Binary bias: what it is and how it affects our way of thinking

Throughout the day, our brain processes a large amount of information, so it has a great capacity for it; however, it does not always do it in the best possible way, and it is that it sometimes needs the use of mental shortcuts with the in order to label, classify or make quick judgments, so that sometimes we fall into the distortions or biases of the thought.

Binary bias is a psychological effect that occurs quite frequently when it comes to dichotomizing a set of data that people are exposed to in their day-to-day life, from so that the classification of said data would be reduced to only two categories when in reality there would be the possibility of taking into account a wide range of categories different.

In this article we will explain in more detail What is a psychological phenomenon as interesting as the binary bias?, and for this we will also expose some everyday examples in which this bias could be present; however, it is preferable first to briefly explain why cognitive biases occur.

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Why can cognitive biases occur?

According to research conducted over the years by psychologists Daniel Kahnemann and Amos Tversky, when processing information, people very often tend to distort that information, and this phenomenon is known as cognitive bias.

Cognitive biases would be those that cause a deviation of rational and logical thinking from reality when processing information. These biases can lead people to give different importance to facts that have the same nature and could be detected when errors in judgment or reasoning appear. Likewise, cognitive biases can arise for various reasons: due to limitations in memory, due to the need to act quickly, due to lack of common sense or having to process too much information simultaneously.

On the other hand, people tend to process information from two different systems. On the one hand, there is system 1, which is in charge of processing the information in an intuitive and fast way; On the other hand, system 2 would be the one that allows people to process information in a more reflective and logical way, although it requires more time to process it than system 1.

Sometimes, not having the necessary time, there is a tendency to use system 1 to process the information; However, although it can help us succeed in many cases, it is also inevitable that this causes a series of cognitive biases, such as the binary bias. Many times the use of system 1 is justified when making decisions due to the requirements of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

The problem occurs when we tend to use this system out of habit. in important moments in which to make relevant decisions it would be necessary to use a more reflective and logical way of thinking, as occurs when using system 2 thinking. Nowadays we are encountering this problem more and more, since people are so used to processing information quickly and automatically through electronic devices, so they have lost patience and the desire to think carefully about the stuff.

Now that we have seen some of the possible causes why it is quite common for bias to occur cognitive in the daily life of people we are going to proceed to explain in greater detail what it consists of the focus of this article, the binary bias.

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What is binary bias?

Although normally people have an image about our species as that of some thoughtful, rational and intelligent beings, it could be said that this is a half-truth, since we have a strong tendency to use an economizing way of thinking, not take the necessary time that requires the use of system 2 of thought (logical and reflective) and we resort more to system 1 (intuitive and Quick). In this way we quickly process the information and thus we quickly jump to conclusions and this is something we tend to do automatically.

This fast-thinking mode has served an important function for humans going back to our most primitive ancestors, since It allowed them the possibility of surviving the environment thanks to quick decision making in moments when it was a matter of life or death to act. However, this fast and intuitive thinking today may be being used more than it should be, thus succumbing to a series of cognitive biases (p. g., confirmation bias, illusory superiority bias, anchoring bias, binary bias, etc.).

The binary bias could be defined as that psychological effect that occurs when a person tends to a set of data to which she is exposed in her daily life, in such a way that it would reduce the classification of said data to only two categories when in reality there would be the possibility of taking into account a wide range of different categories. This bias can lead people to see their environment in a very simplistic way and, sometimes, within somewhat negative categories.

In addition, the negative bias is not reduced to situations in which, in order to save time, the use of system 1 of thinking, fast and intuitive, is resorted to, but in In the case of this bias, we refer to that tendency that many people have when it comes to processing information in such a way that they order it between two categories.

Some examples of binary bias would be that tendency of some people to classify things between good or bad, to believe that within a given field of life everything is true or everything is false, to think that there is only success or failure, to think that there are only two different options, to believe that everything is white or everything is black, forgetting that in reality there is a wide range of grays in the middle that are more similar to the reality.

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Similarity between binary bias and dichotomous thinking according to Beck

The way of thinking produced by the binary bias is quite similar to the way of seeing things of some patients, as discovered by Aaron Beck in his research with the patients who attended his consultation and that helped him develop cognitive therapy for depression.

Beck noted on his day that we have to change the way of thinking in absolute terms, in terms of all or nothing, good or bad, for a more flexible and rational way of thinking, since it will be the only way to alleviate the discomfort psychological caused by that absolutist, dichotomous or polarized thought that can become somewhat pessimistic.

On the other hand, it is also important to learn to tolerate ambiguity and, having a more rational and flexible thinking, to observe the intermediate terms that exist between those two opposite poles that were not seen before having tried to analyze things over time necessary. It is true that this is not easy, especially on those occasions in which this way of thinking is related to some kind of mental disorder such as depression, being necessary to go to a specialist so that he can provide his help.

However, in those cases in which there is no associated psychological discomfort, one could try to resort more often to more critical and rational thinking, especially when making decisions important. For this, it is recommended that we be curious, rational and critical, that we have an open mind before what is presented to us and that we avoid seeing only two opposite options, when in reality we have a wide range of possibilities.

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How might binary bias influence social media and reviews?

As we have seen before, the binary bias can have repercussions in a wide variety of contexts and situations of daily life, having been able to observe through some research that also influences the digital world, as it happens in social networks and in the reviews made by customers of some shops.

In this type of scenario, what happens is that our brain receives a constant bombardment of information, so he does not have the necessary time to analyze it from an analytical, critical and rational. Therefore, it is quite common that the binary bias occurs here and everything is seen as true or false, good or bad, interesting or tedious, etc. It is also common that in social networks, if you look at the comments regarding a topic or a publication, you will find a polarity of opinion.

On the other hand, there are studies that have investigated the relevance of binary bias in the way people evaluate customer reviews of a business. When people look at the reviews that other customers of a business have given, they tend to see the reviews from a different perspective. polarized or dichotomous in considering, for example, 4 and 5 star ratings as positive and 1 and 2 star ratings as negative. negative.

However, in those studies the researchers found that people were not able to distinguish enough the difference between the most extreme ratings (1 and 5 stars) and the least extreme (2 and 4 stars). Also, it is quite common that people tend to rate from the extremes, seeing things through a binary bias; that is, with 5 stars when they are satisfied and with 1 when they have not liked the product purchased or the experience, with no middle ground.