Be your own devil’s advocate, eliminate bias

Deepak Ranade

Human brain has some rather unique features to be able to make quick decisions based on past experiences. This decision-making comes with some limitations. We are more likely to see what we expect to see, rather than what is actually there. This phenomenon is known as ‘perceptual set’. It, therefore, has the potential to lead to biased, erroneous perception and subsequently wrong decisions. A familiar example is we being able to read a misspelt word correctly because our brains expect it to be spelt that way. It’s a unique ability to selectively ignore what does not conform to established patterns and eliminate any confusion. The cognitive apparatus selectively mutes the discordant notes to maintain harmony of perception.

There is evidence to suggest that at any given moment, one sees only 20% of what one is seeing; 80% of what appears in our visual field is being ‘generated’ by our brain. Of the total inputs to the visual cortex that integrate and mediate our vision, only 20% of neural pathways come from the eyes; 80% come from other areas of the brain, such as those in charge of memory. It is now estimated that visual perception is 80% memory and 20% input through the eyes. Sensory information is not transmitted to the brain; it comes from it. This infill, or fill-in-the-blanks, is sourced from memory and other sensory modalities and experiences.

Therefore, any decision, or chosen option that’s based on our perception is strongly impacted by a well-defined phenomenon called confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is a psychological term for the human tendency to selectively glean information that supports one’s position. This causes a bias towards confirming the decision made, seeking out only information that supports the decision.

It is a kind of self-propagating mechanism, which paradoxically focuses on factors that lend credibility to whatever position one has taken.

Decision-making is fraught with another peril – the powerful undercurrent of emotions that short charge reason and blur reality. A combination of cognitive bias garnished with generous emotional toppings has often been the recipe for disastrous judgements and decisions.

Human intelligence perhaps is unique in that it can affect its own appraisal. A blessing that’s ironically called ‘Devil’s Advocacy’. Being one’s own Devil’s Advocate is a discipline that can yield rich dividends. This involves challenging and if required negating assumptions, arguments, and evidence of the chosen option.

A stance, that the premise, decision, or option taken is wrong. One has to investigate thereafter and find inherent flaws, possible misjudgements or miscalculations. An ‘autocorrection’ of sorts that splits the Self into two. One that has made the decision and another that questions the former.

The kicking in of this autocorrection mechanism introduces a delay that differentiates an instinctive impulsive act from an act suffused with conscious deliberation – an ability to transcend from being merely a decision-maker to simultaneously being an unbiased observer. An independent observer is no longer subservient to presumptions and biases and has a self-indulgent ego that refuses to accept one’s limitations. To err is human; to review is divine.

Eliminating cognitive bias plays a crucial role in making correct decisions. This endeavour is particularly important when making critical, irreversible, life-changing decisions.

The writer is a neurosurgeon