Biased Expectations

I’d like to very briefly describe two people to you using some short descriptors. What do you think of these two people?

Mary is known to be: Intelligent — Athletic — Confident — Critical — Stubborn — Envious

Jennifer is considered:  Envious — Stubborn — Critical — Confident– Athletic — Intelligent

Now without giving it much thought, which of these two people do you view more favourably?

If you acted on impulse and are like most people, you probably like Mary more than Jennifer.

By why is that? Upon closer inspection, each person shares the exact same qualities. The only difference was that you read their traits in an opposing order.

This is a prime example of a cognitive bias known as the Halo Effect, in which our view of a person influences how we feel and think about his or her character. Essentially, your overall or initial impression of a person can impact how you view them in other ways.

If people are failing, they look weak, bad, and incompetent. If people are succeeding, they look strong, and good, and competent. Your first impression of a thing sets up your future beliefs. If someone sucks in one area, you may assume they suck in everything they do. 

Example: Assuming that because your teammate is strong physically, they must be strong mentally.

The Halo Effect is one of many Cognitive Biases that we can hold at any given moment. This same form of filtered thinking is not exclusive to how we view people. It’s there in the events we experience and in the thoughts that cycle through our minds.

• Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.
• Availability heuristic: The tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater “availability” in memory, which can be influenced by how recent the memories are or how unusual or emotionally charged they may be.
• Affect heuristic: Basing a decision on an emotional reaction rather than a calculation of risks and benefits.

These are just a few of the many, many, many, Cognitive Biases we are prone to falling into. For a full list, CLICK HERE. I would highly recommend you give them a read and consider how they might be negatively affecting your life.

Control Your Thinking

There is no shortage of mental shortcuts that our mind uses to save us from critical thinking. They can be incredibly useful at times when we need to make snap decisions. However, it’s your responsibility to recognize the moments in which you might be judging a situation or person unfairly. You have to practice self-awareness.

The Halo Effect is something that can allow us to judge others both favourably and unfavourably. When you meet someone for the first time your initial interaction has the possibility to affect how you view that person going forward. 

For example: Let’s say you meet a new teammate who is super nervous around you and starts fumbling their words. Based off that, you might now assume this person lacks confidence and from that assumption you think they must lack confidence in their athletic abilities. And if they don’t have confidence in the abilities, they cannot be trusted in a competition. Therefore you should avoid passing them the ball.

But did you ever consider the fact that maybe, they were nervous simply because they wanted to make a good impression. Who knows, maybe they even admire you. Or…it’s simply because they were overwhelmed with the new team, the new coach, and the new environment. I mean let’s be honest, how would you feel in that situation? Would you be calm, cool, and collected, or you would to also be a basket full of nerves.

At the end of the day, it comes back to the Golden Rule: Treat others how you would want to be treated. 

Before you assume anything about someone based off one single interaction, consider the realm of other possibilities first. Consider whether or not you are putting a halo or devil horns on the person without even giving them a chance to prove themselves. Consider how it would feel if they did that to you.

A good starting point would be these 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t put someone above you simply because they look strong, attractive, or confident.
2. Don’t put others below you because they acted in a meek and mild mannered way.
3. And on that note, don’t judge a situation emotionally without considering the rational side of your brain first.

It can be tempting to always act on impulse and emotion. It feels good to think you “know” everything about a person or a situation. But all you are really doing is living in a false reality that will eventually come crashing down like a house of cards.

Be perceptive and gather your initial impressions, but never use them as a filter through which you see all future events.

-Derek