One or Ten? (The Availability Bias and You)

Have you ever felt more confident in your knowledge about a topic simply because you were able to easily recall related information? Does it matter if you could only remember three, rather than nine, positive traits about a product? And what if that product is you?

"Availability heuristic" is a mental shortcut we use to make judgments and decisions based on how easily information comes to mind. When information is more readily retrievable, we tend to overestimate its importance and relevance. This means that if we can easily recall positive traits of a brand, we are more likely to perceive it positively.

Take half a minute to think of one example where you demonstrated good leadership. How do you feel right now? If I asked you to come up with ten examples, you would probably feel less confident, even though you could think of ten examples, it would take you more time...

The power of ease of retrieval extends beyond our perceptions of brands. Ease of retrieval can also influence our beliefs about ourselves and our abilities. For example, Schwarz and colleagues [1] examined how ease of retrieval from memory can affect individuals' judgments and self-perceptions. In one experiment, participants were asked to recall 6 or 12 examples of their assertive behavior. After recalling the examples, participants rated their own level of assertiveness. Those who recalled 6 examples attributed higher assertiveness to themselves than those who recalled 12 examples. Surprising, isn’t it?

If their judgment had been based solely on the content of the examples they found, their self-attribution should have been more extreme as they mentioned more examples. Therefore, the findings suggest that participants were aware of their subjective experience of ease or difficulty in recalling the examples. Likely, participants concluded that they couldn't be "super" assertive if they found it difficult to recall the requested number of examples.

This means that we may be more likely to judge based on information that is readily available to us, even if that information is not necessarily accurate or does not accurately represent the broader context. In the real world, this phenomenon can lead to biases in decision-making, but (consider yourselves warned) it can also be used to influence your perceptions and those of others.

From a coaching perspective, what does this mean for you? You may undervalue yourselves, your skills, and your achievements simply because you struggled to recall them from memory, even if they were truly impressive. This is especially true if you were asked to come up with a large number of examples. The next time you find it difficult to remember information, try to ensure that your conclusions are related to the content of the information itself, rather than to the experience of retrieval.

[1] Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 195–202.