Isaac Pandyan
Allen High School STEAM Center
Advanced Computer Science II
Mr. Ben-Yaakov
December 9, 2022
Bias
Humans are not perfect decision makers. This is because humans, unlike computers, fall victim to bias. There are many different categories of biases ranging from prejudice to cognitive bias (Murphy, 2021). However, in regards to my ISP Project, the front-end of the model scheduler, the most important category is certainly the different types of cognitive biases. The different cognitive biases that are likely to affect my team and I’s ability to perform our tasks are confirmation bias, overconfidence bias, availability bias, and unconscious bias. Some of these biases may affect individuals of the team, while others may affect the entire team. If a group is unaware of the biases that may be influencing their decisions, they are likely to make worse decisions as the year goes on and the due date gets closer.
Confirmation Bias
The bias that I will likely most frequently come across is confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when an individual or group has a penchant for ignoring evidence or information, either consciously or subconsciously, that contradicts their preconceived notions. Humans are constantly putting together preconceived notions because humans have historically relied on pattern recognition to survive. This sprouted from the evolutionary need to try and figure out what’s going to happen before it happens in order to mentally calculate the risk of potential threats (Casad, 2022). This can be harmful while putting together the front-end of the scheduler because I, alongside my group, may ignore evidence that something isn’t functioning optimally in favor of assuming it works the way I thought it would when I initially made it. In addition, in a group project, if somebody tells you that something is supposed to work a certain way before you go ahead and test it yourself, you may discount information that contradicts what your group member says because your mind has now been set to assume that it works the way your group member said it would. The way I will attempt to combat confirmation bias is to always second guess the conclusions my brain puts together in order to create a well functioning program. In addition,I can ask for a second opinion as long as I'm careful to not let myself influence what my peer thinks.
Availability Bias
Availability bias is a large threat in regards to my group’s ISP because high schoolers, who comprise the group, are oftentimes lazy and do not perform their due diligence in gathering information and applying it. Availability bias is the tendency to act on information that instantly comes to mind or is readily available rather than doing the proper due diligence (Sheldon, 2022). It is often viewed as a mental shortcut, and as explained before, is a large threat to my ISP. This will be particularly true if my group procrastinates to a point in time in which we feel as though we need to take as many shortcuts as possible. While this may seem smart in the short term, in the long term it can cause poorer optimization and future logic problems within the program. The way I intend to combat availability bias is to pace the work properly in order to avoid the feeling that everything needs to be finished as quickly as possible.
Authority Bias
Authority bias is when an individual provides irrational levels of trust to somebody they view as an authority figure on the subject (Morgia, 2022). Authority bias is a bias that is prevalent throughout the vast majority of industries, especially the software development industry. Even though my ISP group will likely lack the rigid hierarchy of the modern technology corporation, Authority bias will still likely have a presence. If one individual believes that another individual is smarter than he is, he is less likely to question the other individual’s actions even if he believes they are incorrect. The way I will avoid authority bias is to always ask for an explanation of what somebody else did. If I agree with their explanation, then I can leave it be, if the explanation confuses me or is incorrect,I can ask further questions. This way I am avoiding unnecessary confrontation, sweeping my program for mistakes, and learning; all at the same time.
Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias affects how an individual views another person regardless of merit and ability (Xu, 2022). Unconscious bias can be seen all throughout society, including within the workplace and school projects. For example, if one individual in a group hates another individual’s friends, they may make unsupported assumptions about the intelligence, synergy, or overall character of the individual. In addition, if one individual in a group sees another member of the group in what’s considered to be “smart” classes, that individual may assume that the other member is smart as well, regardless of their grades in the classes. Both of these unconscious assumptions are harmful because they can influence someone’s ability to delegate responsibility or work with others for the project and thereby harm the overall group’s ability to perform. The way I will try to counteract unconscious bias is to give everybody a chance to show me their ability. In addition, I will try to shut out irresponsible assumptions of character.
Overconfidence Bias
Overconfidence bias is when an individual or group doesn't adequately assess their capabilities and instead overestimates them and makes poor choices based on these overestimations (CFI Team, 2022). Overconfidence bias is a large threat in regards to situations in which the ISP group may have to assess their capability to complete a task. This can take the shape of ultra-optimistic timing schedules in which the team trusts that they will be able to finish most of their ISP towards the end of the time available or take the form of choosing to create more difficult parts of the overall program that they are incapable of doing and add unnecessary stress in the project. The way I intend to fix overconfidence bias is to reasonably review what each member of the group can and can’t do, and to assess things like how complicated it should be or what the schedule on the project will be.
References