Reflection paper

Information processing and the problems/biases of information processing

Good morning to one and all present here today. Today, I’ll be talking about what
information processing is, along with the problems/biases one faces while processing this
information. Information processing can be defined as one’s capability or ability to collect,
understand and break down information. This information is usually broken down into
something more meaningful that can help an individual or group in completing tasks
efficiently and effectively, in decision making. This information can also help increase one’s
knowledge or understanding in a certain field. Information processing is important as we can
only come up with certain solution or outcome for anything once the information related to
that particular thing is properly processed by us in our minds .Only when we process
information properly can we come up with proper solution. A person will only act on the
information that she/ he has and the information that is understood by them. For e.g., In last
weeks class, a group analysed the movie “English Winglish”, In a clip in the movie, Shashi
(Sridevi) was at a café trying to order some food and water. When she arrived at the counter
in the cafe, she asked the barista at the counter for a sandwich and some water when asked by
the barista if whether she wanted still or sparkling water she replied with “coffee”, and when
asked about the type of coffee she wanted she panicked. This happened because Shashi
(Sridevi) couldn’t process the information provided to her by the barista, there were barriers
in language present.
There are several problems/biases with information processing.
1) Anchoring and adjustment
This bias/problem states that we are anchored by and don’t move far from an initial
anchor point. i.e., We are stubborn at times and don’t want to move from our point in a
conversation or change our decision, regardless of whether that decision is the correct
decision to take even when there are better alternatives available. We don’t move from this
point or decision as in our perception that is the correct or most effective and efficient
alternative. For e.g., In some arguments I have with my brother at home, neither of us are
willing to admit that we are at fault and are adamant that it’s the other fault. Regardless of
whether I’m wrong or he is.

2) Availability heuristic
When talking about this bias we talk about how we as individuals and groups estimate
probabilities by how easy we can recall the event, even though other factors influence the
ease of recoil. By this we mean that we can only process a situation or recall it in the way we
remember it regardless of the other factors that may change the situation in someone else’s
eyes or change the way they perceive the situation. Different people perceive things
differently. An example for this would be my experience of the de-monetisation that occurred
a couple of years back and how it changed my perception of Narendra Modi. I had been
 saving up my money to buy an expensive electronic when the demonetisation struck and I
wasn’t able to exchange more than half of it. This was just what happened to me personally
but I remember reading an article about hundreds of people dying because of the de-
monetisation. Some people may think the de-monetisation was a boon for us but I definitely
despised the idea. This made me perceive Modi as a person who is incapable of leading this
great nation regardless of what he might have done today

3) Representation heuristic
In this bias we talk about how we as individuals estimate probabilities of something by its
similarity to something known rather than by a more precise statistic. I.e., we will
automatically assume that two similar things are the same even though there are factors
stating that they are not. For example, my Haryanvi friends in school were all very aggressive
so I assume that all people that come out of Haryana are aggressive.

4) Language barriers
This is a problem that arises when the parties that are communicating do not speak the same
languages. It is usually almost impossible to communicate with someone if we don’t know
their language and the same can be said for the person to whom we’re trying to communicate
with. One example for this was explained earlier when Sridevi was trying to order at the café.
This can also be related to an instance in my life when I had gone for a holiday to
Uttarakhand. I had gone to a market to buy some supplies where I came upon this daily needs
shop. I asked the shopkeeper for a few things and I found out he didn’t know any Hindi or
English, luckily he knew the brands I needed and it wasn’t much of a problem, but, if the
language barriers had not been present the shopkeeper would have been able to serve me
more efficiently.

5) Noise
Sometimes a person may hear something incorrect because of similar sounding words or they
might just understand something else from the information provided rather than what the
information actually means. These problems usually occur due to confusion between the two
parties communicating. For example. Supposing I say that a bat came flying at me, some
people would think that it was the animal “bat” that came flying at me whereas others may
think that someone threw a bat at me.

I would like to conclude by saying that we process information all the time. Just as you have
processed and hopefully understood the things I spoke/wrote about today.