Bias, Uncovered

Are you ready to confront bias? In this interactive session, you’ll be challenged to uncover your own cognitive biases and explore how understanding them can help you become a better leader. You’ll get a crash course in three particular cognitive biases (anchoring bias, confirmation bias, and social proof), and learn more about their applications in the real world. Most importantly, you'll walk away with actionable ideas for how to leverage this understanding to design more inclusive user research and hiring practices, so that you can design more inclusive and equitable products/services and teams.

Transcript

1. Bias, Uncovered Understand Bias to Build More Inclusive Products/Services and Teams Crystal C. Yan (@crystalcy) @crystalcy | #biasuncovered crystalcyan.github.io
2. I’m Crystal Yan I’m a product manager and designer with a background in economics, specifically, behavioral science. You can find me at @crystalcy Hello! ✋ @crystalcy #biasuncovered
3. • Three biases ◦ Anchoring Bias ◦ Confirmation Bias ◦ Social Proof • Q & A Today’s agenda @crystalcy #biasuncovered
4. 1. Anchoring Bias relying on the first piece of information offered
5. Anchoring Bias: Subscriptions @crystalcy #biasuncovered
6. Anchoring Bias: Subscriptions @crystalcy #biasuncovered
7. Anchoring Bias: Subscriptions @crystalcy #biasuncovered
8. Anchoring Bias: Beer Menu @crystalcy #biasuncovered
9. Anchoring Bias Why it matters Impact on product pricing, sales/discount strategy Impact on salary negotiation Key takeaways 1. Experiment with different pricing tiers offered 2. Align salaries to market rates and levels @crystalcy #biasuncovered
10. 2. Confirmation Bias people tend to interpret new information in a way that supports existing beliefs
11. Confirmation Bias: Social News Think about the last article you read because someone you’re connected with posted it on social media @crystalcy #biasuncovered
12. @crystalcy #biasuncovered Confirmation Bias: Red Feed, Blue Feed
13. Confirmation Bias: At Work • In decision-making: diverse voices interpret new information differently • In employment: interviewing @crystalcy #biasuncovered
14. Confirmation Bias Why it matters Impact on exposure to interpretations of new ideas and team decision-making Impact on hiring diverse teams Key takeaways 1. Make sure breakthrough ideas don’t get killed too early - encourage brainstorming individually as well as together 2. Improve interview processes with blind resume reviews, and hold revealing previous scores and notes @crystalcy #biasuncovered
15. 3. Social Proof people assume the actions of others to try to reflect correct behavior
16. Social Proof: Canned Laughter & Conducting User Research @crystalcy #biasuncovered
17. Social Proof: Halo Effect @crystalcy #biasuncovered
18. Social Proof: Pricing Pages @crystalcy #biasuncovered
19. Social Proof Why it matters Impact on conducting user research Impact on interviewing Impact on pricing plans Key takeaways 1. Don’t give away hints on what other users have said so far 2. Avoid making assumptions about candidates - ask! 3. Highlight one option to make decision-making easier @crystalcy #biasuncovered
20. • Three biases ◦ Anchoring Bias ◦ Confirmation Bias ◦ Social Proof • Impact on and key takeaways for ◦ Pricing ◦ Hiring and interviewing ◦ User research Conclusion @crystalcy #biasuncovered
21. Questions? Ask me @crystalcy Thank you. @crystalcy #biasuncovered