Editing Cognitive bias (section)

== Individual differences in cognitive biases ==
[[File:Relation between Bias, habit and convention.png|alt=Bias habit convention|thumb|The relation between cognitive bias, habit and social convention is still an important issue.]]
People do appear to have stable individual differences in their susceptibility to decision biases such as [[Overconfidence effect|overconfidence]], [[temporal discounting]], and [[bias blind spot]].<ref>{{cite journal|title = Bias Blind Spot: Structure, Measurement, and Consequences|journal = Management Science|date = 2015-04-24|doi = 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2096|first1 = Irene|last1 = Scopelliti|first2 = Carey K.|last2 = Morewedge|first3 = Erin|last3 = McCormick|first4 = H. Lauren|last4 = Min|first5 = Sophie|last5 = Lebrecht|first6 = Karim S.|last6 = Kassam | name-list-style = vanc |volume=61|issue = 10|pages=2468–2486|doi-access = free}}</ref> That said, these stable levels of bias within individuals are possible to change. Participants in experiments who watched training videos and played debiasing games showed medium to large reductions both immediately and up to three months later in the extent to which they exhibited susceptibility to six cognitive biases: [[Anchoring (cognitive bias)|anchoring]], bias blind spot, [[confirmation bias]], [[fundamental attribution error]], [[projection bias]], and [[Representativeness heuristic|representativeness]].<ref>{{cite journal|title = Debiasing Decisions Improved Decision Making With a Single Training Intervention|journal = Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences|date = 2015-10-01|issn = 2372-7322|pages = 129–140|volume = 2|issue = 1|doi = 10.1177/2372732215600886|first1 = Carey K.|last1 = Morewedge|first2 = Haewon|last2 = Yoon|first3 = Irene|last3 = Scopelliti|first4 = Carl W.|last4 = Symborski|first5 = James H.|last5 = Korris|first6 = Karim S.|last6 = Kassam |s2cid = 4848978|url = http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/12324/1/Debiasing_Decisions_PIBBS.pdf| name-list-style = vanc }}</ref>

Individual differences in cognitive bias have also been linked to varying levels of cognitive abilities and functions.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Vartanian O, Beatty EL, Smith I, Blackler K, Lam Q, Forbes S, De Neys W | title = The Reflective Mind: Examining Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Base Rate Neglect with fMRI | journal = Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience | volume = 30 | issue = 7 | pages = 1011–1022 | date = July 2018 | pmid = 29668391 | doi = 10.1162/jocn_a_01264 | s2cid = 4933030 | url = https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/dd1e7c5b-482d-4470-8a24-6ce013f1211a | doi-access = free }}</ref> The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) has been used to help understand the connection between cognitive biases and cognitive ability. There have been inconclusive results when using the Cognitive Reflection Test to understand ability. However, there does seem to be a correlation; those who gain a higher score on the Cognitive Reflection Test, have higher cognitive ability and rational-thinking skills. This in turn helps predict the performance on cognitive bias and heuristic tests. Those with higher CRT scores tend to be able to answer more correctly on different heuristic and cognitive bias tests and tasks.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Toplak ME, West RF, Stanovich KE | title = The Cognitive Reflection Test as a predictor of performance on heuristics-and-biases tasks | journal = Memory & Cognition | volume = 39 | issue = 7 | pages = 1275–89 | date = October 2011 | pmid = 21541821 | doi = 10.3758/s13421-011-0104-1 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Age is another individual difference that has an effect on one's ability to be susceptible to cognitive bias. Older individuals tend to be more susceptible to cognitive biases and have less [[cognitive flexibility]]. However, older individuals were able to decrease their susceptibility to cognitive biases throughout ongoing trials.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wilson CG, Nusbaum AT, Whitney P, Hinson JM | title = Age-differences in cognitive flexibility when overcoming a preexisting bias through feedback | journal = Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology | volume = 40 | issue = 6 | pages = 586–594 | date = August 2018 | pmid = 29161963 | doi = 10.1080/13803395.2017.1398311 | s2cid = 13372385 }}</ref> These experiments had both young and older adults complete a framing task. Younger adults had more cognitive flexibility than older adults. Cognitive flexibility is linked to helping overcome pre-existing biases.