Common cognitive biases that affect decision-making
25 cards · philosophy
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| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Anchoring Bias | Fixating on initial information and insufficiently adjusting The first price you hear sets a mental anchor; later offers feel high or low relative to it. |
| Availability Heuristic | Judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind After news of a plane crash, flying seems riskier than it statistically is. |
| Representativeness Heuristic | Judging probability by similarity to a stereotype, ignoring base rates Assuming a quiet person is a librarian over a salesperson despite statistics. |
| Confirmation Bias | Seeking and favoring information that confirms existing beliefs You read news that aligns with your views and dismiss conflicting reports. |
| Framing Effect | Decisions change based on how options are presented 90% fat-free seems better than 10% fat, though they’re identical. |
| Loss Aversion | Weighing losses more heavily than equivalent gains Losing $50 hurts more than gaining $50 feels good. |
| Status Quo Bias | Preferring the current state to change, even when better options exist Sticking with default plans or subscriptions by inertia. |
| Endowment Effect | Valuing owned items more than identical unowned ones You demand more to sell a mug than you would pay to buy it. |
| Sunk Cost Fallacy | Continuing a failing course due to past investments Finishing a boring movie because you already paid for it. |
| Present Bias | Overvaluing immediate rewards over future benefits Choosing dessert now despite long-term health goals. |
| Planning Fallacy | Underestimating time, costs, or risks of future actions Thinking a home project will take one afternoon; it doesn’t. |
| Overconfidence Effect | Overestimating one's abilities, accuracy, or control Being sure you aced a test you actually did average on. |
| Dunning–Kruger Effect | Low performers overestimate ability; experts may underestimate Novices lack the insight to recognize their own incompetence. |
| Optimism Bias | Overestimating the likelihood of positive outcomes for oneself Believing you’re less likely than others to get sick. |
| Self-serving Bias | Attributing successes to self, failures to external factors You credit skill for wins and blame luck for losses. |
| Hindsight Bias | Seeing past events as having been predictable after they occur Saying “I knew it all along” after a surprise outcome. |
| Fundamental Attribution Error | Overemphasizing dispositions and underplaying situational factors Calling a driver rude rather than considering traffic stress. |
| In-group Bias | Favoring members of one’s own group over outsiders Rating your team’s ideas higher than a rival’s. |
| Halo Effect | Overall positive impression spills into specific judgments Attractive people are assumed to be more competent. |
| Authority Bias | Overweighting opinions from perceived authorities Accepting advice because a famous expert gave it. |
| Bandwagon Effect | Adopting beliefs or behaviors because many others do Buying a product because it’s trending. |
| Base Rate Neglect | Ignoring general statistical rates in favor of case-specific info Assuming a positive test means disease without considering prevalence. |
| Survivorship Bias | Focusing on successes while ignoring failures that disappeared Studying rich entrepreneurs while overlooking many who failed. |
| Choice-supportive Bias | Remembering chosen options as better than they were Defending a purchase by recalling only its positives. |
| Negativity Bias | Giving more weight to negative experiences than positive ones One bad review outweighs many good ones in your mind. |