How to recognise cognitive bias in decision-making

Most people like to think their decisions are driven by evidence and clear logic. In reality, they are shaped by a mix of conscious reasoning, subconscious pattern recognition, and emotional signals that often emerge before we can fully explain them.

“There is no evidence that human beings make decisions in a purely rational way,” says Dr Travis Kemp, organisational psychologist and executive coach. Instead, emotion is always part of the equation, shaping and sometimes distorting judgement.

“When you look at how we are wired and the number of cognitive biases we operate with, it becomes clear that decision-making is far more complex than pure rational analysis,” he says.

This creates a tension for how people think about decision-making: while professionals value logic and data, much of what drives choice happens outside conscious awareness.

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