Biases and power in decision making

The present work analyzed the relationship between cognitive biases and power in a collective decision making context. Notably, the analysis of investment clubs indicated that power may affect confidence in stock market forecasts, self-assessment related to investment skills, beliefs on control and predictability of outcomes, and attributions of success and failures concerning collective investment performance. In sum, investors in powerful positions in club settings were more overconfident, showed greater better-than-average perceptions, and were more prone to illusion of control and self-attribution than investors in powerless positions, according with the assumption that biases might be reinforced to a greater extent by social variables.