Cognitive bias between individuals and groups: how to improve sustainable decision making?

Abstract

The sustainable development of our society, or how to meet the demands of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs, is one of the most challenging issues that humanity currently faces. This problem requires a multidisciplinary approach where academics from various fields collaborate to solve it. In the present study, we attempt to explain how "cognitive biases," which are systemic tendencies or distortions in human perception and decision-making, contribute to this predicament. Numerous academic studies have demonstrated how cognitive biases influence how decisions are made. We offer a conceptual review of the body of research on the influence of cognitive biases among individuals and groups on sustainability and ethical conduct. While both categories may influence unsustainable conduct, we find that group cognitive biases may influence behavior more than individual biases. We conclude that a large number of cognitive biases documented in the literature can be interpreted as social context-specific manifestations of human cognitive biases and offer a set of solutions to overcome such constraints.