Cognitive Biases in Communication: To Stay, Slay or Silence

“There is no neutrality. There is only greater or lesser awareness of one’s bias.” —Phyllis Rose

As the day closes, you will have processed 70,000 thoughts. To accomplish this, 100 billion neurons will connect to some 500 trillion points through synapses in your brain, at a speed of 300 miles per hour.

This formidable process enables you to make 35,000 decisions every day, but will contend you with several challenges. These range from too much information to not enough meaning, the need to act fast or a struggle to decide what to remember. To overcome these, you will rely on mental shortcuts, also known as cognitive biases.

As the field of behavioral economics revealed in the 1970s, we’re not nearly as rational as we like to think we are. We make both cognitive and emotional errors while trying to keep up with the pace, fill in blanks, adjust our behaviors in social context, and read people and situations.

Imagine these common scenarios:

• When asked to create content, in a split second you sum up the most recent facts you’ve read about, gather more evidence from sources you trust and rely on, promote your angle as the accepted viewpoint and vehemently contest any facts that contradict those you believe in. When in an echo chamber like this one, you are oblivious to perspectives that challenge your own. This is where innovation goes to die.
• When tapped on the shoulder to prepare a communication strategy, you try to anticipate audience needs and assign them interests and values based on their gender, occupation, education, grade level or purchasing power. You remain confident in your stellar rationality and tout your approach as sensible and inclusive. Meanwhile, the dominant narrative is hiding in plain sight.
• You’re at your computer, gasping at an endless list of deliverables and prioritize an urgent deliverable over a critical task without a deadline, to cross it off your list. Under pressure, urgency trumps importance. And you continue investing time and efforts into a project bearing no tangible result, simply because you’ve already come so far. You’ve just fallen prey to a planning fallacy masquerading as determination.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Welcome to the world of cognitive biases, all 200 of them. They’re pervasive across fields, spanning from finance and education to human resources, IT and even the military. As innocuous as they may seem, if left unchecked, they have the potential to derail decision-making, problem-solving and performance. By affecting judgment, memory and motivation, they can impact both individuals and groups.

While some biases are deceptive and harmful, many are adaptative, fasten our reasoning and help us avoid danger. In recent years, we’ve heard a lot about the dismay they leave in their wake, but their potency in our field remains largely unheeded.

As professional communicators, we have a responsibility to create meaning without deliberately manipulating or misleading audiences. We need to keep our own views in check because they might slant content, strategies and behaviors, potentially creating prejudice. And when they do, these effects ripple through our audiences and shape their own perception of reality, for better or worse. Conversely, we can harness biases’ power to engage, connect and inspire, while supercharging our performance in project and time management. 

Biases may be inherent, but they are malleable. They are not cop-out for unsavory behaviors nor an alibi for lapses in judgment. Looking at biases straight in the eyes is the first step toward taking responsibility and changing things for the better. When we do, it fosters a culture that encourages critical thinking, psychological safety and inclusivity. Let’s dive at the root of cognition, where all creation starts. Because to thrive, communication must create.

Catherine Fisette led an interactive session at IABC World Conference 2024 on 24 June, offering a deep dive into the complexities of cognitive biases in communication. Attendees explored how to harness mental models that create empowerment and inclusion, safeguard against those that blur the line between connection and coercion, and dismantle shortcuts that distort, divide and sabotage endeavors. Learn more about IABC World Conference online here.