Whitepaper: Cognitive Biases and the Story of Social Intelligence

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All people are affected by cognitive biases that distort how we Think, Act, and React to the world around us. This happens because our brains are lazy—we look for quick interpretations of events and easy solutions to problems. Our brains use shortcuts that interfere with our ability to pay attention to what’s going on around us. When it comes to Social Intelligence, these biases affect our ability to communicate, understand and connect with others, innovate, and adapt easily to change. To develop better Social Intelligence, we need to break through cognitive biases by changing our behavior and habits.

SOCIAL STYLE

When communicating and working with others, we are affected by the Self-Evaluation Bias, which influences how we see ourselves and how we interpret others’ behavior. To break this bias, we have to learn the different behavior styles. Once we know how to accept other behaviors, we can adapt how we communicate and work with others This leads to greater personal effectiveness. TRACOM’s SOCIAL STYLE training is based on observable behavior learners can apply to quickly identify a person’s preferences and make informed choices that make that person comfortable.

Behavioral Emotional Intelligence

Developing meaningful, impactful relationships with co-workers is important, yet this capability depends on our ability to empathize and connect with others. Unfortunately, this capability is frequently undermined by the Transparency Bias, which causes us to believe that others accurately recognize our emotional state, and also to overestimate how accurately we understand others’ emotional states. To break the Transparency Bias, people can learn strategies to enhance Behavioral Emotional Intelligence (EQ). TRACOM’s Behavioral EQ training has been one of the best predictors of job performance and success.

Resilience

Our ability to recover and move forward during disruptive change and adversity is affected by the Negativity Bias, which causes us to focus on the “bad” more than the “good.” This bias is broken by a number of behavioral strategies that help people build different areas of Resilience, such as realistic optimism, problem-solving and self-composure in the face of change, and social support to buffer against hard times. TRACOM’s Adaptive Mindset for Resilience training allows people to replace their Negativity Bias with a new outlook and practical strategies for improved Resilience and productivity. 

Agility

The importance of creating new concepts and ways of doing things has never been clearer. The modern era demands agility from individuals and organizations. But our ability to be agile is affected by the Tunnel Vision Bias, which causes us to focus on narrow goals and priorities, missing other possibilities and opportunities. Breaking the Tunnel Vision Bias can be achieved through strategies to enhance experimentation and openness in how things are done. TRACOM’s Unlocking Agility program helps organizations develop an adaptive mindset, alongside innovation strategies to combat this bias.