Avoiding Thinking Traps: Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias is the desire to believe that something is true no matter any evidence that may be presented against that belief (Confirmation Bias, Psychology Today). Confirmation bias occurs when a person wants certain ideas to be true. The individual disregards and stops gathering all information that disagrees with their viewpoints and only regards those that support their ideas (Confirmation Bias, Science Daily). Confirmation Bias applies to this case study because it can be assumed that the pilots were using confirmation bias in their particular situation. It can also be assumed that the pilots ignored obvious signals that pointed them to be on the wrong runway, and no one told them they were on the wrong runway. Attention was only paid to cues that led them to believe that they were on the correct runway. It can be assumed that as a part of pilot coaching they are taught to look for correct and incorrect signals when taking off and landing in an airport. I think that because the pilots were in the moment it was easy for them to think that what they were doing was right. I think that this applies to the lessons that we have learned as coaches because we sometimes can seem to think that we are telling others the right things when coaching and/or teaching them how to do a thing and disregard the verbal and non-verbal cues that are being cued that are being given to us.

Availability bias is the tendency to rely on things we can immediately think of to make quick decisions and judgments (Cherry, K. (n.d.), verywellmind.com). As humans, we are often influenced by what is personal and sometimes dramatic events and our environments can be influential in our thinking habits as well (Availability Heuristic, Thedecisionlab). When someone needs to make a split–second decision the term availability bias is being used because he/she is making a decision based upon the most recent and available information (Availability Heuristic, Thedecisionlab). In this case study, availability bias applies in one instance, in which Polehinke, raised no red flags of being on the incorrect runway because he was required to land a plane at another airport two days prior. After all, lights were on a runway at the bluegrass airport (Ortiz, B., Patton, J., & -, M. K., Kentucky.com). It could be assumed that Polehinke was using availability bias in this instance because there was a similar situation two days prior. He could have assumed that because the lights were out then, the lights were still out and the situation had yet to be remedied. In my opinion, availability relates to the current lessons because we can relate the most recent information to our coachees when asked a question we may not know the exact answer to. It’s a possibility that we could relate information that we’ve heard or tell them about an experience we’ve learned from. I think that availability bias is not all bad because it is good to relate a personal experience to lesson learning situations. It is sometimes best to think about how you’re going to and should react before doing so.

My remedy for avoiding and controlling thinking traps would be to identify negative thinking patterns that you always fall into when faced with situations that cause you to think critically and situations you are unsure of. Thinking patterns can affect ones’ well-being as we have seen in this case study. The pilots were sure that they were on the right path for take-off but confirmation bias led to the death of 49.

Learning to recognize and identify your thought patterns could allow you to identify how those thought patterns affect your everyday life (Negative Thinking Patterns, Psychology Today). For example, if the pilots were aware that of their thought patterns it could be assumed that they would have noticed one or more of the out-of-place signals that are designed to show them if they were on the correct path.

I frequently get distracted by negative thoughts or worrying about things I can’t control. Here are some questions that I ask myself when I find myself in a thinking trap.

• Is this thought beneficial to me?
• Is what I’m thinking true?
• Why are you thinking about this?
• What can I do now to have a better future? (when worrying about the future)
• How can I make the best of this negative situation?
• How can I put a positive spin on this negative thought?

I think that in coaching, knowing how to control your thinking patterns is important because you could pass that on to a coachee without noticing. It is also important because you can use that knowledge to identify negative thinking patterns within your coachee. This is something that could hinder the coaching process. For example, if my coachee is identifying goals but also giving reasons as to how or why he can’t possibly achieve the goal, that is a negative thinking pattern and should be called out then. Identifying these can also strengthen the relationship allowing for a more honest and open coaching environment.

To the case study, if negative thinking patterns were called out during the pilots training the maybe this particular instance wouldn’t have happened. When the pilot was unsure of if he could do it, if he was nervous or ignoring signals he/she was taught to pay attention to, the behavior should have been called out and discussed to provide a better coaching experience for both parties.