Reputation is formed in the mind.<\/p>\n
You are forming a reputation of this website as you read this article \u2013 hopefully a good one. You formed an opinion about the caf\u00e9 where you had coffee today.<\/p>\n
Do you get the point? The point here is we form reputations every day.<\/p>\n
The human mind \u2013 where all opinions are formed \u2013 is crazy place. Pardon my language, but it is the truth. The human mind isn\u2019t faultless, stable, harmonious, and streamlined when consuming and processing information. Most of all, it isn\u2019t rational.<\/p>\n
It is influenced by a myriad of factors, so many it is impossible to keep track of them.<\/p>\n
Do you know the implication of this?<\/p>\n
It implies that even if you offer the best products\/services and customer service, people will still form a negative opinion of you.<\/p>\n
It is impossible to please everyone.<\/p>\n
For example, I just got off YouTube where I saw a video of a mother-son song duet. It was beautiful; it warmed my heart. They sang the Aladdin musical \u2018A whole new world\u2019 and they did it so well.<\/p>\n
But below the video pane I saw that there were 300 thousand likes and about 36 thousand dislikes. And I thought to myself, \u2018Who in the world would dislike such a beautiful video?\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m pretty sure you have had your fair share of a similar experience.<\/p>\n
One of the factors that influences the formation of a reputation is cognitive bias.<\/p>\n
In this article, I will be showing you how cognitive bias affects your brand reputation.<\/p>\n
But first\u2026<\/p>\n
Cognitive biases are those errors we make in judgement, reasoning, evaluation, remembrance, and other cognitive processes caused when we retain our beliefs\/preferences while disregarding contrary information.<\/p>\n
We sometimes fail to see what we ought to see because we are blinded by our beliefs or preferences.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, cognitive biases aren\u2019t all bad: they help us respond speedily to critical situations. And have contributed to the survival of the human race for millennia.<\/p>\n
Yet, we can\u2019t deny that cognitive biases have also been the cause of many issues we now have.<\/p>\n
With that being the case, let\u2019s look at\u2026<\/p>\n
Every single cognitive bias we have affect reputation. They make up a huge part of our thought processes and shape our internal and even external world. Therefore, we cannot be free from their influence.<\/p>\n
To list all the cognitive biases that exist is to make this article long and colourless. But we are going to look at 3 common biases.<\/p>\n
First, let\u2019s look at the \u2018bandwagon effect\u2019. You probably have heard the phrase \u2018Joining the bandwagon\u2019. It means to do something or act in particular way because other people are doing same. I call it the \u2018monkey see monkey do\u2019 bias.<\/p>\n
Next is the hindsight bias. You may know someone who always says, \u2018I knew it all along\u2019 after something (usually negative) has happened. I know a few of them. A person with hindsight bias never provides substantial evidence as to how they knew the said event would take place. They just always say they knew it would happen or have known it all along.<\/p>\n
And lastly, there is the stereotype bias. People with stereotype bias often generalize or have a distorted viewpoint about other people or events.<\/p>\n
These biases affect our world every day and shape your reputation in the minds of the public.<\/p>\n
There are several other biases that affect your brand reputation, but one is king.<\/p>\n