Skill: Critical thinking

Lesson Summary: Dealing with biases to deliver excellent customer experiences

SECTION ONE

Below are some of the common types of biases. Please match them to their corresponding
definitions.
The tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect
1. Anchoring bias action. People love to feel like they have information to back
up their decision-making, even if it’s extraneous.
The tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an
2. Blind spot bias authority figure (unrelated to its content) and be more
influenced by that opinion.

Tending to prefer the first thing we are shown when asked to

3. Information bias
make a decision, such as choose between a set of options.

The tendency to see oneself as less biased than other people, or

4. Authority bias the ability to identify more cognitive biases in others than in
oneself.

SECTION TWO
Watch this video and answer the following question.
https://youtu.be/tkbU8pNiwG4

State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.

a. Blind spots stem from overconfidence, too much information, emotional thinking or poor
communication.
b. The more information that you can pile on to a product description, the greater assurance
a user will have that the product is a high-quality and good-value product.
c. Our unconscious biases make us feel good to be wrong and bad to be right.

SECTION THREE

Consider the scenarios below and answer the following question:

Scenario 1:
During the course of following up with her clients, Jane educated them on their need for social
media in promoting their businesses. She emphasized the failure of not getting on the long
lasting social media trend will cost them their businesses as compared to others who are already
milking and cashing out on it.
Scenario 2:
Jack tends to leave for sales and marketing appointments with just enough time to spare.
However, he's often late because things unexpectedly happen during the trip. There could be
traffic or car trouble. He knew he should give himself more time but he rationalized, saying,
'There will not be any traffic. There will not be…' even though past experiences should convince
him that unexpected things will come up and delay him.
Could you indicate which type of bias (BLIND SPOT BIAS or AUTHORITY BIAS) was
represented by each scenario?

SECTION FOUR

What kind of unconscious biases do you have?

How do these biases impact your performance as a customer service agent?

SECTION FIVE
How does identifying biases (both yours and that of the customer) affect your role in
delivering excellent customer experiences?

How does your background similarities and differences make for excellent service delivery
to your customers?

SELF-REVIEW
*Rate yourself from 0-10 with 0 being Never/No and 10 being Very often/Yes
- I am not aware of the biases I have.
- I am aware of my biases but I don’t do much to address them.
- My biases tend to hold me back from exercising my great skills.

SUMMARY
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals
form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about
various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize
social worlds by categorizing.

Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and often incompatible
with one’s conscious values.

ANSWERS
SECTION ONE
Below are some of the common types of biases. Please match them to their corresponding
definitions.

Tending to prefer the first thing we are shown when asked to

1. Anchoring bias
make a decision, such as choose between a set of options.

The tendency to see oneself as less biased than other people, or

2. Blind spot bias the ability to identify more cognitive biases in others than in
oneself.

The tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect

3. Information bias action. People love to feel like they have information to back
up their decision-making, even if it’s extraneous.

The tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an

4. Authority bias authority figure (unrelated to its content) and be more
influenced by that opinion.

SECTION TWO
Watch this video and answer the following question.
https://youtu.be/tkbU8pNiwG4
State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.
a. Blind spots stem from overconfidence, too much information, emotional thinking or poor
communication. TRUE
b. The more information that you can pile on to a product description, the greater assurance
a user will have that the product is a high-quality and good-value product. TRUE
c. Our unconscious biases make us feel good to be wrong and bad to be right. FALSE

SECTION THREE
Consider the scenarios below and answer the following question:
Could you indicate which type of bias (BLIND SPOT BIAS or AUTHORITY BIAS) was
represented by each scenario?
Scenario 1:
During the course of following up with her clients, Jane educated them on their need for social
media in promoting their businesses. She emphasized the failure of not getting on the long
lasting social media trend will cost them their businesses as compared to others who are already
milking and cashing out on it.
AUTHORITY BIAS
Scenario 2:
Jack tends to leave for sales and marketing appointments with just enough time to spare.
However, he's often late because things unexpectedly happen during the trip. There could be
traffic or car trouble. He knew he should give himself more time but he rationalized, saying,
'There will not be any traffic. There will not be…' even though past experiences should convince
him that unexpected things will come up and delay him.
BLIND SPOT BIAS