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Explore cognitive biases.

Search the library by name, description, or category. These entries are educational starting points for noticing patterns in your own thinking and decisions.

New taxonomy

Browse by cognitive mechanism

177 of 215 canonical entries now have a reviewed v2 family mapping. Ambiguous entries stay unassigned until reviewed.

Memory & retrieval50 reviewed entriesPatterns involving encoding, recall, reconstruction, source memory, and forgetting.Social judgment32 reviewed entriesPatterns involving attribution, conformity, social inference, and judgments about other people.Valuation & choice17 reviewed entriesPatterns involving framing, reference points, gains and losses, option comparison, and preference construction.Attention & information16 reviewed entriesPatterns that affect what gets noticed, sampled, searched for, or omitted from consideration.Belief updating13 reviewed entriesPatterns that shape how evidence, priors, repetition, and existing beliefs change what feels true.Reasoning & flexibility11 reviewed entriesPatterns involving logical errors, problem representation, rigidity, and fixation on familiar tools or solutions.Self & metacognition10 reviewed entriesPatterns involving confidence, self-assessment, introspection, and beliefs about one's own thinking.Perception & patterns8 reviewed entriesPatterns involving perceptual interpretation, agency detection, and seeing structure in ambiguous input.Probability & risk6 reviewed entriesPatterns involving uncertainty, probability estimates, base rates, and perceived risk.Future state forecasting3 reviewed entriesPatterns involving predictions about future feelings, preferences, and behavior when current or imagined states are an imperfect guide to the future state.Past & present comparison3 reviewed entriesPatterns that can shape comparisons between remembered past experiences, current experience, and broad judgments of change over time.Retrospective evaluation3 reviewed entriesPatterns where knowing an outcome changes later judgments of predictability, decision quality, blame, or responsibility.Time & commitment3 reviewed entriesPatterns involving temporal preference, persistence, escalation, and commitment dynamics.

Apophenia

ApopheniaClustering Illusion – when randomness looks like a patternthe tendency to overestimate the importance of small streaks, clusters, or runs in large sets of random data.Read entry

ApopheniaIllusory Correlation – when you see a connection that isn’t therethe tendency to see a relationship between unrelated things.Read entry

ApopheniaPareidolia – when your brain sees patterns that aren’t therethe tendency to perceive random images or sounds as meaningful.Read entry

Attribution Bias

Attribution BiasActor-Observer Bias – when you blame circumstances for yourself but personality for othersthe tendency to blame our own behavior on external circumstances while attributing others’ actions to their personality.Read entry

Attribution BiasDefensive Attribution – when you blame more as the harm gets worse or feels personalthe tendency to assign more blame to a harm-doer as the outcome worsens or if you relate to the victim.Read entry

Attribution BiasExtrinsic Incentives Bias – when you think others work for rewards, but you work for passionthe tendency to believe others are motivated by external rewards while you act out of genuine interest.Read entry

Attribution BiasGroup Attribution Error – when you judge a whole group based on one personthe tendency to believe that an individual’s behavior represents their entire group.Read entry

Attribution BiasHostile Attribution Bias – when you see hostility even where there is nonethe tendency to see neutral or accidental actions as intentionally aggressive.Read entry

Attribution BiasIntentionality Bias – when you assume everything is done on purposethe tendency to believe people’s actions are deliberate, even when they’re accidental.Read entry

Attribution BiasJust-World Hypothesis – when you believe people get what they deservethe tendency to believe everything happens fairly, even when events are random or unjust.Read entry

Attribution BiasMoral Luck – when outcomes change blame for otherwise similar choicesResultant Moral Luck describes cases where people judge blame, punishment, or moral responsibility differently because similar actions lead to different outcomes partly outside theRead entry

Attribution BiasPuritanical Bias – when people blame morality instead of circumstancesthe tendency to blame negative outcomes on personal morality rather than external, societal, or economic factors.Read entry

