Event details
Impartiality is central to the role of an investigator working to understand how a health event occurred. Achieving impartiality is a difficult task as the psychological research demonstrates how experts' perceptions and cognitions are affected by context, motivation, expectation, and experience.
A growing body of research has revealed the many sources of bias that affect experts' judgments as they perform their work. These sources of bias extend beyond the characteristics of the individuals who were involved in the event being investigated and include such things as the features of the information being considered, the reference materials, the investigative environment, and an individual’s base-rate expectations.
Professionals in fields such as forensic science, intelligence analysis, criminal investigation, and judicial decision-making are at an inflection point where they are considering both their current practices and new approaches. The investigation of health-related events is a professional domain that is in many ways analogous to the aforementioned decision-making environments. Yet, this investigation environment is also unique, as the sources, magnitude, and direction of bias are specific to the workplace setting.
This presentation will explore the broad issue of cognitive bias in investigative decision making, discussion sources of investigative bias, and offer suggestions to mitigate the effect of bias in an occupational health investigation.