Retrieval bias and policy judgment: A cognitive perspective on principals and teachers' evaluations

During periods of crisis, educational leadership can provide inspiration. This article investigates how educators evaluated policies implemented during the pandemic. Teachers and principals were asked about their reactions to the application of policies devised by educational leaders, and their perceptions of those policies. Specifically, it focuses on the retrieval bias involved in decision-making, by examining the ways educators judged real situations while dealing with guidelines that ran counter to their judgment. The results contradict typical assumptions about this bias. By contrast to previous literature, the findings showed no Negative Post Example Evaluation. Rather, the results tended to cohere with intuition: when asked to provide a negative example, the educators were more likely to enter into a negative mindset and not the other way around. The principals’ judgments did not differ from those of the teachers. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which educators evaluate policies they are required to apply during crises.