Chapter 04 Using Metacognition to Check Your Own Biases and the Biases of Others
June 8, 2026
This episode was generated using Google NotebookLM based on the course reading for SOWK 588 Advanced Policy Practice, and is designed to help you engage with and review Chapter 4. It explores Peter Linquiti’s framework for using metacognition to check your own biases — and the biases of others. Drawing on Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 and System 2 model of cognition, the episode unpacks why even highly trained analysts default to fast, intuitive thinking when the cognitive demands get high — and how that instinct can quietly sabotage rigorous policy work. We examine specific cognitive traps that trip up social work practitioners: directionally motivated reasoning (arguing toward a preferred conclusion rather than following the evidence), WYSIATI — What You See Is All There Is — (building confident narratives from dangerously incomplete data), mirror imaging (projecting your own values onto the communities you serve), the backfire effect (doubling down when confronted with contradictory evidence), and the Dunning-Kruger effect (the less you know, the more certain you feel). The takeaway is both humbling and actionable: perfect objectivity is never fully achievable, but the most powerful antidote to your own blind spots is intentionally surrounding yourself with people who fundamentally disagree with you.