We read books either for entertainment or to learn something new. How about learning from Sutherland’s “Irrationality” about the blind spots we usually prefer not to face? Uh, sounds uncomfortable. But still — worth sharing with the world. Especially with those folks out there who strive to be more efficient at work, more self-aware and conscious of both, themselves and their colleagues.

Nobody likes to hear: “You think you know, but really, you’re just fooling yourself”. What a sneaky freudian claim — of course it’s hard to know what you don’t know! You surely do know what you know — you rely on data, you make informed decisions, you ask around for opinions… You are a rational person. Are you not?

Based on years and years of psychological research, Sutherland provides plenty of evidence that we relentlessly deceive ourselves at every opportunity.

Availability bias: what comes to mind most easily (simply because we remember it or because it made the greatest impression), we often consider to be true. Not only that — in order to further reassure ourselves of the validity of the claim, we actively seek arguments to support it, completely ignoring counter-arguments, no matter how obvious.

Example: You run a series of user interviews. One user says something that shocks you. If someone asks you: “Hey, what have you found in your research?” — you’re likely to bring up this one curious finding because that’s what you remember the most. And before you know it, in other interviews you are actively seeking information that confirms it.

Boomerang effect: stating something publicly seems to be such a grand commitment, that even if our claim has been proven wrong, we have a tendency not to verify it, but to be committed even more intensely.

Example: You are a part of a project in which you decide whether the main CTA should be blue or yellow. During the kick-off with the team, you express a slight preference for the yellow. Along the way, as the days go by, more and more arguments seem to speak for the blue. And yet now you find yourself almost obsessed with the yellow, you love the yellow, you preach the yellow, you breathe the yellow. Simply because — everyone heard you say “yellow” at the beginning.

Foot in the door: after we once committed to something small, it’s more difficult to reject something bigger around the same topic. Even if supporting that idea or cause no longer makes sense or requires disproportional amount of effort, it has now become a part of our identity and we feel it should be protected.

Example: One day, you come across a Slack post raising awareness about the terrible state of the near-by animal shelter. Because you feel truly moved, you react with an emoji. The next day, you notice a pot with coins next to the coffee machine. You discover it’s to support the near-by animal shelter. You decide to contribute 1 euro. A few days later, a person contacts you asking if you could say a few words on the topic, so that they can post it on LinkedIn, showing company’s involvement. And before you know it, you find yourself spending way too much time on variety different initiatives and feeling surprisingly strongly about it — even though you weren’t in the past. Is it your true calling? Or is it the emoji?

Sour grapes: when we desire something impossible to get, we’re usually likely to convince ourselves that we never really wanted it.

Example: There’s a new opening for a manager position in your team. You’ve always wanted to become a manager, have your own team, higher salary, more recognition. In the end, the newcomer lands this position and you feel a bit envious at the beginning, but after some time you hear yourself say: “I’m actually glad it wasn’t me. Who would want that extra responsibility anyway. I’m perfectly fine where I am, keeping a good work-life balance is in the end the most important”.

Why do we do this?

“We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are”. The Talmud

I mean, it’s quite embarrassing, no? Every time during a discussion when I thought I was right — what if I was just self-deceived? It’s a scary thought indeed: that the real source of our opinion lies not in facts and data, but a place we’re not even aware of.

No matter how self-aware we consider ourselves to be, we are apparently fundamentally poor at judging direct connections between two events. It seems like we’re usually wrong when we claim that the cause of X is Y. Our reality is much too complex to allow such simplification but we still insist that we know precisely what that one reason was for that failed project.

This being said — let’s try to roughly understand the cause of bias 🥴

I could say, bias comes from ignorance (and that’s partly true, a lot of biased thoughts and behaviours are purely habits). But here’s another possible explanation: it seems like bias can actually be a handy protection mechanism. When we face a high complexity project, considering every single, tiny aspect of it would simply not be feasible or could harm the execution altogether. A mental shortcut might bring some relief — a remedy for feeling overwhelmed, paralysed or even burnt-out. In that sense, in some instances, risking the bias might actually be worth it.

What can we do about it?

Nowadays, there’s quite a lot of shaming for bias. Which is very sad particularly because shaming does not support learning. Let’s say I’m full-on biased about the users of my app. If you shame me for that, what are the odds of me actually changing? I’ll probably just be offended. But imagine if you were able to coach me or have a discussion safe enough for me to discover my bias by myself — wouldn’t that be more effective? Now, I’m not only more aware of my users’ real needs but also likely to be more attentive to my bias next time!

On the other hand, if I am to get rid of my bias, I also need to practice some mental exercise: I need to assume a person I’m talking to knows something I don’t. The moment we start to actively listen, the idea of “being right” suddenly loosens up. It’s difficult, sure, but there’s luckily a fun way to achieve it: just imagine you’re a detective 🧐 trying to get to the core of things and the person you’re talking to — your partner. You’re both on the same quest: to find the real Truth. So, open your mind, focus solely on the problem you’re solving — not your contribution to it — and your ego will fly away, happily freed from pressure… and bias.

Another good news is that those efforts actually pay off: each time we manage to control the impulse, it becomes easier to repeat it next time. That’s because the synaptic pathways in our brain get stronger, every time we practice. So, if you’ve noticed your bias once and managed to fight it, chances are, you’ll need less effort to overcome it next time. Who said a workplace can’t be an arena for self-improvement?

As for the bad news: what can stand on your way in achieving these noble goals are strong emotions 👹 You can read all the books in the world, acquire all the wisdom of the self-aware monks out there, and still fail in fighting bias — simply because you’re flooded with feelings. Strong emotions and stress are among the main factors that reduce flexibility of thought and make us think and act irrationally. I say “we” with full responsibility because it does concern all of us, emotional beings.

Who, as such, have the very ability for compassion. Since bias is a weak spot of literally everyone on the planet, why not being a bit more forgiving? With the vastness of information, deadly pace of our lives, the ever-changing world — it is simply impossible to keep up, let alone reflect on a regular basis. If you see someone struggle with bias, understand them. Because if you show a little brotherhood, chances are, the next time you fall into the trap — they’ll be there for you too. And if not — at least you stayed true to your values.