Attribution BiasSelf-Serving Bias – when success is yours, but failure is someone else’s faultthe tendency to credit yourself for successes but blame external factors for failures.Read entry

Attribution BiasUltimate Attribution Error – when you judge an entire group based on a few individualsthe tendency to attribute an individual’s actions to their entire group, especially for negative behavior.Read entry

Availability Heuristic

Availability HeuristicAnthropocentric Thinking – when everything is judged by human standardsthe tendency to use human experiences as the basis for understanding everything else, even if it operates on completely different principles.Read entry

Availability HeuristicAnthropomorphism – when nonhuman systems are read as humanlikeAnthropomorphism is the attribution of humanlike characteristics, intentions, emotions, or mental states to nonhuman agents. It is a common psychological process, not automaticallyRead entry

Availability HeuristicAttentional Bias – when your thoughts control what you seethe tendency to focus on information related to your current thoughts or concerns while ignoring everything else.Read entry

Availability HeuristicFrequency Illusion – when something new suddenly appears everywherea cognitive bias that makes us think something appears more frequently than before, when in reality we’ve just started noticing it.Read entry

Availability HeuristicImplicit Association – when your brain links things faster than you realizethe effect where the speed of linking words depends on how closely they seem related, even if the connection is subjective.Read entry

Availability HeuristicQuantification Bias – when only measurable things seem to matterthe tendency to give more weight to measurable data while ignoring what can’t be easily quantified.Read entry

Availability HeuristicSalience Bias – when the striking overshadows the relevantthe tendency to concentrate on the most prominent details, even when they are not the most important.Read entry

Availability HeuristicSelection Bias – when the sample doesn’t reflect realityan error that occurs when data is not randomly selected and doesn’t reflect reality.Read entry

Availability HeuristicSurvivorship Bias – when you only see the winnersthe tendency to focus on those who ‘made it’ while ignoring those who didn’t because they’re invisible.Read entry

Availability HeuristicWell-Travelled Road Effect – when familiar routes feel fasterthe tendency to underestimate travel time on familiar routes and overestimate it on unfamiliar ones.Read entry

Belief Perseverance

Belief PerseveranceConservatism Bias – when new evidence doesn't change old beliefsthe tendency to insufficiently revise one's beliefs even when presented with new evidence.Read entry

Cognitive Bias

Cognitive BiasAnchoring Effect – when a starting number pulls later estimates toward itAnchoring 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.Read entry

Cognitive BiasConfirmation Bias – when a belief shapes how evidence is searched and judgedConfirmation 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 Read entry

Cognitive BiasCurse of Knowledge – when what you know distorts what you expect others to knowCurse 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 undeRead entry

Cognitive BiasDeclinism – when the present is judged against an idealized pastDeclinism 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 mRead entry

Cognitive BiasEnd-of-History Illusion – when you think you won’t change anymorethe belief that you will stay the same, even though you’ve changed a lot in the past.Read entry

Cognitive BiasExaggerated Expectation – when reality is always less extreme than you imaginedthe tendency to predict more extreme outcomes than what actually occurs.Read entry

Cognitive BiasFundamental Pain Bias – when your pain is real, but others’ seem exaggeratedthe tendency to believe you report your own pain accurately while assuming others overstate theirs.Read entry

Cognitive BiasHedonic Recall Bias – when satisfied employees think they earn more, and unhappy ones think they earn lessthe tendency to overestimate or underestimate earnings based on job satisfaction.Read entry

Cognitive BiasHindsight Bias – when the past looks obvious in retrospectthe tendency to see past events as more predictable than they actually were.Read entry

Cognitive BiasHungry Judge Effect – a famous parole-board finding with an uncertain causeHungry 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 fRead entry

Cognitive BiasImpact Bias – when you overestimate how long or intense your emotions will bethe tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of future emotions.Read entry

Cognitive BiasInformation Bias – when you seek information that won’t change your decisionthe tendency to seek data even when it won’t impact your choice or actions.Read entry

