In 1889, a 10th-century warrior’s grave was discovered in Sweden in an archaeological dig. It had all the accoutrements of a Viking professional soldier. It had long swords, short swords, knives, bows, arrows, a spear, and a shield. In the same grave were the remains of two horses, a stallion to charge into battle and a pack horse. During this dig, one of the team members said, “I think it’s a woman’s skeleton.” But the rest of the team said, “No, it’s clearly a Viking warrior. So can’t be a woman.” Then about 80 years later, in 1970, a group of scientists did a bone analysis, an osteo-analysis of the skeleton. They thought the evidence was strong that this was a woman. But again, the experts said, “No, no, no. You know, those stories out of the folklore in Scandinavia of a shield maiden or a female warrior is a myth.” Finally, in 2017, a DNA analysis conclusively proved that this was a female warrior. But that didn’t stop groups of people from saying, “No, that’s not right.” One group said, “Ah, you know, she had inherited all those things from her husband, the warrior, and then she was buried with all his stuff.” Surprisingly, none of her stuff seems to be in the grave. So, there is no evidence for this theory. Another group thought she was buried with her husband and all the stuff. Later the husband’s skeleton was exhumed before the 1889 archaeological dig. However, there was no evidence of that. That is something that we call confirmation bias. Giving up a belief is very hard to do. We are usually emotionally attached to it. And this bias is unconscious. Business Points (Tags ) #bias #assumptions #data #unconsciousbias #confirmationbias #storytelling #business #bestseller #stories #storiesatwork #everydaylearning
