Intuitive Cognitive Style and Biases in Decision Making

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between biases and the cognitive styles. Intuitive decision making has been discouraged because it is heavily associated with bias.The aim of this research is to show that biases affect both analytic cognitive style and intuitive cognitive style in the same measure. The study also examines the relationship between cognitive style and extroversion. The Behavioural Decision theory, Classic Dual Process Theory of Human Cognition and the Rational Decision Making Model were used as the basis for the research. Two hypotheses were tested. The study subjects were conveniently sampled from the Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. 165 students from different ages, majors of study, nationality and gender were sampled. A survey comprising of 90 questions divided into 5 parts were presented to the students. The parts measured cognitive style, extroversion and biases. Measures of central tendancy, t-test, ANOVA analyses and correlation analyses were carried out to test the hypotheses. The main findings were that biases affect both analytic cognitive style and intuitive cognitive style. Extroversion and cognitive style were found to be negatively correlated. The main practical implication for this study is that individuals should be encouraged to use both analytic cognitive style and intuitive cognitive style in decision making for optimum results. The present study is designed to support the case for intuitive decision making alongside rational decision making by proving that biases affect both cognitive styles. Keywords: cognitive style, extroversion, biases, rational, intuitive, analytic. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………