Identifying and tracking biases in decision-making
The screen shot shows how to identify and track the mitigation of biases. The bias type comes from a list of typical cognitive biases. Note, they are aligned to a strategy/plan and a decision. The form provides the capability to discuss the bias, its impact(s), and mitigation means. This allows planners and decision-makers to track the mitigation and work to remove or at least contain the impact(s).
The process is similar to the approach I used in an article I published in Joint Forces Quarterly: The Joker is Wild. The process can also be used in intelligence planning and can/should be applied to Commander’s Critical Information requirements and assumptions as appropriate.
Note Confucius wrote not of evil, but of propriety.
Several dictionary sites define propriety as “correct moral behaviour or actions” This is usually defined as conformity with society’s norms and rules. But this is still nebulous as these rules and norms can vary from society to society. Is there perhaps a more uniform set of norms? I think the answer is yes and is based on Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. There are three formulations of the Categorical Imperative, but the one that sticks with me the most is “people are ends in themselves and not means to an end.” Now go back to the quote from Confucius and it is about virtue. Virtue is acting with propriety.
Now look at the quote from the book. He is right about the profit aspect. Does the media have an obligation to look beyond profit to a more universal aspect of propriety? Can we expect the media to act with virtue? Should we expect it? Should it be a relativistic version of propriety or a universal aspect? How can we enforce it?
“Why do news channels exist? To bring the general public information about the world and their local area, right? Wrong. They exist to make money. They are purely and simply profit centres, concerned solely about their ratings and beating their competition. Ratings mean value in the eye of the advertiser, and the advertiser’s dollars are what fund the show and drive the profit. So how do they choose what to show you? They show you whatever will make you tune in and watch. Not you as concerned citizens hoping to keep up with the world around you, but you as moths drawn to the flame.”
Harvey, Nicholas. Deadly Sommer: Nora Sommer Caribbean Suspense – Book One (p. 66). Harvey Books, LLC. Kindle Edition.
#media #virtue #confucius #propriety