03-02-2024, 05:33 PM
Often, when we process information, we don't always succeed at being completely impartial: we have biases in our thought patterns. Everyone's guilty of this to some degree (myself included) - but, I think being aware of these biases can help us to avoid them

The above video, by The Paint Explainer, briefly explains a large number of common cognitive biases in 8 minutes. I won't list every single one - but I've picked out ten that I thought were either particularly common, interesting, or otherwise important:
- Gambler's Fallacy - Incorrectly thinking future probabilities are altered by past events (e.g. "It's been tails 5 times; it must be heads next!").
- Framing Effect - Drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how it's framed (e.g. "80% success rate" vs. "20% failure rate")
- Outcome Bias - Judging a decision by its eventual outcome, rather than the quality of the decision (e.g. betting everything on red, and winning!).
- Survivorship Bias - Concentrating on the people or things that survived some process, and ignoring those that didn't survive (usually because they're not visible!).
- Decoy Effect - When choosing between two good options, adding a third bad option can causes to switch from one good option to another. (For example, we might struggle to decide between "A small burger for £3" and "A large burger for £10" - but, if we're also given the option of "A medium burger for £9", the large burger might look better by comparison!)
- Selection Bias - When a biased selection process skews the results of a survey. (For example, concluding that 90% of British people are Muslim, after conducting a survey outside the entrance to a mosque!)
- Anchoring Bias - Relying too much on the first piece of information we hear about someone or something. (This is why first impressions tend to stick!)
- Confirmation Bias - The tendency to search for and remember information that confirms our preconceptions.
- Recency Bias - Sort of the opposite of the anchoring bias, we also tend to over-rely on the most recent information we heard!
- Availability Cascade - When a belief gains more and more traction just because it's repeated over and over again.
- Ostrich Effect - A tendency to avoid negative but useful information, in order to avoid psychological discomfort.
- Peak-End Rule - When remembering past experiences, two bits stand out: how it was at its peak, and how it ended.
So, are there any cognitive biases that you've often been guilty of (whether they're or not they're in the above list), and do you have any strategies for avoiding them?
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