The WYSIATI-Effect and Biased Arbitrators

Risse, J. (2021). The WYSIATI-Effect and Biased Arbitrators. ASA Bulletin, 39, 315. https://doi.org/10.54648/asab2021028 (ouvrir avec le VPN)

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Résumé de l'auteur

An arbitrator's ability to decide a case in a rational manner is impacted by psychological patterns of thought. Those are deeply engraved in our brain and are commonly called “biases”. One of the most dangerous and best-researched biases is the “What you see-is-all-there-is”-Effect (“WYSIATI-Effect”): the human brain is unable to disregard a piece of information when making a decision once the brain has taken note of it. One cannot unring the bell. In addition, the brain has immense problems to draw an adverse inference from deliberately withheld and thus content-wise unknown information. An arbitrator's decision-making is often confronted with the WYSIATI-Effect, e.g. when inadmissible evidence is presented or a document request is openly disregarded. Awareness of the WYSIATI-Effect and its consequences is therefore a must for every seasoned arbitrator and counsel.