Cognitive BiasMere Exposure Effect – when you like something just because it’s familiarthe tendency to prefer things just because they are familiar.Read entry

Cognitive BiasMoney Illusion – when a bigger number feels like more moneythe tendency to focus on the nominal value of money rather than its actual purchasing power.Read entry

Cognitive BiasMoral Credential Effect – when doing good gives you a pass to do badthe tendency to believe that doing good earns you the right to be less moral in the future.Read entry

Cognitive BiasNon-Adaptive Choice Switching – when one bad experience makes you avoid a good choicethe tendency to avoid an optimal choice after one bad outcome.Read entry

Cognitive BiasOmission Bias – when doing nothing feels safer than making a mistakethe tendency to view harmful actions as worse than equally harmful inactions.Read entry

Cognitive BiasOptimism Bias – when you believe things will go well, even if the odds say otherwisethe tendency to underestimate negative events and overestimate positive outcomes.Read entry

Cognitive BiasOstrich Effect – when you ignore a problem, hoping it will go awaythe tendency to ignore negative information to avoid discomfort.Read entry

Cognitive BiasOutcome Bias – when you judge a decision by its result, not its qualitythe tendency to judge the quality of a decision based on its final result rather than the logic behind it.Read entry

Cognitive BiasPeltzman Effect – when feeling safe makes you take more risksthe tendency to offset increased safety by engaging in riskier behavior.Read entry

Cognitive BiasPessimism Bias – when you believe everything will go wrongthe tendency to overestimate the likelihood of negative events, especially in people prone to depression.Read entry

Cognitive BiasPlant Blindness – when you fail to notice the green world around youthe tendency to ignore plants in the environment and underestimate their importance to life on Earth.Read entry

Cognitive BiasPresent Bias – when you choose instant rewards over long-term benefitsthe tendency to overvalue short-term rewards and underestimate long-term consequences.Read entry

Cognitive BiasPrevention Bias – favoring preventive security controls over detection and responsePrevention Bias is a domain-specific label from experimental research on information-security investment. In the studied allocation task, participants favored preventive controls oRead entry

Cognitive BiasPro-Innovation Bias – when new technology seems perfect, and flaws are ignoredthe tendency to overestimate the benefits of innovations while underestimating their limitations.Read entry

Cognitive BiasProbability Matching – when you guess instead of picking the best optionthe tendency to match choices to probabilities instead of always picking the best option.Read entry

Cognitive BiasProjection Bias – when you assume your future self will want what you want nowthe tendency to overestimate how much your future self will align with your current desires.Read entry

Cognitive BiasProportionality Bias – when big events must have big causesthe tendency to assume that big events must have equally big causes, even when they don’t.Read entry

Cognitive BiasRecency Illusion – when you think something is new just because you recently noticed itthe tendency to believe something is new just because you’ve only recently become aware of it, even if it has existed for decades or centuries.Read entry

Cognitive BiasSunk Cost Effect – when past costs influence the next choiceSunk 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 Read entry

Cognitive BiasSurrogation – when a performance measure starts replacing the goalSurrogation 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 Read entry

Cognitive BiasSystematic Bias – a measurement and statistical concept, not one cognitive biasSystematic bias is a general measurement and statistical concept. It describes a consistent or predictable tendency for measurements, estimates, or study results to miss a referencRead entry

Cognitive BiasTeleological Bias – when you see purpose where there is nonethe tendency to assign purpose or intention to events and objects, even when they arise randomly or without deliberate design.Read entry

Cognitive BiasTurkey Illusion – when you assume stability until disaster strikesthe tendency to ignore the risk of sudden change just because the past has been smooth.Read entry

Cognitive BiasUnit Bias – when you consume everything just because it’s the ‘right’ portionthe tendency to assume a standard serving size is ideal, even when it’s not.Read entry

