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- 2021
- Working Paper
Cognitive Biases: Mistakes or Missing Stakes?
By: Benjamin Enke, Uri Gneezy, Brian Hall, David Martin, Vadim Nelidov, Theo Offerman and Jeroen van de Ven
Despite decades of research on heuristics and biases, empirical evidence on the effect of large incentives—as present in relevant economic decisions—on cognitive biases is scant. This paper tests the effect of incentives on four widely documented biases: base rate... View Details
Enke, Benjamin, Uri Gneezy, Brian Hall, David Martin, Vadim Nelidov, Theo Offerman, and Jeroen van de Ven. "Cognitive Biases: Mistakes or Missing Stakes?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-102, March 2021.
- January 2011 (Revised October 2012)
- Background Note
Strengths Become Weaknesses: Cognitive Biases in Founder Decision-Making
By: Noam T. Wasserman and Kyle Anderson
This note combines vignettes and scholarly research to outline the cognitive biases and decision-making strategies that influence key decisions in the founding process. It is argued that the same biases which provide early benefits can later prove to be a weakness for... View Details
Wasserman, Noam T., and Kyle Anderson. "Strengths Become Weaknesses: Cognitive Biases in Founder Decision-Making." Harvard Business School Background Note 811-068, January 2011. (Revised October 2012.)
- Research Summary
Cognitive Biases in Hiring Discrimination, with Christopher Winship and Andras, 2008-Present
- Research on stereotyping and employment discrimination
- Field study with Human Resources professionals
- January 2019
- Article
The ABCs of Financial Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, Behavior, and Cognitive Biases
By: Fenella Carpena, Shawn A. Cole, Jeremy Shapiro and Bilal Zia
This paper uses a large-scale field experiment in India to study attitudinal, behavioral, and cognitive constraints that can stymie the link between financial education and financial outcomes. The study complements financial education with (1) financial incentives on a... View Details
Carpena, Fenella, Shawn A. Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, and Bilal Zia. "The ABCs of Financial Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, Behavior, and Cognitive Biases." Management Science 65, no. 1 (January 2019): 346–369.
- Article
Missing the Near Miss: Recognizing Valuable Learning Opportunities in Radiation Oncology
By: Palak Kundu, Olivia Jung, Luca F. Valle, Amy C. Edmondson, Nzhde Agazaryan, John Hegde, Michael Steinberg and Ann Raldow
“Near miss” events are valuable low-cost learning opportunities in radiation oncology as they do not result in patient harm and are more pervasive than adverse events that do. Near misses vary depending on the presence of a latent error of behavior or process, and the... View Details
Kundu, Palak, Olivia Jung, Luca F. Valle, Amy C. Edmondson, Nzhde Agazaryan, John Hegde, Michael Steinberg, and Ann Raldow. "Missing the Near Miss: Recognizing Valuable Learning Opportunities in Radiation Oncology." Practical Radiation Oncology 11, no. 3 (May 2021): e256–e262.
- 2010
- Working Paper
Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions
By: Lisa L. Shu and Max Bazerman
We explore interventions at the individual level and focus on recognized cognitive barriers from behavioral decision-making literature. In particular, we highlight three cognitive barriers that impede sound individual decision making that have particular relevance to... View Details
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability; Cognition and Thinking; Prejudice and Bias
Shu, Lisa L., and Max Bazerman. "Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-046, November 2010.
- 15 Dec 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions
Keywords: by Lisa L.Shu & Max H. Bazerman
- May 2012
- Case
Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (A)
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman
This case documents decision-making processes, organizational culture, and other contributors to NASA's failed Columbia mission in 2003. Addresses the question of how organizations should deal with "ambiguous threats" - weak signals of potential crisis - and explores... View Details
Keywords: Cognitive Biases; Teams; Organizational Learning; Ambiguous Threat; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Failure; Crisis Management; Aerospace Industry
Edmondson, Amy C., and Kerry Herman. "Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (A)." Harvard Business School Case 612-095, May 2012.
- 2021
- Working Paper
G.I. Joe Phenomena: Understanding the Limits of Metacognitive Awareness on Debiasing
By: Ariella S. Kristal and Laurie R. Santos
Knowing about one’s biases does not always allow one to overcome those biases— a phenomenon referred to as the G. I. Joe fallacy. We explore why knowing about a bias doesn’t necessarily change biased behavior. We argue that seemingly disparate G. I. Joe... View Details
Keywords: Biases; Judgment; Decision-making; Nudge; Debiasing; Illusions; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Behavior; Change
Kristal, Ariella S., and Laurie R. Santos. "G.I. Joe Phenomena: Understanding the Limits of Metacognitive Awareness on Debiasing." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-084, January 2021.
- 2020
- Article
Subjective Semantic Surprise Resulting from Divided Attention Biases Evaluations of an Idea’s Creativity
By: Goran Calic, Nour El Shamy, Isaac Kinley, Scott Watter and Khaled Hassanein
The evaluation of an idea’s creativity constitutes an important step in successfully responding to an unexpected problem with a new solution. Yet, distractions compete for cognitive resources with the evaluation process and may change how individuals evaluate ideas. In... View Details
Calic, Goran, Nour El Shamy, Isaac Kinley, Scott Watter, and Khaled Hassanein. "Subjective Semantic Surprise Resulting from Divided Attention Biases Evaluations of an Idea’s Creativity." Scientific Reports 10 (2020).
