Decision Making
Action Bias
Do you feel the need to take action, even when waiting would be smarter? That’s Action Bias – the tendency to act in any situation, even when inaction would be more effective.
Free Bias Skills
Every cognitive bias. One installable skill each.
216 published canonical biases are available as free, portable Agent Skills. New canonical biases are generated into this collection automatically.
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Attribution Bias
Actor-Observer Bias
Late to a meeting? Well, traffic was terrible! Someone else is late? They must be irresponsible. That’s Actor-Observer Bias – the tendency to blame our own behavior on external circumstances while attributing others’ act
Decision Making
Additive Bias
Do you think improving something always means adding more? That’s Additive Bias – the tendency to solve problems by adding new elements, even when removing something would work better.
False Priors
Agent Detection Bias
Do you feel like strange events happen for a reason, as if someone is behind them? That’s Agent Detection Bias – the tendency to see intent and intelligence behind random events, even when there’s no real agent involved.
Prospect Theory
Ambiguity Effect
Do you avoid trying a new restaurant because there are no reviews, even though it might be better? That’s Ambiguity Effect – the tendency to avoid options where the probability of success is unknown, even if they could b
Cognitive Bias
Anchoring Effect
Anchoring Effect is the tendency for an initial number or reference value to pull a later numerical judgment toward it, even when the starting point is weak or not very useful.
Availability Heuristic
Anthropocentric Thinking
Do you assume animals think and feel just like humans? That’s Anthropocentric Thinking – the tendency to use human experiences as the basis for understanding everything else, even if it operates on completely different p
Availability Heuristic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of humanlike characteristics, intentions, emotions, or mental states to nonhuman agents. It is a common psychological process, not automatically an error. The problem appears when huma
Human-Robot Interaction
Appearance–Capability Expectation
Appearance–Capability Expectation is this project’s plain-language label for a human–robot interaction pattern, not a standardized bias name. Research shows that robot appearance, morphology, framing, and human-likeness
Conformity Bias
Assumed Similarity Bias
Do you assume most people think like you? That’s Assumed Similarity Bias – the tendency to believe others share your perspectives, preferences, and values more than they actually do.
Availability Heuristic
Attentional Bias
Do you notice only what’s on your mind? That’s Attentional Bias – the tendency to focus on information related to your current thoughts or concerns while ignoring everything else.
Decision Making
Attribute Substitution
When faced with a complex question, your brain might unknowingly replace it with an easier one. That’s Attribute Substitution – the tendency to answer a simpler question instead of the actual, more difficult one.
Social Bias
Authority Bias
Do you tend to trust experts, bosses, or celebrities just because they hold authority? That’s Authority Bias – the tendency to overvalue the accuracy of influential figures’ opinions, regardless of their actual validity.
False Priors
Automation Bias
Automation Bias is the tendency to let automated cues or recommendations replace vigilant information seeking and verification. It can create commission errors, where a person follows incorrect automated advice, and omis
Conformity Bias
Availability Cascade
The more you hear an idea, the more true it seems? That’s Availability Cascade – a process where information starts feeling like fact simply because it’s repeated often enough.
Heuristic Bias
Availability Heuristic
Availability Heuristic is the use of how easily examples or scenarios come to mind as one cue for judging how common or likely something is. This shortcut can be useful when accessible examples really track frequency, an
Confirmation Bias
Backfire Effect
The Backfire Effect is a specific outcome in which a correction increases belief in the false claim it was meant to correct. Research suggests this is uncommon: factual corrections usually improve belief accuracy, so dis
Conformity Bias
Bandwagon Effect
Did everyone suddenly start wearing weird sneakers – and now you want them too? That’s Bandwagon Effect – the tendency to follow the majority, even without good reasons.
Extension Neglect
Base Rate Fallacy
Do you trust vivid examples more than dry statistics? That’s Base Rate Fallacy – when general probabilities are ignored in favor of specific cases, even when statistics provide a more accurate prediction.
Truth Judgment
Belief Bias
Do you only find arguments convincing when their conclusion aligns with your beliefs? That’s Belief Bias – the tendency to judge an argument’s strength based on how believable its conclusion seems, rather than its actual
Cognitive Dissonance
Ben Franklin Effect
Do you like someone more after doing them a favor? That’s Ben Franklin Effect – when we’ve already helped someone, we’re more likely to help them again, convincing ourselves that we like them.
Logical Fallacy
Berkson’s Paradox
Does it seem like successful people are less kind because there aren’t many kind, successful people? That’s Berkson’s Paradox – a logical fallacy where an observed relationship between variables appears due to selection
Memory Bias
Bizarreness Effect
Do you remember a person in a banana costume better than one in a regular suit? That’s Bizarreness Effect – the tendency to recall unusual information more easily than common information.
Memory Bias
Boundary Extension
Do you look at a photo and later recall seeing more details than were actually there? That’s Boundary Extension – the tendency to remember the background of an image as more expansive than it really was.
Memory Bias
Childhood Amnesia
Can you remember your third birthday? Probably not. That’s Childhood Amnesia – the natural inability to retain memories from the first few years of life.
Apophenia
Clustering Illusion
Do you see patterns where none exist? That’s Clustering Illusion – the tendency to overestimate the importance of small streaks, clusters, or runs in large sets of random data.
Information Bias
Common Source Bias
You watch the news, read blogs, study research – and everywhere you see the same thing? It seems like solid information, but if all sources refer to the same origin, it’s just an echo, not verification.
