Cognitive Biases
Understanding common thinking errors and how to avoid them
Subcategories
Topics
How to avoid confirmation bias?
To avoid confirmation bias, actively seek disconfirming evidence, consider alternative explanations, question your sources, engage with different perspectives, and use structured decision-making processes.
Read more →How to overcome confirmation bias?
To overcome confirmation bias, actively seek out disconfirming evidence, question your assumptions, engage with diverse perspectives, and use structured decision-making processes.
Read more →How to recognize your own biases?
To recognize your own biases, practice self-reflection, seek feedback from others, learn about common cognitive biases, and notice patterns in your thinking.
Read more →How to reduce bias in decision making?
To reduce bias in decision making, use structured frameworks, gather diverse perspectives, delay judgment, and systematically evaluate evidence before deciding.
Read more →How to stop overthinking?
To stop overthinking, set time limits for decisions, practice mindfulness, focus on actionable steps, challenge perfectionist thoughts, and redirect your attention to the present moment.
Read more →How do biases affect job interviews?
Biases affect job interviews through first impressions, similarity bias, confirmation bias, and stereotypes, leading to unfair hiring decisions.
Read more →How do biases affect online behavior?
Biases affect online behavior through echo chambers, confirmation bias in social media feeds, anonymity reducing accountability, and algorithms reinforcing existing beliefs.
Read more →What is anchoring bias?
Anchoring bias is our tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information we receive when making decisions, even when that information is irrelevant or misleading.
Read more →What is availability heuristic?
Availability heuristic is our tendency to judge the likelihood of events based on how easily we can recall examples from memory, often leading us to overestimate the probability of dramatic or recent events.
Read more →What is confirmation bias?
Confirmation bias is our tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms our existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.
Read more →What is Dunning-Kruger effect?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability, while those with high ability underestimate their ability.
Read more →What is fundamental attribution error?
Fundamental attribution error is our tendency to overestimate the role of personality and character in others' behavior while underestimating the role of situational factors.
Read more →What is hindsight bias?
Hindsight bias is our tendency to believe that past events were more predictable than they actually were, making us think we 'knew it all along' when we didn't.
Read more →What is negativity bias?
Negativity bias is our tendency to pay more attention to, remember, and be influenced by negative information than positive information of equal intensity.
Read more →What is optimism bias?
Optimism bias is our tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive events happening to us and underestimate the likelihood of negative events.
Read more →What is recency bias?
Recency bias is our tendency to give more weight to recent events or information when making decisions, even when older information is equally or more relevant.
Read more →What is self-serving bias?
Self-serving bias is our tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors like ability or effort, while attributing our failures to external factors like bad luck or circumstances.
Read more →What is sunk cost fallacy?
Sunk cost fallacy is our tendency to continue investing in something because we've already invested time, money, or effort, even when continuing is not the best decision.
Read more →What is the Dunning-Kruger effect?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability, while those with high ability underestimate theirs.
Read more →What is the fundamental attribution error?
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize personality-based explanations for others' behaviors while underestimating situational factors.
Read more →What is the halo effect?
The halo effect is a cognitive bias where our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about their character, making us assume they have other positive traits.
Read more →Why do people have imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome occurs when people doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as frauds, despite evidence of their competence, often due to perfectionism, comparison with others, and internalizing success as luck.
Read more →How do biases affect memory?
Biases affect memory by distorting how we encode, store, and retrieve information, leading us to remember events in ways that confirm our existing beliefs.
Read more →How do biases form in childhood?
Biases form in childhood through social learning, exposure to stereotypes, parental influence, and the brain's natural tendency to categorize and simplify information.
Read more →How do cognitive biases affect decision making?
Cognitive biases affect decision making by causing us to rely on mental shortcuts that can lead to systematic errors, poor judgments, and suboptimal choices in areas like finance, relationships, and health.
Read more →How do cognitive biases affect relationships?
Cognitive biases affect relationships by distorting our perception of partners, leading to misunderstandings, conflicts, and unrealistic expectations.
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