Cognitive BiasValue Selection Bias – choosing supplied numbers instead of constructing the Bayesian answerValue Selection Bias is a narrow reasoning pattern studied in Bayesian diagnostic problems. When participants did not derive the correct solution, their incorrect answers were stroRead entry

Cognitive BiasWeber–Fechner Law – when small differences in big numbers go unnoticedFechner Law – the difficulty in noticing small changes when dealing with large quantities.Read entry

Cognitive BiasWomen Are Wonderful Effect – when women are seen more positively than menthe tendency to associate more positive attributes with women than with men, regardless of actual behavior.Read entry

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive DissonanceBen Franklin Effect – when doing a favor makes you like someone morewhen we’ve already helped someone, we’re more likely to help them again, convincing ourselves that we like them.Read entry

Cognitive DissonanceEffort Justification – when hard work makes something seem more valuablethe tendency to overvalue things that required significant effort, even if the outcome isn’t objectively worth it.Read entry

Cognitive DissonanceNormalcy Bias – when you believe nothing bad will happenthe tendency to ignore or underestimate the likelihood of rare but serious events just because they haven’t happened before.Read entry

Cognitive Rigidity

Cognitive RigidityFunctional Fixedness – when objects can only be used one waythe tendency to perceive an object only in its traditional role, ignoring other possible uses.Read entry

Cognitive RigidityLaw of the Instrument – when one tool feels like the answer to everythingthe tendency to over-rely on familiar tools or methods while ignoring better alternatives.Read entry

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation BiasBackfire Effect – when a correction can strengthen a false beliefThe 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 correctionsRead entry

Confirmation BiasCongruence Bias – when the test fits one hypothesis but does not separate alternativesCongruence 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 rRead entry

Confirmation BiasExperimenter’s Bias – when you see only what you expectthe tendency to give more weight to data that aligns with expectations while downplaying or ignoring conflicting results.Read entry

Confirmation BiasObserver-Expectancy Effect – when wanting a result makes it appearwhen an experimenter unintentionally influences results by modifying the experiment or interpreting data in a biased way.Read entry

Confirmation BiasSelective Perception – when you only see what you expectthe tendency to filter information through existing beliefs and disregard anything that doesn’t fit.Read entry

Conformity Bias

Conformity BiasAssumed Similarity Bias – when you think others are more like you than they really arethe tendency to believe others share your perspectives, preferences, and values more than they actually do.Read entry

Conformity BiasAvailability Cascade – when repeating something enough makes it feel truea process where information starts feeling like fact simply because it’s repeated often enough.Read entry

Conformity BiasBandwagon Effect – when you believe or do something just because everyone else doesand now you want them too? That’s Bandwagon Effect – the tendency to follow the majority, even without good reasons.Read entry

Conformity BiasCourtesy Bias – when you hide your real opinion to avoid offending othersthe tendency to soften your opinion to avoid hurting others’ feelings.Read entry

Conformity BiasGroupshift – when groups make riskier or safer choices than individualsthe tendency for group decisions to become more extreme than individual opinions.Read entry

Conformity BiasGroupthink – when harmony matters more than the right decisionthe tendency to sacrifice critical thinking for group unity and harmony.Read entry

Conformity BiasIngroup Bias – when what’s ‘ours’ is always better than what’s ‘theirs’the tendency to reject ideas, research, and products simply because they come from outside your group.Read entry

Conformity BiasOutgroup Favoritism – when other groups seem better than your owntheir culture, their people, their values? That’s Outgroup Favoritism – the tendency for socially disadvantaged groups to favor and even prefer other communities over their own.Read entry

Conformity BiasOutgroup Homogeneity Bias – when ‘they’re all the same,’ but ‘we’re all unique’the tendency to see members of your own group as individuals, while viewing outsiders as uniform.Read entry

Conformity BiasPygmalion Effect – when others’ expectations shape your success (or failure)a psychological phenomenon where others’ expectations (positive or negative) influence your actual performance and behavior.Read entry

