Cognitive Biases & Irrationality: First Understand Thinking, Then Accelerate Learning (Level 4)

Session Description: For nearly 50 years the notion of adult learning (andragogy) has been predicated on the belief that adults are rational, self-directed beings. As such, those designing educational intervention can apply well-reasoned and evidence-based approaches to educational needs assessment, design intervention to transfer knowledge to learners, and expect that learners will learn and change. More recently however, this core premise of andragogy has begun to unravel, yet the educational community has failed to adapt.

It is now well accepted that adults generally rely on cognitive biases and heuristics - or mental shortcuts - that can undermine rational cognition. This reality has come to be known as 'fast thinking' and its impact on learning and behavior change are both challenging and broadly immeasurable.

This workshop is designed to introduce some of the most startling research on cognitive biases and heuristics ever published, to explain its impact in actionable ways, and to provide a set of best practices for overcoming fast thinking in our learners, such that the principles of andragogy actually deliver the outcomes we desire.