November 1, 2021

The unconscious programming resulting from biases can unknowingly create blind spots on your fertility journey.

Here are some of the common ones:

* Observer bias occurs when your beliefs or expectations influence what you see and experience.

This is evident if you think it’s easy for everyone else but you to get pregnant and then start seeing pregnant women all around you or feel like you’re flooded with pregnancy or birth announcements.

Cure: Change your beliefs and expectations to benefit you, rather than adding more struggle.

*Confirmation bias, also known as “cherry-picking”, is the tendency to seek out, favor, or interpret information that supports something you already believe.

This is displayed when you refuse to listen to the opposing side. It could be that you pay more attention to data and sources that reinforce how difficult it is for you to conceive.

Cure: Look for information that reinforces your desire to have a healthy baby.

*Anchoring bias is the effect of relying too much on the first piece of information offered (the “anchor”) when making subsequent decisions.

This commonly happens when women are influenced too much by what their doctors initially told them about how difficult or impossible it is to have their own children. The resulting decisions and thought patterns become “anchored” to this first piece of bad news and the entire fertility strategy revolves around that, even if it was false.

Cure: Recognize that a person’s truth is subjective and is based on their experiences and their own biases. What your doctor tells you does not have to be your reality unless you choose to allow that to be so.

Do you identify with any of these biases?

Become aware of beliefs and values that can lead to unconscious bias that contradict your vision. Shift into a state of neutrality when making decisions.

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Image: Unsplash/Belinda Fewings