Extension Neglect
Compassion Fade
Do you feel more moved by the story of one child in need than by statistics about millions suffering? That’s Compassion Fade – the tendency to emotionally react to personal stories while ignoring large-scale suffering.
Cognitive Bias
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias is a broad label for ways an existing belief or hypothesis can influence how information is searched for, interpreted, remembered, or evaluated. It is wider than simply reading agreeable news, and it do
Confirmation Bias
Congruence Bias
Congruence Bias is a narrower hypothesis-testing pattern. A person can prefer a test that is likely to produce a positive result if the favored hypothesis is true, even when that result would also be expected under compe
Extension Neglect
Conjunction Fallacy
Do detailed stories seem more likely than simple ones? That’s Conjunction Fallacy – the tendency to assume that a specific combination of conditions is more probable than a single condition, even though that’s statistica
Belief Perseverance
Conservatism Bias
You receive new information, but it barely changes your opinion? That’s Conservatism Bias – the tendency to insufficiently revise one's beliefs even when presented with new evidence.
Memory Bias
Conservatism Bias
Do you remember heavy rain, but in reality, it was a full-blown storm? That’s Conservatism Bias – the tendency to recall high values (like probability or frequency) as lower than they were and low values as higher.
Memory Bias
Consistency Bias
Are you convinced you’ve always supported healthy living, but ten years ago you ate fast food daily? That’s Consistency Bias – the tendency to remember past beliefs and behaviors as being consistent with your current one
Memory Bias
Context Effect
Did you forget what you wanted to say but instantly remember once you walk back into the same room? That’s Context Effect – the tendency for memory to work better in the same environment where the information was learned
Framing Effect
Context Neglect Bias
Do you build complex systems without considering how real people will use them? That’s Context Neglect Bias – the tendency to solve technological challenges without accounting for human behavior and needs.
Memory Bias
Continued Influence Effect
The Continued Influence Effect happens when false or outdated information still affects later reasoning after a person has been told that it is wrong. A correction can help and the old information can still leave a trace
Conformity Bias
Courtesy Bias
Told your friend their new haircut looks great, even though you hate it? That’s Courtesy Bias – the tendency to soften your opinion to avoid hurting others’ feelings.
Memory Bias
Cross-Race Effect
Do faces of people from other races seem more similar to you, while faces within your own group are easier to distinguish? That’s Cross-Race Effect – the tendency to have difficulty recognizing and differentiating faces
Memory Bias
Cryptomnesia
Did you come up with a brilliant idea, only to realize you’d heard it before? That’s Cryptomnesia – when a forgotten memory resurfaces as an original thought because you don’t recognize it as a memory.
Cognitive Bias
Curse of Knowledge
Curse of Knowledge is a perspective-taking bias: once you know important information, that knowledge can make it harder to judge what a less-informed person knows, notices, or understands. It does not mean experts cannot
Cognitive Bias
Declinism
Declinism is best treated as an umbrella label for broad judgments that conditions have declined relative to an idealized past. It is not one standardized cognitive bias with one mechanism, and it is not proof that a rep
Framing Effect
Decoy Effect
Decoy Effect is a context effect in which adding an inferior option can increase the choice share of another option. In the classic attraction-effect setup, the decoy is clearly worse than the target on important attribu
Framing Effect
Default Effect
Default Effect is the tendency for people to choose an option more often when it is already selected or happens automatically if they do nothing.
Attribution Bias
Defensive Attribution
Do you feel a stronger urge to blame someone when an accident is severe or hits close to home? That’s Defensive Attribution – the tendency to assign more blame to a harm-doer as the outcome worsens or if you relate to th
Framing Effect
Denomination Effect
The denomination effect is a tendency to spend equivalent amounts differently depending on how the money is divided. A single large note can feel harder to break than several smaller notes with the same total value. The
Prospect Theory
Disposition Effect
Do you sell stocks that have gained value but hold onto losing ones, hoping they’ll recover? That’s Disposition Effect – the tendency to cash in on winners too early and hold onto losers for too long.
Framing Effect
Distinction Bias
Distinction bias is our tendency to overpredict how much some differences between options will matter when we compare the options side by side. During comparison, tiny gaps are easy to see. During real experience, when w
Framing Effect
Domain Neglect Bias
Do you think you can run a business without understanding human psychology? That’s Domain Neglect Bias – the tendency to ignore relevant knowledge from other fields when solving complex problems.
Prospect Theory
Dread Aversion
Do you stress over an upcoming exam more than you actually suffer during it? That’s Dread Aversion – the tendency to experience fear of an unpleasant event much more intensely than the pleasure of anticipating a good one
Self-Assessment
Dunning–Kruger Effect
The Dunning–Kruger Effect describes a pattern found in some self-assessment tasks: lower performers can overestimate their performance more than higher performers do. It is about calibration between measured performance
Extension Neglect
Duration Neglect
Does a long enjoyable experience feel no better than a short one if it ended badly? That’s Duration Neglect – the tendency to judge experiences based on their final moments rather than their overall length.
Cognitive Dissonance
Effort Justification
Does something feel more valuable just because you worked hard for it? That’s Effort Justification – the tendency to overvalue things that required significant effort, even if the outcome isn’t objectively worth it.
Memory Bias
Egocentric Bias
Do you remember getting straight A’s, but your report card says otherwise? That’s Egocentric Bias – the tendency to exaggerate past achievements and downplay failures.