- May 2012
- Supplement
Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (B)
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman
Keywords: Cognitive Biases; Teams; Organizational Learning; Ambiguous Threat; Risk and Uncertainty; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Corporate Disclosure; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Public Administration Industry; Aerospace Industry
Edmondson, Amy C., and Kerry Herman. "Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (B) ." Harvard Business School Supplement 612-096, May 2012.
- 2012
- Working Paper
The Dark Side of the Vote: Biased Voters, Social Information, and Information Aggregation Through Majority Voting
We experimentally investigate information aggregation through majority voting when some voters are biased. In such situations, majority voting can have a "dark side", i.e. result in groups making choices inferior to those made by individuals acting alone. We develop a... View Details
Morton, Rebecca B., Marco Piovesan, and Jean-Robert Tyran. "The Dark Side of the Vote: Biased Voters, Social Information, and Information Aggregation Through Majority Voting." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-017, August 2012.
- 2017
- Article
True Happiness: The Role of Morality in the Concept of Happiness
By: Jonathan Phillips, Julian De Freitas, Christian Mott, June Gruber and Joshua Knobe
Recent scientific research has settled on a purely descriptive definition of happiness that is focused solely on agents' psychological states (high positive affect, low negative affect, high life satisfaction). In contrast to this understanding, recent research has... View Details
Phillips, Jonathan, Julian De Freitas, Christian Mott, June Gruber, and Joshua Knobe. "True Happiness: The Role of Morality in the Concept of Happiness." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 146, no. 2 (2017): 165–181.
- January 2025
- Case
AI Meets VC: The Data-Driven Revolution at Quantum Light Capital
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Ilya Kondrashov, CEO of Quantum Light Capital, was driven to harness AI for identifying high-potential scale-ups. Collaborating with Nik Storonsky, founder of Revolut, the duo observed that most venture capital (VC) decisions were heavily influenced by emotion, with... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Business Finance; Data Analysis; Angel Investors; Cognitive Biases; Scale; Venture Capital; Investment; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Public Opinion; Private Sector; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Earnings; Behavioral Finance; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Business Startups; Financial Services Industry; London; United Kingdom
Cohen, Lauren, Grace Headinger, and Sophia Pan. "AI Meets VC: The Data-Driven Revolution at Quantum Light Capital." Harvard Business School Case 225-053, January 2025.
- Article
The Similarity Heuristic
By: Daniel Read and Yael Grushka-Cockayne
Decision makers often make snap judgments using fast‐and‐frugal decision rules called cognitive heuristics. Research into cognitive heuristics has been divided into two camps. One camp has emphasized the limitations and biases produced by the heuristics; another has... View Details
Read, Daniel, and Yael Grushka-Cockayne. "The Similarity Heuristic." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 24, no. 1 (January 2011): 23–46.
- August 28, 2018
- Article
Maintaining Trust When Agents Can Engage in Self-deception
By: Andres Babino, Hernan A. Makse, Rafael Di Tella and Mariano Sigman
The coexistence of cooperation and selfish instincts is a remarkable characteristic of humans. Psychological research has unveiled the cognitive mechanisms behind self-deception. Two important findings are that a higher ambiguity about others’ social preferences leads... View Details
Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Cognitive Neuroscience; Corruption; Cooperation; Self-deception; Trust; Behavior
Babino, Andres, Hernan A. Makse, Rafael Di Tella, and Mariano Sigman. "Maintaining Trust When Agents Can Engage in Self-deception." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 35 (August 28, 2018): 8728–8733.
- 2025
- Working Paper
How Do Voters Respond to Cues by Charismatic Leaders? Evidence from Brazil
By: Paula Rettl
While elite-cue effects on public opinion are well-documented, questions remain as
to when and why voters use elite cues to inform their opinions and behaviors. This
study contributes to answer these questions by testing whether voters react to cues
by charismatic... View Details
Keywords: Elites; Public Engagement; Politics; Political Affiliation; Political Campaigns; Political Influence; Political Leadership; Political Economy; Survey Research; COVID-19; COVID-19 Pandemic; COVID; Cognitive Psychology; Cognitive Biases; Political Elections; Voting; Power and Influence; Identity; Behavior; Latin America; Brazil
Rettl, Paula. "How Do Voters Respond to Cues by Charismatic Leaders? Evidence from Brazil." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-022, October 2023. (Revised June 2025.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
Confidence, Self-Selection and Bias in the Aggregate
By: Benjamin Enke, Thomas Graeber and Ryan Oprea
The influence of behavioral biases on aggregate outcomes like prices and allocations depends in part on self-selection: whether rational people opt more strongly into aggregate interactions than biased individuals. We conduct a series of betting market, auction and... View Details
Enke, Benjamin, Thomas Graeber, and Ryan Oprea. "Confidence, Self-Selection and Bias in the Aggregate." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30262, July 2022.
- 17 May 2018
- Sharpening Your Skills
You Probably Have a Bias for Making Bad Decisions. Here's Why.
audience of the day with the president, believing the last idea he hears is the one most likely to be chosen. If true, the president is no better or worse than most of us in allowing cognitive biases to... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne
- 27 Feb 2019
- News