Investigating The Perseverance and Bias Blind Spot Relationship

Abstract

Although cognitive bias is easily detectable in the judgments and decision making of other people, we often fail to see its influence in our own thoughts and behavior. This “bias blind spot” is present in most individuals, but its magnitude differs from person to person. To better understand individual differences in susceptibility, we examined the relationship between bias blind spot and perseverance. To measure perseverance, participants were asked to complete as many easy or difficult mazes as they were able to do. Bias blind spot was measured using a validated scale developed by Scopelliti et al. (2015). Bias blind spot susceptibility was compared to time spent on the mazes and number of mazes completed. ANCOVA results revealed a significant finding between bias blind spot and measures of perseverance on difficult mazes, suggesting a relationship exists for bias blind spot and perseverance on challenging tasks. A second study will measure differences in perseverant behavior when feedback is introduced that compares the participant’s number of mazes completed to the average number completed by peers.