When I go back to my early years, I am really delighted to recall the wonderful times I had performing on stage. I'm not sure if my love of public speaking stems from the kind of support I got when I was in school, but it continues to be a passion of mine.
Have you ever pondered why some people are consistently on stage leading sessions, serving as event anchors, and addressing large crowds while others are consistently in the audience? The main difference between the two is that the former had public speaking and presentation skills either taught to them in schools or they acquired through their experiences.
Teaching young children the fundamental abilities that will enable them to grow and make a difference is important if we want to build a generation of confident, expressive, and daring individuals.
For several reasons, giving presentations is a requirement of the curriculum in schools. Some of these include igniting creativity, boosting confidence, improving communication abilities, honing research skills, developing leaders, assisting with organisation and discipline, enhancing body language, and extending their network of friends and fellow people.
Okay, back to the topic. Let us suppose that you have good presentation skills and now have got to make a presentation on a given topic. What would you do? You do intense research on that topic from various sources and finally prepare a module. You might have googled the topic, or referred to many relevant books or sought the help of some SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) or professors who are well worst in the given subject.
After gathering as many information as you could, now you are processing and interpreting the knowledge that you have gained, and restate the inference in your own words. What if your conclusion goes wrong? Or, are there chances for it to go wrong?
If your conclusion has gone wrong, it does mean that your subsequent decisions or derivations can also go wrong. We can call this as Cognitive Bias.
In other terms, a cognitive bias is a systematic inaccuracy in thinking that arises when people receive and interpret information and influences their decisions and judgements.
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman first proposed the notion of cognitive bias in 1972.
When you gain more information and your brain seeks to simplify that information while processing, there may be some biases that are related to your memory or attention problems. As you are aware, attention is a finite resource that fluctuates from person to person, people are naturally selective in what attracts them or what they pay attention to in the world, which can lead to distorted decision making or interpretation.
In a classroom scenario let us look at some cognitive biases that are holding your kids back.
1. The spotlight effect.
This is the belief that other people notice your behavior and looks more than they do. In one study, students were asked to wear a humiliating T-shirt in front of other college students. At the end of the day, the T-shirt wearers were asked how did they feel, and they exaggerated the number of other pupils who had actually spotted them.
You may be wondering how this relates to the students in a typical classroom. Let me tell you something. Students frequently care a great deal about what others think of them.
Consider yourself teaching an essential topic in your classroom while your pupils are attentively listening, and you ask a question at random. Also imagine that none of them has raised their hands. The Spotlight Effect could explain these moments in class. The spotlight effect occurs when the students overestimate how much others would notice them. You should appreciate that a student may want to respond but is too concerned about what their classmates will think of their answer. In truth, students are of the notion that someone else might answer the question so they don't have to, so demonstrating the Spotlight Effect.
This Spotlight effect has the potential to be harmful. It may also add to pupils' feelings of uneasiness and self-consciousness. Would you agree?
Let us now discuss how to get over this problem.
Encourage kids to focus on what they need to do to perform effectively and achieve their goals rather than what others think. Also, inform them that other pupils are probably not as interested on them as they believe; they are more likely concerned with themselves.
2. Not Invented Here
The Math teacher says to the student, “I have not taught you this method to solve this problem. I am not going to give you marks, because even if the answer is correct, this is not the method I wanted you to do. In fact, I am also not going to give you marks if I come to know that you are going to tuition elsewhere.”
The student fears to ask the question that pops up to his mind. “But madam, could you please explain to me where exactly have I gone wrong, or why shouldn’t I follow this method while I am getting the answers to the similar types of other problems in the text book exercise?”
Hope you have got a rough idea of what I am trying to tell. Let me now generalize the concept.
The not invented here (NIH) syndrome refers to management's predisposition to reject any concept that did not originate within the organization.
This impact is characterized by a reluctance to apply knowledge or research developed by another group. This bias can have an impact on group project works. For example, if you divide your classroom into several groups where each group explores and learns about a separate aspect of a topic, students may be resistant to learning or applying knowledge from other groups when it comes time to present their results to the class. This would result in their missing out on vital information.
Encourage pupils to actively participate in the presentations of other groups. You may ask them to take notes and even answer questions at the end. You might also assign groups rather than allowing students to choose to be with only their buddies, which could amplify an In-group Bias.
3. The Misinformation Effect
In my English class, I tell a lot of stories to my students. After that particular class when I retell those stories for my next batches, I have noticed that those stories used to change a lot. Sometimes it would be more dramatic, funnier, or scarier.
As a fiction novelist too, I have experienced similar phenomenon. Sometimes the characters I have created do not even exist when I retell the stories umpteen times or there are chances that new characters have got developed, but in truth I wanted to tell the version I created first.
One explanation for such occurrences is our mind’s tendency to experience the misinformation effect. i.e., this happens when post-event information interferes with the original memory of an event.
Generalizing the concept, we can conclude that memory gets less accurate as a result of knowledge presented after learning.
