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IMAGE: New research finds first evidence that watching and learning from others can help reduce bias and improve decision-making. In business, the results could help improve hiring practices or increase. view more
Credit: Indiana University
New research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business shows first evidence that watching and learning from others can help reduce bias and improve decision-making.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, used a computer game designed to decrease bias to see if people who watched others play the game could in turn reduce their own bias. Through three experiments, researchers found that watching others solve bias-related problems helped the observers learn about decision biases and improve on their own. Their study showed this observational learning reduced decision biases such as anchoring - or, relying too much on an original bit of information and also improved how the observers take advice.
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Research from the Business School (formerly Cass) suggests that observing others decision-making can teach people to make better decisions themselves.
The research, co-authored by Professor Irene Scopelliti, Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science, tested the effectiveness of a new debiasing training strategy and reports first evidence that watching others make decisions can improve our own decision making.
The authors carried out three experiments, which involved participants making a set of judgements before and after a training intervention designed to improve their decision-making.
Experiment One: comparing observational learning to other common debiasing strategies
The first experiment compared observational learning to three other interventions known to reduce cognitive bias. Researchers tested participants susceptibility to common decision-making biases across three scales, with participants receiving one of four debiasing interventions before repeating