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Chapter 25 - Training Can Improve Decision Making

from Toward Better Beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

Julien Musolino
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
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Summary

Research in judgment and decision making has made a lot of progress on the front of the identification of biases, and, more recently, on their correction, by suggesting feasible interventions to reduce their prevalence. Despite initial mixed results, more recent research has revealed that training is a promising debiasing tool. One-shot training interventions can reduce the incidence of several cognitive biases up to three months post training. These effects generalize to decisions and problems that were not featured in the training but are susceptible to the same biases. They were also observed in a field setting when trainees were not able to connect the decision problems to the training. Although the complexity of the decision strategies taught and the propensity of trainees to see themselves as immune to bias may pose boundary conditions to the occurrence of these effects, training has notable advantages in comparison to other debiasing tools such as incentives, accountability, and nudges.

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Chapter
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The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
, pp. 557 - 573
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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