Relations between Cognitive Biases and Some Concepts of Information Behavior

Abstract

Information behavior, as a part of human behavior, has many aspects, including a cognitive aspect. Cognitive biases, one of the important issues in psychology and cognitive science, can play a critical role in people’s behaviors and their information behavior. This article discusses the potential relationships between some concepts of human information behavior and cognitive biases. The qualitative research included semistructured face-to-face interviews with 25 postgraduate students who were at the writing-up stage of their research. The participants were selected using a purposeful sampling process. Interviews were analyzed using the coding technique of classic grounded theory. The research framework was the Eisenberg and Berkowitz information behavior model. The relationships that are discussed in this article include those between the principle of least effort on the one hand and availability bias and ambiguity aversion on the other; value-sensitive design and reactance; willingness to return and availability bias; library anxiety and ambiguity aversion, status quo bias, and stereotypical bias; information avoidance and selective perception, confirmation bias, stereotypical bias, and conservatism bias; information overload and information bias; and finally, filtering and attentional bias.