When Strategies Go Awry: Part I In A Series On Cognitive Biases And Their Impact

By Laura A. Frase We make decisions every day. With simple questions, we normally rely upon intuition, feelings, instincts or automatic reactions to make a decision (ex: do I turn left or right?). Our brains make thousands, if not millions, of these types of decisions, with seemingly little effort or analysis. "Judgment pervades human experience."1 These intellectual shortcuts save time, take less effort and allow us to choose quickly. We do not take the time, for example, to decide which foot to put forward when we walk; we decide automatically or on "gut instinct". If we fully analyzed every simple decision, we would be paralyzed and unable to function in our daily lives. We traditionally believe that we make rational and logical decisions; we "absorb information, process it, and come up with an optimal answer of solution."2 Yet, the fact that we err is undisputed. Our missteps sometimes come when we use these same intuitive shortcuts (known as heuristics) to make complex decisions, particularly when we are dealing with uncertain or unknown information. Countless qualitative studies demonstrate that our ability to analyze intricate facts or numbers is involuntarily thwarted by various cognitive, social and emotional responses which may ultimately force us toward illogical reasoning. As lawyers, we are not immune. Why, for example, do some parties reject generous offers? Why do we invest significant resources into "losing" cases? How does the first demand, even if it is outr...
Source: LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Emerging Toxic Torts Legal News - Category: Medical Law Source Type: news