Conformity BiasReactance – when being told ‘no’ makes you want to do it even morea psychological response where attempts to limit your freedom trigger resistance and a desire to do the opposite.Read entry

Conformity BiasReactive Devaluation – when an idea seems bad just because of who suggested itthe tendency to dismiss proposals just because they come from an ‘undesirable’ source, even if they’re beneficial.Read entry

Conformity BiasShared Information Bias – when groups focus on what they all know, ignoring new insightsthe tendency for groups to focus on what everyone already knows instead of sharing unique insights.Read entry

Conformity BiasSocial Comparison Bias – when you favor people who aren’t a threat to your own strengthsthe tendency to favor candidates who don’t threaten your skills or status.Read entry

Conformity BiasTruth Bias – when you believe people, even when they might be lyingthe tendency to assume information is honest, even without evidence.Read entry

Decision Making

Decision MakingAction Bias – when taking action feels better than doing nothingthe tendency to act in any situation, even when inaction would be more effective.Read entry

Decision MakingAdditive Bias – when you add instead of subtractingthe tendency to solve problems by adding new elements, even when removing something would work better.Read entry

Decision MakingAttribute Substitution – when your brain picks an easy answer instead of the right onethe tendency to answer a simpler question instead of the actual, more difficult one.Read entry

Dynamic Inconsistency

Dynamic InconsistencyHyperbolic Discounting – when the present matters more than the futurethe tendency to prefer immediate rewards over long-term benefits, even if your future self will regret it.Read entry

Egocentric Bias

Egocentric BiasFalse Consensus Effect – when you think everyone agrees with youthe tendency to overestimate how much others agree with you.Read entry

Egocentric BiasFalse Uniqueness Bias – when you think you’re more unique than you arethe tendency to overestimate how special you are and underestimate how many others share similar qualities.Read entry

Egocentric BiasForer (Barnum) Effect – when vague statements feel deeply personalthe tendency to believe vague descriptions are uniquely accurate for you, even though they apply to most people.Read entry

Egocentric BiasIllusion of Asymmetric Insight – when you think you understand others better than they understand youthe tendency to overestimate how well you know others while believing they don’t understand you as well.Read entry

Egocentric BiasIllusion of Control – when you think you have more influence than you dothe tendency to overestimate your ability to manage external circumstances.Read entry

Egocentric BiasIllusion of Transparency – when you think people can read your mindthe tendency to overestimate how much others perceive your mental state and how well you understand theirs.Read entry

Egocentric BiasIllusion of Validity – when you think your judgments are more accurate than they arethe tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s judgments, especially when data appears logically consistent.Read entry

Egocentric BiasIllusory Superiority – when you think you’re better than most peoplethe tendency to overestimate your good qualities and underestimate your flaws compared to others.Read entry

Egocentric BiasNaïve Cynicism – when you think others are more selfish than youthe tendency to assume others are biased and self-serving, while seeing yourself as objective and sincere.Read entry

Egocentric BiasNaïve Realism – when you think you see the world as it really isthe tendency to think you see reality as it truly is, while others are clouded by ignorance or irrationality.Read entry

Egocentric BiasOverconfidence Effect – when you're sure, but still wrongthe tendency to overestimate the accuracy of your knowledge and decisions, even when mistakes are likely.Read entry

Egocentric BiasPlanning Fallacy – when plans make completion times look too optimisticPlanning 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.Read entry

Egocentric BiasRestraint Bias – when you think you have more self-control than you dothe tendency to overestimate your ability to maintain self-control.Read entry

Egocentric BiasThird-Person Effect – when you think media influences others, but not youthe tendency to think mass media shapes other people’s opinions while leaving your own perception untouched.Read entry

Extension Neglect

Extension NeglectBase Rate Fallacy – when you ignore general statistics for a specific casewhen general probabilities are ignored in favor of specific cases, even when statistics provide a more accurate prediction.Read entry

