Can we avoid bias?

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7494.784

BMJ 2005;330:784 (2 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7494.784

Commentary

Can we avoid bias?

Colin P Bradley, professor of general practice¹

¹ University College Cork, Cork, Ireland c.bradley@ucc.ie

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The cognitive processes we use in making diagnoses are characterisedby heuristics and biases that are similar to those that underpinmuch human decision making.¹ Although these processes are errorprone, they have evolved as rapid and effective ways of makingdecisions in conditions of uncertainty and they are deeply ingrainedin our psyche. Reducing such errors may be difficult and, indeed,some commentators are sceptical about whether such cognitiveerrors can be reduced at all.

Nevertheless, some strategies have been proposed to deal directlywith cognitive errors, and these merit more consideration andfield testing.² These strategies involve what is sometimes referredto as debiasing. At the most basic level, just being aware ofhow our cognitive processes work and the kinds of pitfalls towhich we are prone should, in theory, improve our decision making.This is a form of meta-cognition (or thinking about thinking)that has been . . . [Full text of this article]