The Impact of Cognitive Biases on Decision-Making in High-Stakes Environments

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of cognitive biases—specifically confirmation bias, anchoring bias, and availability bias—on decision-making in high-stakes environments such as healthcare, finance, and emergency services. The research employs a quantitative design, examining how these biases affect decision accuracy and decision time. Through a combination of scenario-based tasks, surveys, and case study analyses, the study explores how frequently professionals in these sectors experience these biases, their awareness of them, and the impact on their decisions. Results indicate that availability bias was the most commonly reported bias, followed by confirmation bias and anchoring bias, with decision accuracy significantly decreasing as these biases were introduced. Additionally, decision-making time increased under biased conditions, particularly in healthcare and emergency services. The study further highlights the negative correlation between the frequency of cognitive biases and decision accuracy, underscoring the importance of developing strategies to mitigate these biases in high-pressure settings. The findings suggest that structured decision-making frameworks and training programs can help professionals make more objective decisions and improve overall decision quality in critical environments.