What’s the first thing that pops into your head?
Information that is easily retrieved from memory has greater influence on our behaviour and judgment. This cognitive bias is called the ‘availability heuristic’. For example, we might think a particular risk is more likely if we have experienced the consequence of this risk rather than basing our judgement on facts.
On warmer days, people may be more likely to believe in long term climate change. Indeed, we tend to remember the first thing and the last thing we hear, which may bias interviewers towards the first and last job applicant.
Given the importance of certain decisions in complex working environments, how can we best ensure that we don’t make decisions based on a salient memory?
Fortunately, I’ve developed a decision-making tool that can help. Let me know if you would like to know more.
You might be interested in
