Justifications and biases

To receive this newsletter in your inbox each day, just register with Farm Tender here.

By Dwain Duxson.

Justifications and biases -  Remember when the only Cars or Utes to have for fair dinkum Aussies was either a Holden or a Ford? Those were the days. And we were either aligned to one or the other; very rarely did you come across a fence sitter or someone that crossed the floor.

It got me thinking about how we justified our alliance to either Holden or Ford and how our biases crept in when it came to our support. It's like if we really want to buy something, we will try to justify it to ourselves first, and then we will start working on others.

The Farmers Club - For the curious ones  Join The Farmers Club here.

We look at things in a different light if we have biases. If we go and buy a Landcruiser worth $150k, then we will spend alot of time justifying that we spent $150k on a Ute when we could have bought one for $75k. I know myself. I think Starlink is wonderful, and I will tell people I have never had an issue when I know I have. Apple products are another great example; they have a cult-like following, and if you are an Apple guy/girl, then more often than not, you ain't going anywhere. Even if they decided to put a push-button keyboard on the phone (like the old Blackberry), you would say bloody good idea Apple….

It can also involve our Farming techniques; we will defend an outcome because to get there, we were making the decisions; someone might challenge those decisions, and we will usually defend them. Why? Because they were ours. You might have studied and bought a new bit of tech for the Farm, and the others will question its value, you defend it unless you can see that it's not what you thought it was. But it will take time to come to that point; you will pull out all stops in the meantime to justify why you made the decision to buy it. It's a fascinating subject and fits in the human psychology department. Were you Holden or Ford? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

End of message