Choice-Supportive Bias

by Craig Shrives

What Is Choice-Supportive Bias?

Choice-supportive bias, also known as post-decisional dissonance, is a cognitive bias in which individuals tend to retrospectively view their chosen option as more favourable and the alternatives as less favourable after making a decision. It involves the tendency to justify and enhance the perceived positive aspects of the chosen option while downplaying or disregarding the positive attributes of unchosen alternatives.

Here's a short example to illustrate choice-supportive bias: Choice-supportive bias occurs due to cognitive dissonance, which is the discomfort individuals experience when they hold contradictory beliefs or attitudes. To reduce this discomfort, individuals engage in biased information processing, highlighting the positive aspects of their choice and minimizing the positive aspects of the alternatives.

This bias helps individuals maintain a sense of consistency and confidence in their decision-making. By positively reinforcing their choice, individuals protect their self-esteem and reduce doubts about their decision. However, it can lead to a distorted perception of the options and hinder objective evaluation.

Recognizing choice-supportive bias is important to make more rational and informed decisions. It involves actively considering the positive aspects of unchosen alternatives and critically evaluating the chosen option. By being aware of this bias, individuals can strive to make more balanced and objective assessments, reducing the influence of post-decisional bias on their evaluations.

An Example of Choice-Supportive Bias

I told you it was the right decision

It's a fairly common view that George W. Bush made an early decision to have a fight with Saddam Hussein when the opportunity arose. The story of how the intelligence on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was handled (see Confirmation Bias) raises fair suspicion that the decision to go to war was a very risky one.

However, as soon as he was captured, the White House was not slow in using this to win support for the decision to go to war. Of course, capturing Saddam was never part of that decision. Their effort to lever it in as evidence to defend the decision to go to war was an example of choice-supportive bias.

A Practical Application for Choice-Supportive Bias

Admit you got it wrong earlier and limit the damage

Choice-supportive bias is really common, and it happens at all levels. Last year, I treated my garden decking with some clear decking oil. I had painted half before it became obvious that something wasn't quite right: the "clear" oil was giving a horrid "milky" finish.

It took me half of the next day arguing with myself to accept it was a mess. I spent that half of the day arguing that it would look okay once the rest was done, talking up the oil's wood-preservation attributes and convincing myself that it didn't look too milky. I was looking for evidence to support my decision to use a relatively expensive clear varnish over a cheaper coloured one. Luckily, a more objective assessment of the decking situation saved me hours of work. Once I realised I was suffering from choice-supportive bias, I only had to sand the half I'd ruined back to the bare wood.

Another Practical Application for Choice-Supportive Bias

Don't defend bad decisions. Keep checking whether a decision was good

Everyone has made a decision and then regretted it. One common example is buyer's remorse (suffering guilt over an extravagant purchase or realising you've been overly influenced by a salesman). If you find yourself actively avoiding that regret by finding positives about your poor choice, then choice-supportive bias is at play.

Nobody likes to be accused of poor judgement, so defending decisions is a natural thing to do. Knowing not to defend a bad decision is important, but it's only half of what is required. The decisions and assumptions that influence your work should be routinely tested. Analysts are taught to bear this in mind: Decisions are good. They help you move forward, but they should not be blindly defended or assumed to be forever correct once made.

Critical Thinking Test

Are you good at spotting the biases, fallacies, and other cognitive effects? Can you spot when statistics have been manipulated? Can you read body language? Well, let's see! Show Instructions

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