Bounded Rationality in Career Choices: How Cognitive Biases Appear in Adolescent Career Exploration

Abstract

Adolescents face high-stakes career decisions under uncertainty. Yet, while bounded rationality research has established that cognitive biases can systematically distort human judgement and decision-making, we know little about how these biases appear in adolescent career exploration. This pragmatic, mixed-methods study investigated how cognitive biases appear in career decision-making among 21 Australian high school students aged 15–18. Students participated in semi-structured interviews exploring their career decision-making approaches, followed by a quantitative survey assessing bias tendencies. Content analysis revealed several cognitive bias patterns: confirmation bias appeared as selective information seeking, availability bias emerged as choosing familiar careers, and varying levels of confidence and sunk-cost fallacy were observed. These findings highlight how biased thinking patterns can appear in adolescent career choices while acknowledging their potential benefits and limitations. Schools may benefit from incorporating bias-awareness activities into career education programs and teaching structured decision-making frameworks.