When African warlords kidnap children to serve in their armies they force them to take various drugs and to carry out unspeakable acts in order to permanently separate them from their families and society. Once addicted, the children obey the warlords and are forced to conduct atrocities that make them feel like there is no going back to the lives they came from. They believe that their families and villages will not accept them back; they have become addicted and isolated from normal society. For them, they see no other path than the one they have been forced onto, they see no return to the life they once knew.
This cognitive bias concept was described by Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking Fast and Slow; Kahneman coined it as “What You See is All There Is” or WYSIATI. The concept is that if you limit the amount of information flowing to a person, that person will make their decisions based on what information is available. And to the extent that you can get people to seek out additional information and options, broadening out their choices, better decisions can be made. The brainwashed children see no other options because they are not allowed to see other options.
The What You See is All There Is effect has many parallels in everyday life including in politics, in business, even in employee surveys. When you go a store you tend to choose from what is on the shelf, often not bothering to check out what options are available. In business meetings decision options are presented with a limited set of choices, partially to speed things along, partially due to limited resources, and perhaps partially due to biases. In politics it is very clear that “information bubbles” exist chiefly to make sure adherents hear only approved messaging. And even in employee surveys key drivers or causes of an outcome (e.g. turnover, engagement) are sought out. But the very nature of using statistics to determine what is causing what means that when you come up with key drivers they will come from items you have asked about. For if it isn’t asked it is impossible to show up as a key driver. Additionally there has been unrelenting pressure over the years to make employee surveys shorter and shorter; yet the shorter the survey there is less information and less diagnosis of issues. Thirty years ago it was not unusual to have surveys of 100-125 items. Today 30-50 is much more common. While often due to time constraints, these shortenedsurveys will lead to more limited precision regarding challenges being faced. It is like your cardiologist being limited to using a 4-lead EKG rather than a 12-lead. You can tell that the heart is still beating but that 3rd degree block may go undiagnosed.
In order to improve decision-making, examine multiple options, ensuring that you’re not focusing on the immediately obvious. In other words, think outside the box, perhaps by speaking with multiple sources with different perspectives. Additionally, make sure that you are getting unbiased, scientifically sound and robust information flows that allows you to engage in critical thinking. Working with trusted experts, who know a field and can talk about options extensively is one way to make sure the information you get is empowering rather than limiting. Once decisions or choices are made with limited information, fewer and fewer options for future decisions can present themselves as you can get locked into a certain path, leading to a point of no return and ultimately to decision-making failure. Spending some extra energy early helps ensure better decision making.