TDL Brief: Listening to Experts
From the time we are children, we are told to listen to experts. These figures of authority usually begin as our parents, but as we grow up, they become teachers, industry experts, scientists and policy makers. When we are unsure of how to behave, we look to experts to nudge us in the right direction.
Recently, the push to listen to experts has been stronger than ever. With the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic came a great amount of confusion about how to act. It seemed that recommendations and protocols were changing daily. With all this conflicting advice, and a growing public distrust in science, it is almost of no surprise that we have become reluctant to listen to the experts. Humans’ desire to avoid being told what to do, especially in individualistic countries like the U.S., makes us resistant to following experts’ recommendations about the pandemic. Some cognitive biases that influence whether or not we will listen to experts are further shaped by culture. We might be less likely to listen to female experts due to implicit gender biases.
References
- Bhanot, S. (2020, March 20). Why Are People Ignoring Expert Warnings?—Psychological Reactance. Behavioral Scientist. https://behavioralscientist.org/why-are-people-ignoring-expert-warnings-psychological-reactance-coronavirus-covid-19/
- Andhavarapu, S. (2020, December 9). Remaining Vigilant In The Era Of Information Overload. The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/health/remaining-vigilant-in-the-era-of-information-overload/
- Gelfand, M. (2020, March 13). To survive the coronavirus, the United States must tighten up. The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/13/opinion/survive-coronavirus-united-states-must-tighten-up/
- The Decision Lab. (2020, November 24). Pessimism bias. https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/pessimism-bias/
- Kakutani, M. (2017, March 21). ‘The Death of Expertise’ Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/books/the-death-of-expertise-explores-how-ignorance-became-a-virtue.html
- Taub, A. (2016, March 16). The #ManPanel problem: Why are female experts still so widely ignored? Vox. https://www.vox.com/2016/3/16/11245454/manpanel-problem-female-experts-ignored
- Lewis, A. (2020, October 7). Gender and Self-Perception in Competition. The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/business/gender-self-perception-competition/
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
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