Cognitive Bias
End-of-History Illusion
Do you think you’ve reached your final form and won’t change much in the future? That’s End-of-History Illusion – the belief that you will stay the same, even though you’ve changed a lot in the past.
Prospect Theory
Endowment Effect
Would you sell something only for much more than you’d be willing to pay for it? That’s Endowment Effect – the tendency to overvalue things just because you own them.
Logical Fallacy
Escalation of Commitment
Escalation of Commitment is the pattern of continuing or increasing investment in a course of action after negative results make stopping or changing direction worth serious consideration.
Memory Bias
Euphoric Recall
Do you remember college as the best time of your life but forget the sleepless nights before exams? That’s Euphoric Recall – the tendency to remember the past through rose-colored glasses while ignoring the negatives.
Cognitive Bias
Exaggerated Expectation
Did you expect a disaster, but nothing happened? Or thought something would change your life, but it turned out underwhelming? That’s Exaggerated Expectation – the tendency to predict more extreme outcomes than what actu
Confirmation Bias
Experimenter’s Bias
Do you only notice results that confirm your hypothesis? That’s Experimenter’s Bias – the tendency to give more weight to data that aligns with expectations while downplaying or ignoring conflicting results.
Attribution Bias
Extrinsic Incentives Bias
Do you think your colleagues work just for money while you do it out of passion? That’s Extrinsic Incentives Bias – the tendency to believe others are motivated by external rewards while you act out of genuine interest.
Memory Bias
Fading Affect Bias
Fading Affect Bias is an average pattern in autobiographical memory: the emotional intensity linked to negative events tends to weaken faster over time than the emotional intensity linked to positive events. It does not
Egocentric Bias
False Consensus Effect
Do you believe most people share your opinions and choices? That’s False Consensus Effect – the tendency to overestimate how much others agree with you.
Memory Bias
False Memory
Are you sure you’ve been to a place as a child, but your parents insist you never were? That’s False Memory – when imagination, stories from others, or time create memories of events that never actually happened.
Egocentric Bias
False Uniqueness Bias
Do you believe your ideas, talents, or projects are one of a kind, while others are just average? That’s False Uniqueness Bias – the tendency to overestimate how special you are and underestimate how many others share si
Egocentric Bias
Forer (Barnum) Effect
Have you ever read a horoscope or personality test and thought, “This is so me!”? That’s Forer (Barnum) Effect – the tendency to believe vague descriptions are uniquely accurate for you, even though they apply to most pe
Framing Effect
Framing Effect
Framing Effect is the tendency for a judgment or choice to change when the same underlying information is described in different ways. A common example is risky choice: people can respond differently when equivalent outc
Availability Heuristic
Frequency Illusion
Did you recently learn about something and now it seems to be everywhere? That’s Frequency Illusion (also known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon) – a cognitive bias that makes us think something appears more frequently t
Cognitive Rigidity
Functional Fixedness
Do you see an object and think it can only be used for its intended purpose? That’s Functional Fixedness – the tendency to perceive an object only in its traditional role, ignoring other possible uses.
Cognitive Bias
Fundamental Pain Bias
Do you believe your pain is real and objective, but others are just exaggerating? That’s Fundamental Pain Bias – the tendency to believe you report your own pain accurately while assuming others overstate theirs.
Metacognitive Bias
G.I. Joe Fallacy
Do you think that just knowing about cognitive biases makes you immune to them? That’s G.I. Joe Fallacy – the belief that awareness of a bias is enough to eliminate its effects. Unfortunately, self-control doesn’t work t
Logical Fallacy
Gambler’s Fallacy
Do you think that after flipping five heads in a row, tails is ‘due’ to happen next? That’s Gambler’s Fallacy – the mistaken belief that past events influence future probabilities, even when each event is independent.
False Priors
Gender Bias
Do you assume engineers are mostly men and teachers are mostly women? That’s Gender Bias – implicit assumptions that lead us to perceive people differently based on gender, even when there’s no rational basis for it.
Memory Bias
Gender Differences in Eyewitness Memory
Do you recall faces and clothing details better when they belong to someone of your own gender? That’s Gender Differences in Eyewitness Memory – the tendency for witnesses to remember more details about individuals of th
Memory Bias
Generation Effect
Do you remember jokes you made up better than ones you heard? That’s Generation Effect – information you generate yourself is remembered better than information you just hear or read.
Memory Bias
Google Effect
Can you remember your door code but not your friend’s phone number? That’s Google Effect – the tendency to forget information when you know it can be easily found online.
Attribution Bias
Group Attribution Error
Did you meet one rude tourist and assume their entire country is like that? That’s Group Attribution Error – the tendency to believe that an individual’s behavior represents their entire group.
Conformity Bias
Groupshift
Did your team start off cautious but end up playing it ultra-safe? Or did they go from slightly risky to full-on reckless? That’s Groupshift – the tendency for group decisions to become more extreme than individual opini
Conformity Bias
Groupthink
Did everyone in your team agree on a bad idea without questioning it? That’s Groupthink – the tendency to sacrifice critical thinking for group unity and harmony.
Social Bias
Halo Effect
Do you assume someone is smart just because they’re confident and charismatic? That’s Halo Effect – the tendency to attribute extra positive traits to a person based on one appealing characteristic.
Self-Assessment
Hard–Easy Effect
Do you think you’ll learn a new language in a month but doubt you can pass a simple test? That’s Hard–Easy Effect – the tendency to overestimate performance on hard tasks and underestimate it on easy ones.
