12 common biases you might be exhibiting

Since this month’s professional development focus is self-awareness, I wanted to include some common biases that you might be exhibiting – whether you are aware of them or not. Think about how these might be showing up for you. 

#1 ⚡ Authority bias ⚡ 

our tendency to trust and be more influenced by the opinions of an authority figure, unrelated to the actual content

#2 ⚡ Recency bias ⚡

we favor and give greater importance to recent events

#3 ⚡ Hindsight bias ⚡

we perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were 

#4 ⚡ Cognitive bias ⚡

underestimating one’s own skill or knowledge; we assume that others know what we know

#5 ⚡ Negativity bias ⚡

we anticipate, attend to, and use negative information far more than positive information

#6 ⚡ Self-serving bias ⚡

we claim more responsibility for our successes than our failures

#7 ⚡ Pessimism bias ⚡

we overestimate the likelihood of negative outcomes

#8 ⚡ Ambiguity effect ⚡

we favor the known over the unknown

#9 ⚡ Confirmation bias ⚡

we focus on or interpret info that fits with our existing beliefs; we favor information that supports our beliefs

#10 ⚡ Similar-to-me effect ⚡

our tendency to prefer people who look and think like us 

#11 ⚡ Spotlight effect ⚡

we overestimate how much people are paying attention to how we look and act

#12 ⚡ Pygmalion effect ⚡

our high expectations for someone’s performance will influence that person’s actual performance; same with low expectations (also known as the Rosenthal Effect)

Reflection questions: 

• How do these show up for you? 
• Do any of them affect how you make decisions? How you challenge authority? How you contribute ideas? How you give
• feedback?
• How do any of these biases affect being creative and innovative as a team or organization? 
• How do they hold you back from a competitive advantage? 
• How do these affect your hiring decisions? 
• What can you do to remain neutral and not biased in your thinking and decision making?