Welcome to the world of cognitive biases, all 200 of them. They are pervasive across fields, spanning from finance and education to human resources, IT and even the military. As innocuous as they may seem, if left unchecked, they have the potential to derail decision-making, problem-solving and performance. By affecting judgment, memory and motivation, they can impact both individuals and groups.

While some biases are deceptive and harmful, many are adaptative, fasten our reasoning and help us avoid danger. In recent years, we’ve heard a lot about the dismay they leave in their wake, but their potency in our field remains largely unheeded.

As professional communicators, we have a responsibility to create meaning without deliberately manipulating or misleading audiences. We need to keep our own views in check because they might slant content, strategies and behaviours, potentially creating prejudice. And when they do, these effects ripple through our audiences and shape their own perception of reality, for better or worse. Conversely, we can harness biases’ power to engage, connect and inspire, while supercharging our performance in project and time management. Let’s dive at the root of cognition.