Cognitive Biases

Availability Bias

Being influenced by easily accessible information, such as media reports, which can skew perceptions and decision-making.

Confirmation Bias

Seeking and favoring information that confirms existing beliefs, potentially leading to closed-mindedness.

Publication Bias

Favoring the positive results over negative or inconclusive ones, leading to an incomplete representation of the data.

Conformity Bias

Adjusting one's beliefs or actions to align with the majority or prevailing social norms.

Peak-End Rule

Prioritizing experiences based on their peak emotional intensity and how they ended, influencing our overall perceptions.

Serial Position Effect

Remembering the first and last items in a list better than the ones in the middle.

Algorithmic Bias

Unintentional bias in algorithms or artificial intelligence systems, leading to discriminatory outcomes.

Mental Contamination Effect

Being influenced by irrelevant or unwanted thoughts, affecting decision-making or behavior.

Medical Bias

Research bias due to over-reliance on data from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) populations.

False-Consensus Effect

Overestimating the extent to which others share our opinions or beliefs.

Zeigarnik Effect

Remembering incomplete or interrupted tasks more than completed ones.

Choice Paradox

Feeling overwhelmed and unable to make decisions when presented with too many options.

Survivorship Bias

Drawing conclusions based on the surviving subjects or objects, neglecting those that didn't make it through a selection process.

Perception Bias

Interpreting information based on personal experiences and expectations, leading to distorted judgments.

Contrast Effect

Evaluating something based on its differences from a previous or adjacent stimulus.

Functional Fixedness

Being unable to see an object's alternative uses beyond its conventional function.

Salience Bias

Giving disproportionate attention to stimuli that stand out.

Illusion of Control

Overestimating one's ability to control events or outcomes.

Figure/Ground Subliminal Bias

Perceiving hidden or subliminal images or messages that may not actually exist.

Negativity Bias

Giving more weight to negative experiences or information than positive ones.

Mere-Exposure Effect

Developing a preference for something simply because it's familiar.

Illusory Truth Effect

Believing information to be true merely because of its repeated exposure.

Hick's Law

The more options are presented, the longer it takes to make a decision.

Narrative Fallacy

Creating overly simplified and coherent stories to explain complex events or phenomena.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

Overestimating one's competence or knowledge while underestimating the abilities of others.

In-Group Bias

Favoring individuals or groups that belong to one's own social or cultural group.

The Halo Effect

Forming a general positive impression of a person based on one outstanding trait or characteristic.

Self-Serving Bias

Attributing successes to personal qualities and failures to external factors.

Framing Bias

Being more influenced by negatively presented information than positive or neutral information.

Herd Mentality Bias

Adopting the opinions or behaviors of a larger group without critical evaluation.

Social Comparison Bias

Evaluating oneself by comparing to others, which can impact self-esteem and self-worth.

Affinity Bias

Favoring or showing more positive attitudes towards individuals who are similar to oneself.

Anchoring Bias

Relying heavily on initial information when making decisions, even if it's irrelevant or misleading.

Choice-Supportive Bias

Favoring options that one has chosen in the past, even if better alternatives exist.

Loss Aversion

Preferring to avoid losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains.

Scarcity Bias

Valuing items or opportunities more when they are perceived to be scarce or limited.

End of History Illusion

Underestimating personal change and growth, believing that our current selves will remain largely unchanged in the future.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overemphasize personality-based explanations for others' behavior, ignoring situational factors.

Hindsight Bias

Seeing past events as more predictable than they actually were, after knowing the outcome.

Hyperbolic Discounting

Preferring immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards, even if the latter is more beneficial in the long run.