The Measurement of Individual Differences in Cognitive Biases: A Review and Improvement

Individual differences have been neglected in decision-making research on heuristics and cognitive biases. Addressing that issue requires having reliable measures. The author first reviewed the research on the measurement of individual differences in cognitive biases. While reliable measures of a dozen biases are currently available, our review revealed that some measures require improvement and measures of other key biases are still lacking (e.g., confirmation bias). We then conducted empirical work showing that adjustments produced a significant improvement of some measures and that confirmation bias can be reliably measured. Overall, our review and findings highlight that the measurement of individual differences in cognitive biases is still in its infancy. In particular, we suggest that contextualized (in addition to generic) measures need to be improved or developed.

Automated summary

The study suggests that individual differences in decision-making research on heuristics and cognitive biases have been overlooked, and reliable measures are needed. While there are currently reliable measures for some cognitive biases, improvements are needed for others, such as confirmation bias. Empirical work showed that adjustments can significantly improve some measures and confirmation bias can be reliably measured. Overall, the study highlights that measurement of individual differences in cognitive biases is still in its early stages, with a particular need for improved or developed contextualized measures.