Cognitive Biases in Technical Communication

Cognitive biases play an important role in our life. These biases allow humans to make mental shortcuts and quick decisions. They also lead to less-than-rational judgements. This paper focuses on the less-explored realm of cognitive biases in technical communication, with broad implications in engineering communication. It assembles cognitive biases in four categories that resonate with technical communicators and users: how we draw from past experiences, how we respond to stimuli, how we make decisions, and how we absorb social contexts. For each bias, the paper provides examples and analyzes how technical communicators can prevent, tackle, and harvest from the bias to improve communication effectiveness. Grasping cognitive biases has broad benefits for engineering communicators, engineering educators, and user experience professionals.