Conformity bias is the tendency to change one’s beliefs or behaviour to fit in with others. Instead of using their own judgement, individuals often take cues from the group they are with, belong to, or seek to belong to about what is right or appropriate. They then adapt their own behaviour accordingly.
Example: Conformity bias Your friends are making plans for an upcoming concert that they are very excited about. Last time they went to a concert, they were talking about it for a week afterwards, and you felt left out because you did not go with them. Although you are not really keen on that kind of music, you decide to join them this time so as not to feel left out.
Although conforming to social norms is not bad in and of itself, giving in to peer pressure can cause us to adopt opinions and behaviours that are unethical, illegal, or unfair to those who are not part of the group.
Unconscious bias refers to the automatic associations and reactions that arise when we encounter a person or group. Instead of maintaining neutrality, we tend to associate positive or negative stereotypes with certain groups and let these biases influence our behaviour towards them.
Example: Unconscious biasYou are walking home from a get-together with friends at night-time. You notice a figure wearing dark clothing coming your way. You immediately feel danger, and rush to cross the street. You then see the person pull something that looks like a weapon out of their pocket, causing you to break into a run. Looking back, you realise your mistake: the person was simply answering their phone.
Unconscious bias can lead to discriminatory behaviour in healthcare, the workplace, educational settings, and beyond.
Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our successes to internal, personal factors, and our failures to external, situational factors. In other words, we like to take credit for our triumphs, but we are more likely to blame others or circumstances for our shortcomings.
Example: Self-serving bias Α student who performs well on an exam may ascribe their success to their excellent preparation and intelligence. In the case of a poor performance, the same student would likely think that the exam was too difficult or that the questions did not correspond to the material taught.
Self-serving bias prevents us from learning from our mistakes.This can distort our self-perception and significantly impair our ability to reflect on negative outcomes. Self-serving bias is evident when explaining our behaviour in various contexts, such as job performance, sports, or even driving ability.
Outgroup bias is the tendency to dislike members of groups that we don’t identify with. We not only have negative feelings and ideas about people who are not part of our group, but we also tend to exhibit hostility towards them. This happens even if we know nothing about them as individuals.
Example: Outgroup biasAs part of a student exchange programme, a group of foreign students arrive at your university. Because they are a little hesitant to speak English, you notice that most of your fellow students are not making an effort to get to know them better. At the cafeteria, you overhear some of your classmates talking about the visiting students, agreeing that ‘people from that country are all unfriendly’.
Because of outgroup bias, we treat people differently depending on their group membership. As a result, we tend to unfairly reject members of outgroups, which can lead to prejudice and discrimination.
Ingroup bias is the tendency to favour one’s own group over other groups. Ingroup bias affects our perception of (and behaviour towards) others, giving preferential treatment to the members of our own group while excluding other groups.
Example: Ingroup bias You are stuck in traffic, trying to change lanes and exit the highway. A car approaches and tries to cut you off. You are annoyed until you notice the other car has a bumper sticker of your favourite sports team. You give them a friendly nod and let them pass.
As a result, we tend to look down on people we don’t consider members of our group, even when we know nothing about them. Due to this, ingroup bias can lead to prejudice and discrimination.
Recency bias is the tendency to overemphasise the importance of recent experiences or the latest information we possess when estimating future events. Recency bias often misleads us to believe that recent events can give us an indication of how the future will unfold.
Example: Recency bias Recency bias can be observed in sports betting, as it leads to an over-dependence on recent outcomes. Bettors will follow a team on a winning streak or avoid a team on a losing streak, even though recent successes or failures don’t provide any insight into how things will play out in the future.
As a result, we ignore important information that can affect our judgement in various contexts, such as performance appraisals, financial decisions, or relationships.
Hindsight bias is the tendency to perceive past events as more predictable than they actually were. Due to this, people think their judgement is better than it is. This can lead them to take unnecessary risks or judge others too harshly.
Example: Hindsight biasFootball fans often criticise or question the actions of players or coaches in what is known as ‘Monday morning quarterbacking’. They often claim they knew the result before the game was over and that the outcome was easily preventable. This is particularly the case after a loss.
However, it is easy to pass judgement from a position of hindsight and to recognise bad decisions after the fact. When you know the result, you know what worked and what didn’t work during the game. Hindsight bias is the reason behind the ‘Monday morning quarterback’ phenomenon.
Because people feel that they ‘knew it all along’, they overestimate their ability to foresee the outcome of future events, such as medical errors, sport scores, or election results.
Negativity bias is the tendency to pay more attention to negative information than to positive information. Here, more weight is given to negative experiences over neutral or positive experiences. Due to negativity bias, we are much more influenced by negative events or information than by positive counterparts of equal significance.
Example: Negativity bias You are hiking with friends. While enjoying the scenery, you suddenly see a rattlesnake. The snake immediately slithers away. However, when asked about the hike later, you remember the snake incident more vividly than the beautiful scenery.
Negativity bias causes us to dwell on the negative, making bad experiences seem much more important than they really are. This, in turn, can impact our decision-making and the opinions we form about others.
Optimism bias is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive events and underestimate the likelihood of negative events. Optimism bias causes most people to expect that things will work out well, even if rationality suggests that problems are inevitable in life.
Example: Optimism biasYou’ve just bought a new bike, and the salesperson asks you whether you also want to look for a helmet.
Because you’ve been riding a bike since you were young, you think the chances of getting involved in an accident are really small. You conclude that you’ll be fine without it. Optimism bias makes you underestimate the risk of riding a bike without a helmet.
Although optimism bias can motivate us to overcome obstacles, it can also cause us to ignore potential risks, resulting in poor decision-making.
Implicit bias is a collection of associations and reactions that emerge automatically upon encountering an individual or group. We associate negative or positive stereotypes with certain groups and let these influence how we treat them rather than remaining neutral.
Example: Implicit biasYou are walking on a street at night and notice a figure wearing a hoodie coming your way. You immediately sense danger and try to cross the street. The other person pulls an object out of their pocket, and you start running because you think it’s a weapon. Looking back, you realize your mistake: the person was simply answering their phone.
This can lead to discriminatory behavior in a wide range of contexts such as healthcare, the workplace, and education.