Cognitive Bias
Hedonic Recall Bias
Do you feel satisfied with your salary and think you earn more than you actually do? Or, if you're unhappy, does your salary seem smaller than it really is? That’s Hedonic Recall Bias – the tendency to overestimate or un
Cognitive Bias
Hindsight Bias
Do past events seem obvious in hindsight? That’s Hindsight Bias – the tendency to see past events as more predictable than they actually were.
Attribution Bias
Hostile Attribution Bias
Did someone bump into you, and you assume it was on purpose? That’s Hostile Attribution Bias – the tendency to see neutral or accidental actions as intentionally aggressive.
Logical Fallacy
Hot-Hand Fallacy
Did you make three shots in a row and now feel like the fourth is more likely to go in? That’s Hot-Hand Fallacy – the belief that after a streak of success, your chances of continued success increase, even when events ar
Self-Assessment
Hot–Cold Empathy Gap
The Hot–Cold Empathy Gap is the difficulty of predicting preferences, behavior, or experience across different visceral or affective states. In a relatively cold state, people can underappreciate how hunger, pain, cravin
Memory Bias
Humor Effect
Do you remember the professor’s joke but not the lesson itself? That’s Humor Effect – the tendency to remember funny things better than neutral or boring ones.
Cognitive Bias
Hungry Judge Effect
Hungry Judge Effect is a popular name for a debated finding from a 2011 study of parole-board decisions. Favorable decisions were more common early in decision sessions and after food breaks, but the study did not measur
Dynamic Inconsistency
Hyperbolic Discounting
Do you promise to start exercising next week, only to push it back when the time comes? That’s Hyperbolic Discounting – the tendency to prefer immediate rewards over long-term benefits, even if your future self will regr
Egocentric Bias
Illusion of Asymmetric Insight
Do you think you see through people, but they don’t understand you? That’s Illusion of Asymmetric Insight – the tendency to overestimate how well you know others while believing they don’t understand you as well.
Egocentric Bias
Illusion of Control
Do you believe your actions influence events that are actually out of your control? That’s Illusion of Control – the tendency to overestimate your ability to manage external circumstances.
Self-Assessment
Illusion of Explanatory Depth
Do you think you understand how a fridge works but struggle to explain what happens inside? That’s Illusion of Explanatory Depth – the tendency to overestimate your knowledge of a topic until you actually have to explain
Egocentric Bias
Illusion of Transparency
Do you think others understand your thoughts and emotions as clearly as you do? That’s Illusion of Transparency – the tendency to overestimate how much others perceive your mental state and how well you understand theirs
Egocentric Bias
Illusion of Validity
Do you believe your judgments are accurate just because the available information fits together well? That’s Illusion of Validity – the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s judgments, especially when data appea
Apophenia
Illusory Correlation
Do you think two events are connected when it’s just coincidence? That’s Illusory Correlation – the tendency to see a relationship between unrelated things.
Egocentric Bias
Illusory Superiority
Do you think you drive better than the average driver? Or that your decisions are more rational than most people’s? That’s Illusory Superiority – the tendency to overestimate your good qualities and underestimate your fl
Truth Judgment
Illusory Truth Effect
The Illusory Truth Effect is the tendency for repeated claims to receive higher truth ratings than comparable new claims. The effect is well supported overall, but it is not a rule that repeating any sentence makes peopl
Cognitive Bias
Impact Bias
Do you think winning the lottery will make you happy forever? Or that a failure will leave you devastated for months? That’s Impact Bias – the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of future emotions.
Availability Heuristic
Implicit Association
Do some words or concepts seem to connect faster in your mind than others? That’s Implicit Association – the effect where the speed of linking words depends on how closely they seem related, even if the connection is sub
Self-Assessment
Impostor Syndrome
Do you achieve success but still feel like you're just faking it? That’s Impostor Syndrome – the tendency to downplay your achievements and fear that others will soon ‘expose’ you as incompetent.
Cognitive Bias
Information Bias
Do you believe more information always leads to better decisions? That’s Information Bias – the tendency to seek data even when it won’t impact your choice or actions.
Conformity Bias
Ingroup Bias
Do you think your team’s way is the best and anything external isn’t worth considering? That’s Ingroup Bias, also known as ‘Not Invented Here’ – the tendency to reject ideas, research, and products simply because they co
Extension Neglect
Insensitivity to Sample Size
Do you make conclusions based on just a few examples, assuming they reflect reality? That’s Insensitivity to Sample Size – the tendency to underestimate how much small samples can distort results.
Attribution Bias
Intentionality Bias
Did someone step on your foot, and you assume they did it on purpose? That’s Intentionality Bias – the tendency to believe people’s actions are deliberate, even when they’re accidental.
Attribution Bias
Just-World Hypothesis
Do you think poor people are just lazy and rich people earned their success? That’s Just-World Hypothesis – the tendency to believe everything happens fairly, even when events are random or unjust.
Memory Bias
Lag Effect
Think cramming all night will help you remember? And then you forget everything the next day? That’s Lag Effect – information sticks better when learning is spread out over time instead of in one go.
Cognitive Rigidity
Law of the Instrument
When you have a hammer, does everything look like a nail? That’s Law of the Instrument – the tendency to over-rely on familiar tools or methods while ignoring better alternatives.
