Critical Thinking - Availability Cascade
Why we are duped by repetition
Since the expansion of Social Media, where I was, personally, able to connect to people who knew me when and I enjoyed for some time, the algorithms have expanded the cognitive bias of Availability Cascade.
What is Availability Cascade?
“The Availability Cascade is a self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation by which an expressed perception triggers a chain reaction that gives the perception increasing plausibility through its rising availability in public discourse. The driving mechanism involves a combination of informational and reputational motives: Individuals endorse the perception partly by learning from the apparent beliefs of others and partly by distorting their public responses in the interest of maintaining social acceptance. Availability entrepreneurs – activists who manipulate the content of public discourse – strive to trigger availability cascades likely to advance their agendas. Their availability campaigns may yield social benefits, but sometimes they bring harm, which suggests a need for safeguards.“
We are all succeptable to Availability Cascades
How many of you remember hearing and repeating the myth of razor blades in Halloween candy?
Have you ever re-shared a meme on Social Media because it “felt true”? I know I have. I was certain that the candidate promised a judge a nod to the Supreme court. Then I took a breath and I looked it up and didn’t find any credible sources and recanted my statements. (Do I believe it is still possible, yes, but I can’t prove it.)
The movie The Paper (1994) one of the charcaters said, "I bust my ass to find something fresh, and when I get it, I bang it like a cheap drum. People love this shit."
I have spent time with people who often parrot some of the same current talking points that cause me to bristle because it lacks clear understanding of the issue.
What can we do to do better?
I work hard to ensure that I am paying attention to the things that I feel strongly about. I know that if it is something I immediately agree with that is the most important thing for me to research. Here are some things you can do to identify this bias in your life:
Look for diverse information sources
As I noted in my Colorado Springs City Council item on the 16th of January 2025, I worked to find supporting statistics that the woman shared in the meeting, what I found is that the statistic is true from one site but rebutted by three others and most statistics state that they don’t have truly accurate numbers.
Look at your impressions critcally
Question your emotions regarding the informaiton you receive. Seek out credible sources and research. Don’t stop at one source that supports your beliefs. Be willing to be wrong!
Read the Language…is it designed to elicit emotion?
Is the language designed to make you angry, scared, disgusted, or outraged? This sort of language helps cement false narratives.
Strenthen your Curiosity
Have you told someone how their idea “can’t” be done or won’t work? Why did you do that? Do you simply believe that your perception and information is right above all?
Being curious asking why and how they think things may work.
Why do you believe as you do?
What evidence do you have that supports your belief? Is that evidence emotional or actual?
How would you feel if that belief is wrong?
Who benefits, or is hurt by, these beliefs?
What can I learn from this idea?
Why does the person, who thinks differently than I do, believe this?
What cultural and societal norms of mine impact how I perceive this?
What might I be missing?
Ask clarifying questions that demonstrate your understanding of their perspective
I was working with a client a number of years back that had a serious incident in their operations and I listened to her say, “I am not in the operations all day, like you are, can you tell me from your perspective, how did this occur?” Then followed up with, “Do you think this could have been avoided in the moment?” and “What can we learn?” I was so impressed by her curiosity over blame.
In contrast I worked with another person who publicly called out someone who failed to follow process by asking, “did you even bother to validate who you were talkking to?”
You can see that the first example was proactively looking to solve the issue what the second was to find blame. The first engages and the second encourages defensive responses.
Take a strongly held belief of yours and ask yourself, what if you are wrong?
One impactful movie I watched years ago really changed how I perceive the world. It is called What the Bleep do we Know? In the movie they talk about Quantum Physics and how the one thing we can count on is that we will find out we were wrong about many things, and that we impact our world with how we exist in it.
Get more comfortable with ambiguity
It is important to understand that the complexities of life are not answered simply. There is often no exactly right answer to anything.
Grow your community
The way we humans were able to move beyond subsistance lifestyles and sleep with the whole brain is through cooperation and trust. We must find ways to encourage growth to cooperation instead of force.
Adam Grant suggests finding a group of friends that lovingly challenge your perceptions and strongly held beliefs. These people must feel safe to you as you must be a safe person for them. Still, they should be able to question your ideas as you can question theirs. There is no room for absolutes and ample room for crazy ideas.
Be Creative
What crazy idea do you have and how might it work? Don’t waste time with limits here, just meander in the idea.
Show your work
While this was a pain the ass in high school math class it holds true. If you simply spout statistics without sharing the sources, you lack credibility. I link my blog articles heavily to allow you to quickly find my sourcesm but I encourage you to dig deeper. I work to be as accurate and clear as possible, and while I am doing my research, I sometimes learn something new that I didn’t consider and I even change what I write to incorporate that new information and understanding.
What actions do you take to reduce your biases?
Sources
https://be-sense.com/understanding-availability-cascade-causes-effects-and-how-to-mitigate-it/
Thankyou for sharing this!