Research On Individual Cognitive Bias Mechanism Based On Information Sampling Theory

Cognitive processing and bias formation of an individual exposed to specific information/messages has been fundamental concerns in social psychology, marketing persuasion, management and decision-making science. More than half a century ago, Herbert Simon proposed that understanding individual cognition and decision making requires examining both the heuristics used by individuals and the information provided by the environment. After that, much research in psychology has focused on the properties of heuristics used by individuals to form judgments. Rare research investigated individual cognitive bias from the perspective of information deviation.Based on the individual information processing, information distortion, cognitive bias and information sampling theory, a framework of information sampling for individual cognition is constructed. This framework contains three information elements, which are private information, related decision task stimulation and social information. The causes of individual cognitive bias are summarized as two aspects:information asymmetry and difference of information significant. The following conclusions are formed by empirical study:(1) under asymmetric information environment, choices which can obtain more feedback information are more preferred in prior period, while choices which are easier to get relevant feedback information are usually overestimated in the end; (2) information consistent with individual’s own attitudes or emotions has strong "emotional significance", and in a short period of time, late information bears strong "time significance". Compared with unobvious information, significant information has a greater influence on the formation of individual cognition, which leads to cognition bias. The findings may have some implications for Internet information dissemination, marketing, persuasion and product promotion.