Extension Neglect
Less-Is-Better Effect
The less-is-better effect appears when we evaluate a smaller or objectively lower-value option more positively because an easier contextual cue makes it look better, especially when options are judged separately. More ca
Memory Bias
Leveling and Sharpening
Do you tell a story, and each time it gets more vivid, but some details vanish? That’s Leveling and Sharpening – over time, some details fade while others become exaggerated and overemphasized.
Memory Bias
Levels-of-Processing Effect
Did you read a textbook but remember nothing, while the topic you explained to a friend stuck? That’s Levels-of-Processing Effect – the deeper you process information, the better you remember it.
Memory Bias
List-Length Effect
Do you remember a higher percentage of items from a short list than from a long one, but still retain more overall from the longer list? That’s List-Length Effect – as lists grow longer, relative recall decreases, but th
Prospect Theory
Loss Aversion
Loss Aversion is the idea that, relative to a reference point, a loss can receive more subjective weight than an equivalent gain. It is an important part of prospect theory, but it should not be treated as a universal ru
Memory Bias
Memory Inhibition
Did you recall part of a list, but the rest vanished from memory? That’s Memory Inhibition – when recalling certain items makes it harder to retrieve others.
Cognitive Bias
Mere Exposure Effect
Have you noticed that the more you see something, the more you like it? That’s Mere Exposure Effect – the tendency to prefer things just because they are familiar.
Cognitive Bias
Mere Urgency Effect
The mere urgency effect is our tendency to choose a less important task because it looks urgent, even when the urgency is artificial and the other task has an objectively better payoff. A deadline enters the room and sud
Memory Bias
Misinformation Effect
Do you swear you saw something at an event, even though it wasn’t there? That’s Misinformation Effect – when memory becomes less accurate due to false details added later.
Memory Bias
Modality Effect
Do you remember the last words of a speaker better than the last lines of a book? That’s Modality Effect – spoken information is remembered differently than written, especially at the end of a list.
Cognitive Bias
Money Illusion
Do you feel richer when your salary increases, even if prices rise even faster? That’s Money Illusion – the tendency to focus on the nominal value of money rather than its actual purchasing power.
Memory Bias
Mood-Congruent Memory Bias
When you’re sad, do you recall all your failures? And when you're happy, only the best moments? That’s Mood-Congruent Memory Bias – we better remember and retrieve information that matches our current emotional state.
Cognitive Bias
Moral Credential Effect
Do you feel like one good deed gives you a free pass for less ethical behavior? That’s Moral Credential Effect – the tendency to believe that doing good earns you the right to be less moral in the future.
Attribution Bias
Moral Luck
Resultant Moral Luck describes cases where people judge blame, punishment, or moral responsibility differently because similar actions lead to different outcomes partly outside the actor’s control. Outcomes matter, but t
Egocentric Bias
Naïve Cynicism
Do you believe that people act selfishly while your own actions are purely rational and fair? That’s Naïve Cynicism – the tendency to assume others are biased and self-serving, while seeing yourself as objective and sinc
Egocentric Bias
Naïve Realism
Do you believe your views are based on objective facts, while those who disagree are simply misinformed or biased? That’s Naïve Realism – the tendency to think you see reality as it truly is, while others are clouded by
Memory Bias
Negativity Bias
Can you recall one hurtful comment from years ago but forget all the compliments you’ve received? That’s Negativity Bias – the brain reacts more strongly to negative experiences and stores them longer in memory.
Memory Bias
Next-in-Line Effect
Do you rehearse your speech in your head instead of listening to the person speaking before you? That’s Next-in-Line Effect – the tendency to forget what was just said because you’re too focused on preparing your own res
Cognitive Bias
Non-Adaptive Choice Switching
Did you make the right decision, but due to bad luck, you now refuse to make it again? That’s Non-Adaptive Choice Switching – the tendency to avoid an optimal choice after one bad outcome.
Cognitive Dissonance
Normalcy Bias
Do you believe disasters only happen to others, not you? That’s Normalcy Bias – the tendency to ignore or underestimate the likelihood of rare but serious events just because they haven’t happened before.
Self-Assessment
Objectivity Illusion
Do you believe you see things as they truly are, while others are biased? That’s Objectivity Illusion – the tendency to think you’re rational and unbiased, but only notice cognitive errors in others.
Confirmation Bias
Observer-Expectancy Effect
Does a researcher believe in a certain outcome and unconsciously shape the data to fit? That’s Observer-Expectancy Effect – when an experimenter unintentionally influences results by modifying the experiment or interpret
Cognitive Bias
Omission Bias
Do you believe that doing nothing is safer, even if it leads to bad outcomes? That’s Omission Bias – the tendency to view harmful actions as worse than equally harmful inactions.
Cognitive Bias
Optimism Bias
Do you believe bad things happen to others, but not to you? That’s Optimism Bias – the tendency to underestimate negative events and overestimate positive outcomes.
Cognitive Bias
Ostrich Effect
Do you avoid checking your bank balance because you’re afraid of what you’ll see? That’s Ostrich Effect – the tendency to ignore negative information to avoid discomfort.
Cognitive Bias
Outcome Bias
Do you think a decision was good just because it led to a positive outcome? That’s Outcome Bias – the tendency to judge the quality of a decision based on its final result rather than the logic behind it.
Conformity Bias
Outgroup Favoritism
Do you feel like other groups always have it better – their culture, their people, their values? That’s Outgroup Favoritism – the tendency for socially disadvantaged groups to favor and even prefer other communities over
Conformity Bias
Outgroup Homogeneity Bias
Do you feel like your group is diverse, but other groups are all the same? That’s Outgroup Homogeneity Bias – the tendency to see members of your own group as individuals, while viewing outsiders as uniform.
