can feed your mental blocks present rewards to avoid this tedious process. It is important to learn how to deal with these opportunities and challenges.

Summary

Your base operating system is designed with your survival as its highest priority. This includes regulating heat beat and breathing, food digestion, eyesight, heating and an almost infinite number of sub functions. The base operating system has evolved over billions of years and been exposed to countless environments. Survival competition has honed it to the point that you are here to read this.In addition technology has evolved over the years faster than our base operating system is able to adapt to the changes. This has challenged survival sub routines that are designed to operate in the less technologically advanced environment. These sub routines have evolved into bias that have lost some of their appropriateness in the modern environment. In some cases, they have been corrupted to the point that they are sub optimal and create negative consequences in our lives.

Although this is one in a series of articles about preparation for adaptation of a new productivity and organization system, buyers can affect all aspects of your life. The purpose of this article is to make you aware of their existence and give ideas on how to mitigate their response.

Humans have abstracted their behavior from basic survival mechanisms. We have done this for everything from food production to sexual reproduction. Often times these abstractions are vital to the success of our civilization. However, in the process, abstraction can become counterproductive. Our base operating system has not adapted enough to deal with these abstractions. This produces conditions to create sub optimal behavior routines, that impact our productivity and ability to achieve our goals.

.

References

Cognitive Biases

https://techwolves.net/f/chat-gpt-list-of-cognitive-biases

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitive-bias-2794963