According to Chegg, one of the more well-known cognitive biases is called the ‘confirmation bias’, which is defined as “the tendency to seek only information that matches what one already believes.” Bainbridge (1983) uses the term “irony of automation” to explain why in emergency operators suffer from the “tunnel vision” effect regarding perception of new information.
According to confirmation bias, when the decision maker acts according to prior perception of the problem, disregarding contradicting evidence. This is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses as discussed by Plouse (1993).
In the study of risk management, Conrow (2003) provides an extensive list of cognitive biases often found among decision makers. Among these is the view that risk management is a “waste of time”.
Updated on 05 May 2017.