Egocentric Bias
Overconfidence Effect
Do you say you’re 99% sure about something, only to find out you were wrong? That’s Overconfidence Effect – the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of your knowledge and decisions, even when mistakes are likely.
Apophenia
Pareidolia
Do you see faces in clouds or hear ‘hidden messages’ in music? That’s pareidolia – the tendency to perceive random images or sounds as meaningful.
Memory Bias
Part-List Cueing Effect
Struggling to recall a to-do list, but the more you remember, the harder it gets to retrieve the rest? That’s Part-List Cueing Effect – recalling some items makes it harder to retrieve others from the same list.
Memory Bias
Peak–End Rule
Do you remember a trip as amazing, even though most of it was boring, just because it had a magical ending? That’s Peak–End Rule – we judge experiences not by their total duration, but by their most intense moment (good
Cognitive Bias
Peltzman Effect
Do you act more recklessly when you feel safe, even though the risk remains? That’s Peltzman Effect – the tendency to offset increased safety by engaging in riskier behavior.
Memory Bias
Persistence
Trying to forget a painful event, but it keeps coming back? That’s Persistence – when the brain forces us to relive traumatic memories even when we want to move on.
Cognitive Bias
Pessimism Bias
Do you always expect the worst, even when there’s no real reason to? That’s Pessimism Bias – the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of negative events, especially in people prone to depression.
Memory Bias
Picture Superiority Effect
Can you remember a person’s face faster than their name? Or a company’s logo but not its slogan? That’s Picture Superiority Effect – the brain remembers visual information more effectively than text.
Self-Assessment Bias
Placement Bias
Do you see yourself as better than others at things you’re good at, and worse than others at things you struggle with? That’s Placement Bias – people remember themselves as more successful in what they feel confident abo
Logical Fallacy
Plan Continuation Bias
Have you ever stuck to a route even after realizing there’s a shorter path? That’s Plan Continuation Bias – the tendency to stick to an initial plan, even when the situation has changed and it no longer makes sense.
Egocentric Bias
Planning Fallacy
Planning Fallacy is the tendency to predict that your own task or project will finish sooner than it actually does, even when similar work has taken longer before.
Cognitive Bias
Plant Blindness
Do you notice animals, buildings, and cars but overlook trees and flowers? That’s Plant Blindness – the tendency to ignore plants in the environment and underestimate their importance to life on Earth.
Memory Bias
Positivity Effect
Ever noticed that older people recall happy moments more than tough times? That’s Positivity Effect – as we age, our memory favors positive experiences and pushes negative ones aside.
Cognitive Bias
Present Bias
Do you think, ‘Better a little now than more later’? That’s Present Bias – the tendency to overvalue short-term rewards and underestimate long-term consequences.
Cognitive Bias
Prevention Bias
Prevention Bias is a domain-specific label from experimental research on information-security investment. In the studied allocation task, participants favored preventive controls over detection-and-response controls even
Memory Bias
Primacy Effect
Do you recall the first items on a list but struggle with the middle? That’s Primacy Effect – information presented first is remembered better than what comes later.
Cognitive Bias
Pro-Innovation Bias
Do you believe every new technology is the future while ignoring its flaws? That’s Pro-Innovation Bias – the tendency to overestimate the benefits of innovations while underestimating their limitations.
Cognitive Bias
Probability Matching
Do you spread your choices across different options, even when one is clearly better? That’s Probability Matching – the tendency to match choices to probabilities instead of always picking the best option.
Cognitive Bias
Projection Bias
Do you think your future self will have the same preferences, habits, and values as you do now? That’s Projection Bias – the tendency to overestimate how much your future self will align with your current desires.
Cognitive Bias
Proportionality Bias
Do you struggle to believe that major events can happen by chance? That’s Proportionality Bias – the tendency to assume that big events must have equally big causes, even when they don’t.
Prospect Theory
Pseudocertainty Effect
Do you prefer a guaranteed win but take risks to avoid losses? That’s Pseudocertainty Effect – the tendency to be cautious when things are good but take risks when things go bad.
Attribution Bias
Puritanical Bias
Do you believe poor people are just lazy? That’s Puritanical Bias – the tendency to blame negative outcomes on personal morality rather than external, societal, or economic factors.
Conformity Bias
Pygmalion Effect
Do you perform better when people believe in you? That’s Pygmalion Effect – a psychological phenomenon where others’ expectations (positive or negative) influence your actual performance and behavior.
Availability Heuristic
Quantification Bias
Do you trust numbers more than anything else? That’s Quantification Bias – the tendency to give more weight to measurable data while ignoring what can’t be easily quantified.
Conformity Bias
Reactance
Does being told ‘no’ make you want to do it even more? That’s Reactance – a psychological response where attempts to limit your freedom trigger resistance and a desire to do the opposite.
Conformity Bias
Reactive Devaluation
Do you reject a good idea just because it came from your opponent? That’s Reactive Devaluation – the tendency to dismiss proposals just because they come from an ‘undesirable’ source, even if they’re beneficial.
Memory Bias
Recency Effect
Do you remember the last words of a conversation but forget the middle? That’s Recency Effect – the most recent items or events are remembered better than those before them.
