The Biased Mind: Common Self-Biases That Hold Us Back

In this self-reflective episode, we dive into the world of self-biases and how they shape our thoughts, reactions, and behaviors.

We explore five common self-biases that can hold us back from seeing ourselves objectively, including:

• The Self-Serving Bias: taking credit when things go right and blaming others when they don't.
• The Better Than Average Effect: perceiving oneself as more capable than average peers.
• Overconfidence: overestimating one's abilities and underestimating the difficulty of tasks.
• Unrealistic Optimism: believing that bad things will never happen to us or that we're always right.
• The Bias Blind Spot: thinking we're less biased than others, when in reality, we may be more so.

These self-biases can lead to barriers to empathy, positive action, and authentic leadership. So how can we overcome them?

Key Takeaways:

• Recognize that you have biases about yourself and others.
• Practice self-awareness and introspection to identify areas for growth.
• Focus on progress, not comparison to others.
• Cultivate humility and compassion towards yourself.

Research Resources/Cites:

Handbook of Humility Theory, Research, and Applications – 1st Edition; Edited By Everett L. Worthington Jr., Don E. Davis, Joshua N. Hook Copyright 2017

Journal article: An Assessment of Faculty Performance: Some Correlates Between Administrator, Colleague, Student and Self-Ratings by Robert T. Blackburn and Mary Jo Clark: Sociology of Education - Vol. 48, No. 2 (Spring, 1975), pp. 242-256 (15 pages) - Published By: American Sociological Association - https://www.jstor.org/stable/2112478?origin=crossref

Cognitive Biases in Health and Psychiatric Disorders: Neurophysiological Foundations 2020, Pages 41-70: Chapter 3 - The neurophysiological basis of optimism bias Mihai Dricu a, Laura Kress a b, Tatjana Aue a - Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerlandb - Department of Psychology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden - Available online 28 February 2020, Version of Record 28 February 2020.

A Primer on Unrealistic Optimism: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4467896/#R9; James A Shepperd 1,1, Erika Waters 2, Neil D Weinstein 3, William M P Klein

4 Bias Blind Spot: Structure, Measurement, and Consequences: Irene Scopelliti, Carey K. Morewedge, Erin McCormick, H. Lauren Min, Sophie Lebrecht, Karim S. Kassam Published Online:24 Apr 2015