Personality, habits and cognitive disorganisation Seeing the world at an angle
Seance of wednesday 25 june 2025 (Les biais cognitifs)
DOI number : 10.26299//2025.24.03
Abstract
efficiency, mental economy and psychological protection, or the expression of cognitive
personality. These are spontaneous processes that operate outside of people's will and often
outside of their consciousness, and which depend on bio-psychological constraints.
Without getting involved in the neuro-philosophical debate about whether psychology is separate
from neuroscience, some of these biases can be linked to how the brain is organised: this is the
case for perception biases or memory biases with primacy or recency effects. The origin of other
biases is less positive, with psychogenic causes: this is particularly the case for biases linked to
cognitive personality. Finally, others remain more mysterious and unexplained, probably having
multiple causes and complex expressions that still elude rational knowledge: they are only
described and are the subject of an inventory that seems unfinished, with often redundant
descriptions and hypotheses relating to the disciplines of the specialists who are interested in
them.
If biases are in vogue, it is because they are useful to manipulators in some way. It is in the
dynamics of influence and behavioural alteration resulting from irrationality that some have
established their practice. Examples include advertising, certain marketing and management
strategies, political proselytism, sectarian activities, diplomacy and the normative practice of
cognitive warfare. Biases do not need others to express themselves; their motivation lies deep
within our brains and each of us is the architect of many of them, which accompany our daily,
professional, relational, educational and emotional lives.
A few concepts need to be clarified: knowledge and memory biases in belief, cognitive
dissonance, cognitive personality, influence and cognitive intrusion. What role is left for the
prevention specialist? The question remains. Today, we see a profusion of seminars, training
courses, card games and role-playing games for training purposes. Nevertheless, three things are
clear: (i) we only see biases in others; (ii) by the time we become aware of our own biases, it is too
late; (iii) the spontaneous strategy, if we even admit to it, is often hiding it or just justify it.
personality. These are spontaneous processes that operate outside of people's will and often
outside of their consciousness, and which depend on bio-psychological constraints.
Without getting involved in the neuro-philosophical debate about whether psychology is separate
from neuroscience, some of these biases can be linked to how the brain is organised: this is the
case for perception biases or memory biases with primacy or recency effects. The origin of other
biases is less positive, with psychogenic causes: this is particularly the case for biases linked to
cognitive personality. Finally, others remain more mysterious and unexplained, probably having
multiple causes and complex expressions that still elude rational knowledge: they are only
described and are the subject of an inventory that seems unfinished, with often redundant
descriptions and hypotheses relating to the disciplines of the specialists who are interested in
them.
If biases are in vogue, it is because they are useful to manipulators in some way. It is in the
dynamics of influence and behavioural alteration resulting from irrationality that some have
established their practice. Examples include advertising, certain marketing and management
strategies, political proselytism, sectarian activities, diplomacy and the normative practice of
cognitive warfare. Biases do not need others to express themselves; their motivation lies deep
within our brains and each of us is the architect of many of them, which accompany our daily,
professional, relational, educational and emotional lives.
A few concepts need to be clarified: knowledge and memory biases in belief, cognitive
dissonance, cognitive personality, influence and cognitive intrusion. What role is left for the
prevention specialist? The question remains. Today, we see a profusion of seminars, training
courses, card games and role-playing games for training purposes. Nevertheless, three things are
clear: (i) we only see biases in others; (ii) by the time we become aware of our own biases, it is too
late; (iii) the spontaneous strategy, if we even admit to it, is often hiding it or just justify it.