Cognitive Bias
Recency Illusion
Have you recently noticed a word, trend, or idea and assumed it’s brand new? That’s Recency Illusion – the tendency to believe something is new just because you’ve only recently become aware of it, even if it has existed
Memory Bias
Reminiscence Bump
Why do you vividly recall your first parties, first job, or first love but not recent events? That’s Reminiscence Bump – we remember adolescence and early adulthood more clearly than any other period of life.
Egocentric Bias
Restraint Bias
Restraint bias is our tendency to overestimate how well we can control impulses, especially when the temptation or visceral state is not active yet. Calm, rested, full us is often very confident about what hungry, tired,
Truth Judgment
Rhyme as Reason Effect
Do phrases like ‘If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit’ sound more convincing just because they rhyme? That’s Rhyme as Reason Effect – the tendency to perceive rhyming statements as more truthful, even when they lack
Memory Bias
Rosy Retrospection
Rosy Retrospection is a pattern in which a past experience can be evaluated more positively in later memory than it was evaluated while it was happening. The classic studies followed specific events and compared anticipa
Availability Heuristic
Salience Bias
Do you focus only on the most striking things while ignoring the less noticeable ones? That’s Salience Bias – the tendency to concentrate on the most prominent details, even when they are not the most important.
Memory Bias
Saying Is Believing Effect
Have you ever adjusted a story to fit your audience, only to later believe that version yourself? That’s Saying Is Believing Effect – when we tailor a message for others, it becomes part of our own beliefs.
Extension Neglect
Scope Neglect
Would you pay the same amount to help 2,000 people as you would for 20,000? That’s Scope Neglect – the tendency to respond emotionally rather than rationally, failing to account for the actual size of a problem.
Availability Heuristic
Selection Bias
Are you making conclusions based on a sample that doesn’t represent the whole picture? That’s Selection Bias – an error that occurs when data is not randomly selected and doesn’t reflect reality.
Confirmation Bias
Selective Perception
Do you notice only what confirms your expectations while ignoring everything else? That’s Selective Perception – the tendency to filter information through existing beliefs and disregard anything that doesn’t fit.
Memory Bias
Self-Relevance Effect
Do you easily recall stories you were part of but forget those about others? That’s Self-Relevance Effect – information connected to you is remembered better than similar details about others.
Attribution Bias
Self-Serving Bias
Got promoted? That’s your talent! Didn’t get promoted? Must be your boss’s bias. That’s Self-Serving Bias – the tendency to credit yourself for successes but blame external factors for failures.
Memory Bias
Serial Position Effect
Do you clearly remember how a lecture started and ended, but the middle feels blurry? That’s Serial Position Effect – the first and last items in a sequence are remembered best, while the middle tends to be forgotten.
False Priors
Sexual Perception Bias
Do you think someone is flirting when they’re just being polite? Or do you miss obvious signals of interest? That’s Sexual Perception Bias – the tendency to either overestimate or underestimate someone’s romantic interes
Conformity Bias
Shared Information Bias
Does your team spend hours discussing obvious facts while ignoring a crucial detail known only to a few? That’s Shared Information Bias – the tendency for groups to focus on what everyone already knows instead of sharing
Conformity Bias
Social Comparison Bias
Do you hire people who won’t challenge you rather than those who are truly the best? That’s Social Comparison Bias – the tendency to favor candidates who don’t threaten your skills or status.
Memory Bias
Social Cryptomnesia
Do you enjoy rights and freedoms but can’t recall who fought for them? That’s Social Cryptomnesia – when society recognizes that change has happened but forgets how it occurred and who made it possible.
Memory Bias
Source Confusion
Do you remember a fact but can’t recall whether you read it in a research paper or a social media comment? That’s Source Confusion – the tendency to misremember where information came from, distorting our memories.
Self-Perception Bias
Spotlight Effect
Forgot to button your shirt and feel like everyone noticed? Said something awkward and now think it’s all anyone remembers? That’s Spotlight Effect – the tendency to overestimate how much others notice your appearance or
Prospect Theory
Status Quo Bias
Status Quo Bias is a tendency to favour the current option more than we would if the same options were presented without one already being in place.
Memory Bias
Stereotype Bias
Are you sure you saw a female secretary and a male boss, even though it was the other way around? That’s Stereotype Bias – memory reshapes facts to fit expected patterns, even when they don’t match reality.
False Priors
Stereotyping
Do you think programmers are introverted and athletes aren’t smart? That’s Stereotyping – the tendency to expect people to have certain traits just because they belong to a group, even when you have no actual information
Probability Bias
Subadditivity Effect
If told there’s a 10% chance of flooding in your city, you’d accept it. But if broken down into ‘flooding from rain,’ ‘flooding from dam failure,’ and ‘flooding from melting snow,’ each at 5%, the total feels higher! Tha
Truth Judgment
Subjective Validation
Do you read a horoscope and think, ‘That’s so me!’? That’s Subjective Validation – the tendency to believe information is true if it aligns with your beliefs or desires, even if it’s vague or coincidental.
Memory Bias
Suffix Effect
Can you easily recall the last word in a list, but if something follows it, it disappears? That’s Suffix Effect – the final items in a sequence become harder to remember if extra information follows them.
Memory Bias
Suggestibility
Did someone ask, ‘Do you remember getting lost in a store as a child?’ and now you’re convinced it happened? That’s Suggestibility – the tendency to mistake others’ suggestions for real memories.
Cognitive Bias
Sunk Cost Effect
Sunk Cost Effect is the tendency for money, time, or effort that cannot be recovered to influence what you choose next, even when the future costs and benefits should be enough to make the decision.
