6. 6
Cognitive Bias
• A cognitive bias is an innate tendency of
our minds to think in a certain way, and to
believe certain things, regardless of
external reality
• There are well over 100 named, studied
cognitive biases and more are discovered
all the time
7. 7
Confirmation Bias
“People are likely to seek data that are
compatible with the beliefs they currently hold.”
-- Daniel Kahneman
“[Confirmation bias] leads us to … discount or
ignore any piece of evidence that seems to
support an alternate view.”
-- Ben Yagoda
8. 8
u Describe how you felt when you saw the video replays –
what does this bring up for you?
u How is this related to confirmation bias?
5 minutes
Wait, what?
9. 9
Cognitive Illusions
Thinking Fast and Slow
By Daniel Kahneman
Winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
for his work in behavioral psychology
Visual Intelligence
By Amy Herman
Art historian, lawyer, and law
enforcement teacher
10. 10
Bias Toward Belief
The Illusion of Understanding
We build the best possible story
from the information available
to us, and if it is a good story,
we believe it.
11. 11
Hindsight Bias
“A compelling narrative fosters an illusion of
inevitability.”
“The human mind does not deal well with
nonevents.”
“Our comforting conviction that the world makes
sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost
unlimited ability to ignore our own ignorance.”
-- Daniel Kahneman
12. 12
Knowledge is Always Partial
“The core of the illusion [of understanding]
is that we believe we understand the past,
which implies that the future also should
be knowable, but in fact we understand
the past less than we think we do.”
-- Daniel Kahneman
13. 13
Being Open to All Perspectives
Look first
Consult other preexisting
information or opinions
Look again
14. 14
“What is going on?”
“You can never assume other people experience anything
the same way you do, even if you are right there with
them.”
“Make sure you’re not seeing something just because you
want to see it or because it is your job to find it.”
“Subjective filters and subjective findings aren’t necessarily
useless…to mine the most information possible, don’t close
your eyes to anything, even someone else’s subjectivity.”
-- Daniel Kahneman
15. 15
Seeing and Believing
“We cannot assume that
anyone else sees what we
see, that we see what
they see, or that either of
us accurately sees what’s
really there.”
-- Amy Herman
16. 16
Theory-Induced Blindness
From the Agile Manifesto:
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the
items on the left more.
From the Agile Manifesto:
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the
items on the left more.
Pay attention to what you
pay attention to
17. 17
What Else is Here?
• Even when we are aware of cognitive biases,
we are still subject to them
• We should continue to ask, “What else is here?”
in full confidence that there is always more