In one study, participants watched the footage of the same crime from multiple views, which revealed varied facts. Participants then falsely recalled aspects from their video that they had not seen but had overheard in conversation with participants who had watched a different video.
The Misinformation Effect demonstrates how later information might skew our recollection. This may cause kids to misremember content if they discuss it with classmates who may supply false information accidentally.
While encouraging peers to discuss what they've learned and review one other's work can be a beneficial tool, it should be used with caution. After a peer debate or evaluation, make careful to clarify the facts.
4. Exaggerated Expectation Bias
As the name suggests, it is the tendency to expect more extreme outcomes than what ends up happening. The meaning of this is, expecting more dramatic outcomes than what actually occurs.
For example, a student after considerable revision is done prior to preparing for his exams, he may believe that his revision will have a greater impact on his exam performance than it actually would. When this phenomenon occurs, students may put in insufficient effort in their revision and appear unprepared for tests.
On the other hand, this bias may drive students to be concerned about future examinations and overstate how bad they would be, imagining the worst-case scenario. This may result in undue tension and anxiety surrounding exams and exam preparation.
Case 1: I have studied a lot, perhaps a lot more than what is required. This is enough for me to score well in the examination.
Case 2: I haven't studied much. I fear that I would fail in this examination. I am not sure what shall I do. I fear the same thing what happened to me the last year would repeat again.
Think of both the cases. What to do against this?
Provide as much revision guidance as feasible. Like, how much information do students need to know about each topic? How much time should they put into it? Which revision tactics will best utilize their time?
These principles will assist pupils who might otherwise believe they have learned a topic after 5 minutes of reading. Reassure students and assist them in gaining perspective: while exams are essential and students should prepare well for them, they are not the be-all and end-all. Teachers and parents can both help to alleviate some of the anxiety and stress.
5. Law of the Instrument Effect
The law of the instrument states that you are only as good as the instruments or tools you know how to utilize. If you have a screw, some wood, and a hammer, you might be able to get the screw into the wood, but a screwdriver would be a better option.
People who suffer from this bias choose a tool or tactic that they are familiar with over alternative ways that may function better.
Consider the example of students always following the same approach while solving a mathematical problem, and any deviation from the method is not considered acceptable, no matter the method could be right.
The Law of the Instrument could explain why some students repeatedly turn to unproductive revising approaches, such as re-reading and highlighting, when there are other, more successful techniques available.
It is critical for pupils to distinguish between what they prefer and what is best for them. Encourage them to employ multiple revision approaches or create a revision timetable with them to aid with this. Parents could ask their youngster to teach them what they've been revising - a good method to get the most out of their child.
6. Dread Aversion
"One litre of milk costs Rs.45. What is the cost of 45 litres of milk?"
"Oh my goodness! I hate Math. I don't want to calculate it. You know, I am very poor in that subject."
"But there is an easy method to do it. You know, multiplication of 45 x 45 is not that difficult. Here let me explain..."
"No please, I can't concentrate any more in Math. I remember my Math teacher spanking on my bank while I was called to work out on the black board. My high-school days are still a nightmare to me."
What comes to your mind when you read this example?
Let me tell you. A tendency to avoid pain more frequently than to seek pleasure and/or remain in one's comfort zone, produced by paying more attention to painful experiences than to the pleasurable ones, is the concept that I am trying to tell.
We are more averse to things we dislike than we are to ones we enjoy. This is 'Dread Aversion'.
Exams might be particularly intimidating for some pupils. They may avoid thinking about or planning for tests due to dread aversion. Not only will this have an impact on revision and, ultimately, results, but it will also add to the stress and anxiety surrounding them.
How to get rid of this?
Reassurance and encouragement are unquestionably the answer here. Inform pupils that you are confident in their abilities and assist them with solutions for dealing with exam anxiety.
You've probably heard of logical fallacies. Cognitive bias is directly related to logical fallacies. People frequently mix up these two terms, although they are not interchangeable. I won't go into the logical fallacies in this session because it may overwhelm you with knowledge, but I guess you should have a decent understanding of what cognitive bias is by now.
People need to be aware of their cognitive biases in order to think critically and prevent coming to incorrect conclusions. Cognitive biases can stifle critical thinking and result in the perpetuation of errors or misinformation. Due to cognitive biases, some types of information may be overemphasised while others are neglected. Following one's instincts can result in favouring viewpoints that are compatible with one's personal prejudices and experiences.
Correcting cognitive biases and encouraging sound critical thought can both be accomplished with the help of reflective thought. So, what exactly is reflective thought?
Reflective thinking can be defined as: deliberately considering and examining what you are doing at the moment and what you have done in the past. That means, your past experiences, like what you've learned and how you have learned. In short, 'Reflective Thinking' is fundamentally the idea of being aware of one's own knowledge, assumptions, and prior experiences.
Courtesy: Reflective Thinking (adpated from Syed, Scoular and Reaney, 2012
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