Cognitive Bias
Surrogation
Surrogation is a management-accounting construct in which a performance measure starts to be treated as though it were the strategic objective it was meant to represent. A KPI can be useful and still capture only part of
Availability Heuristic
Survivorship Bias
Do you think success is just a matter of making the right choices because all you see are winners? That’s Survivorship Bias – the tendency to focus on those who ‘made it’ while ignoring those who didn’t because they’re i
Prospect Theory
System Justification
Do you believe that if something has been around for a long time, it must be good? That’s System Justification – the tendency to defend the status quo, even when it’s unfair or personally harmful.
Cognitive Bias
Systematic Bias
Systematic bias is a general measurement and statistical concept. It describes a consistent or predictable tendency for measurements, estimates, or study results to miss a reference or target value. It is not the name of
Perception Bias
Tachypsychia
Have you ever felt like time slowed down in a moment of danger? Or that it flew by when you were deeply focused? That’s Tachypsychia – a shift in time perception under stress, fear, or intense concentration.
Cognitive Bias
Teleological Bias
Do you believe everything happens for a reason? That’s Teleological Bias – the tendency to assign purpose or intention to events and objects, even when they arise randomly or without deliberate design.
Memory Bias
Telescoping Effect
Are you convinced that a movie from two years ago just came out yesterday? Or that a recent event happened much longer ago? That’s Telescoping Effect – the tendency to shift events in time, making recent ones feel distan
Memory Bias
Testing Effect
Do you reread textbooks repeatedly but still forget the material? Try testing yourself! That’s Testing Effect – memory improves when you actively recall information instead of just passively reviewing it.
Memory Bias
The Perky Effect
Did you vividly imagine skydiving and later wonder if it actually happened? That’s The Perky Effect – when real images or experiences influence imagined ones, making it hard to distinguish fantasy from reality.
Egocentric Bias
Third-Person Effect
Do you believe that advertising, propaganda, or news influence others, but not you? That’s Third-Person Effect – the tendency to think mass media shapes other people’s opinions while leaving your own perception untouched
Logical Fallacy
Time-Saving Bias
Do you think increasing speed from 80 to 100 km/h saves a lot of time, while 20 to 40 km/h barely makes a difference? That’s Time-Saving Bias – the tendency to overestimate time saved at high speeds and underestimate tim
Memory Bias
Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon
You KNOW the word, it’s right there… but you just can’t say it? That’s Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon – when you partially recall something but can’t fully retrieve it.
Perception Bias
Travis Syndrome
Do you feel like we’re living through the most important time in history? That’s Travis Syndrome – the tendency to overestimate the significance of the present while underestimating the past.
Conformity Bias
Truth Bias
Do you naturally trust what people say? That’s Truth Bias – the tendency to assume information is honest, even without evidence.
Cognitive Bias
Turkey Illusion
Do you assume things will stay the same just because they’ve always been stable? That’s Turkey Illusion – the tendency to ignore the risk of sudden change just because the past has been smooth.
Attribution Bias
Ultimate Attribution Error
If one person from a group does something bad, does that mean they’re all like that? That’s Ultimate Attribution Error – the tendency to attribute an individual’s actions to their entire group, especially for negative be
Cognitive Bias
Unit Bias
Unit bias is our tendency to treat one available unit as a natural or appropriate amount to consume or use. The unit may be a serving, a package, a spoonful, one task, one episode, or another convenient chunk. When the u
Cognitive Bias
Value Selection Bias
Value Selection Bias is a narrow reasoning pattern studied in Bayesian diagnostic problems. When participants did not derive the correct solution, their incorrect answers were strongly drawn toward numerical values alrea
Memory Bias
Verbatim Effect
Do you remember what a conversation was about, but not the exact words? That’s Verbatim Effect – our brain stores the general meaning of messages rather than their precise wording.
Memory Bias
Von Restorff Effect
Can you forget a long list but remember the one strange word in it? That’s Von Restorff Effect – our brain remembers what stands out the most.
Cognitive Bias
Weber–Fechner Law
Can you tell the difference between 1 kg and 2 kg, but not between 101 kg and 102 kg? That’s Weber–Fechner Law – the difficulty in noticing small changes when dealing with large quantities.
Availability Heuristic
Well-Travelled Road Effect
Does your daily commute feel shorter than a new route of the same distance? That’s Well-Travelled Road Effect – the tendency to underestimate travel time on familiar routes and overestimate it on unfamiliar ones.
Cognitive Bias
Women Are Wonderful Effect
Do you think women are naturally kinder, more honest, and caring? That’s Women Are Wonderful Effect – the tendency to associate more positive attributes with women than with men, regardless of actual behavior.
Self-Assessment Bias
Worse-Than-Average Effect
Do you assume everyone else is better than you at difficult tasks? That’s Worse-Than-Average Effect – the tendency to underestimate your own competence in challenging activities, even when you have the skills.
Memory Bias
Zeigarnik Effect
Do unfinished tasks keep running through your mind? That’s Zeigarnik Effect – the brain remembers incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.
Extension Neglect
Zero-Risk Bias
Do you prefer eliminating a small risk entirely rather than significantly reducing a bigger one? That’s Zero-Risk Bias – the tendency to feel safer when a risk is reduced to zero, even if it’s not the most rational choic
Logical Fallacy
Zero-Sum Bias
Zero-sum bias is our tendency to treat a non-zero-sum situation as if every gain for one side must create a matching loss for another. Sometimes resources really are fixed. The bias appears when we import that logic into