How to Remove Cognitive Bias from Your Writing
Everyone has a cognitive bias, working with it to produce unbiased articles.
Writing is a powerful medium for sharing ideas, but it’s essential to recognise that our minds aren’t always as objective as we’d like them to be.
Cognitive biases can subtly infiltrate our writing, leading to distortions of facts and skewed presentations of information. To create content that is both clear and unbiased, it’s essential to understand these biases and take steps to minimise their impact. This article will delve into cognitive biases, their effects on writing, and practical strategies to mitigate them.
Understanding Cognitive Bias
Cognitive biases are when we move away from rational judgment, often resulting from our brain initiating shortcuts to make decisions quickly.
These biases can lead to errors in judgment, perception, and reasoning. When writing, cognitive biases may manifest as unconscious favouritism, misinterpretation of facts, or a one-sided representation of information.
Cognitive bias can be broken into many different categories. Some people may suffer with one version of this; others may have multiple versions that affect their writing.
Types of Biases
Confirmation Bias
This bias drives writers to seek, interpret, and remember information that aligns with their existing beliefs while disregarding opposing viewpoints. You would only search for research that supported your view rather than those from different sources that may go against your opinion.
Anchoring Bias
Anchoring happens when writers overly rely on the first piece of information encountered (the “anchor”) when making decisions or forming opinions, potentially leading to an undue emphasis on a single perspective.
This can happen in crime writing. If the first article you read makes a strong case for someone being guilty, you may find evidence to contradict this but ignore it.
Hindsight Bias
This bias causes writers to perceive events as predictable after they have occurred, potentially resulting in overly simplistic explanations.
Again, within crime writing, this might be that you believe only women can be victims of domestic violence; this would then infiltrate your opinion when writing about these cases.
Availability Bias
Availability bias prompts writers to assign greater significance to information that is easily accessible in their minds, often due to recent exposure or personal experiences.
Only looking at information the media provides is a method of this, rather than looking deeper into court transcripts. This type of reporting is the difference between a good writer and a brilliant writer.
Strategies to Minimise Cognitive Bias in Writing
As writers, though, we should not worry about this unduly as there are methods that we can all adopt to minimise these in our writing.
The first would be to acknowledge your biases. Start by recognising the existence of your biases. Self-awareness is a crucial first step, as it allows you to appreciate that everyone has biases that can subtly influence their thinking. The objective is to reduce their sway over your writing.
Comprehensive research will also help you gain a rounded view of the topic. Seek out a variety of sources and differing viewpoints on your chosen topic. This approach ensures a more inclusive and well-rounded perspective. You will also, over time, recognise the reliable sources and those that are not. Wikipedia is not your friend.
Once you have the research, verify and fact-check it. Always verify the accuracy of your information and cross-reference it with reliable sources.
Avoid cherry-picking data or selectively presenting information that supports your argument while overlooking contradictory evidence. Present all the views to your readers and let them decide.
Regularly question your assumptions and preconceived notions. Encourage yourself to view the topic from multiple angles and be open to altering your perspective based on the evidence you encounter.
Reading is essential to any writer’s journey; reading widely is the best technique.
Asking for help is beneficial to all writers. Other writers should not be viewed as your competition. Share your work with colleagues, peers, or editors who can offer constructive feedback.
External input can be invaluable in identifying and rectifying biases that may have seeped into your writing.
Be very cautious when using statistics and numbers. Statistics can be easily manipulated to support a particular standpoint. When employing data, ensure you represent it accurately and provide the context to prevent misinterpretation.
The best example of this was in the reporting of Covid statistics. Look at the small print, and you will have noticed that a Covid death was anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test. You could have tested positive three weeks ago and been hit by a bus and would still be a Covid death. This helped the government increase the death rate, causing more fear among readers.
Keep Going
Working towards limiting cognitive bias in your writing is an ongoing endeavour that demands self-awareness, diligence, and critical thinking. By acknowledging your biases, conducting thorough research, fact-checking, seeking external feedback, and employing neutral language, you can produce content that is not only more accurate but also more balanced and unbiased.
In doing so, you enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Your readers will recognise this and keep coming back for more.