Extension NeglectCompassion Fade – when one victim moves you more than a thousandthe tendency to emotionally react to personal stories while ignoring large-scale suffering.Read entry

Extension NeglectConjunction Fallacy – when a specific scenario seems more likely than a general onethe tendency to assume that a specific combination of conditions is more probable than a single condition, even though that’s statistically impossible.Read entry

Extension NeglectDuration Neglect – when the ending matters more than the experiencethe tendency to judge experiences based on their final moments rather than their overall length.Read entry

Extension NeglectInsensitivity to Sample Size – when small samples mislead youthe tendency to underestimate how much small samples can distort results.Read entry

Extension NeglectLess-Is-Better Effect – when less seems more valuablethe tendency to see a smaller set as more valuable when judged separately, but to prefer the larger set when compared directly.Read entry

Extension NeglectScope Neglect – when 2,000 and 20,000 victims feel the samethe tendency to respond emotionally rather than rationally, failing to account for the actual size of a problem.Read entry

Extension NeglectZero-Risk Bias – when eliminating a small risk feels better than reducing a big onethe tendency to feel safer when a risk is reduced to zero, even if it’s not the most rational choice.Read entry

False Priors

False PriorsAgent Detection Bias – when you see intention behind randomnessthe tendency to see intent and intelligence behind random events, even when there’s no real agent involved.Read entry

False PriorsAutomation Bias – when automated advice replaces independent checkingAutomation Bias is the tendency to let automated cues or recommendations replace vigilant information seeking and verification. It can create commission errors, where a person follRead entry

False PriorsGender Bias – when gender shapes expectationsimplicit assumptions that lead us to perceive people differently based on gender, even when there’s no rational basis for it.Read entry

False PriorsSexual Perception Bias – when you misread romantic signalsthe tendency to either overestimate or underestimate someone’s romantic interest in you.Read entry

False PriorsStereotyping – when you judge a person based on their groupthe tendency to expect people to have certain traits just because they belong to a group, even when you have no actual information about them.Read entry

Framing Effect

Framing EffectContext Neglect Bias – when technology forgets about peoplethe tendency to solve technological challenges without accounting for human behavior and needs.Read entry

Framing EffectDecoy Effect – when an inferior option changes the comparison between better optionsDecoy 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 woRead entry

Framing EffectDefault Effect – when a pre-selected option changes what people chooseDefault Effect is the tendency for people to choose an option more often when it is already selected or happens automatically if they do nothing.Read entry

Framing EffectDenomination Effect – when small bills disappear fasterthe tendency to spend money more easily when it’s in smaller denominations.Read entry

Framing EffectDistinction Bias – when differences seem bigger than they arethe tendency to perceive differences as more significant when evaluating options side by side.Read entry

Framing EffectDomain Neglect Bias – when you ignore relevant knowledge from other fieldsthe tendency to ignore relevant knowledge from other fields when solving complex problems.Read entry

Framing EffectFraming Effect – when equivalent descriptions lead to different choicesFraming 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 Read entry

Heuristic Bias

Heuristic BiasAvailability Heuristic – when easy-to-recall examples shape frequency judgmentsAvailability 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 accessRead entry

Human-Robot Interaction

Human-Robot InteractionAppearance–Capability Expectation – when a robot’s design changes what you expect it can doCapability 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,Read entry

Information Bias

Information BiasCommon Source Bias – when everyone repeats the same thingand 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.Read entry

Logical Fallacy

Logical FallacyBerkson’s Paradox – when two things seem connected, but they aren’ta logical fallacy where an observed relationship between variables appears due to selection bias, not real causation.Read entry

Logical FallacyEscalation of Commitment – when setbacks lead to more investment in the same courseEscalation 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 considRead entry

Logical FallacyGambler’s Fallacy – when you think the past changes the future oddsthe mistaken belief that past events influence future probabilities, even when each event is independent.Read entry

Logical FallacyHot-Hand Fallacy – when you think winning increases your chances of winning againthe belief that after a streak of success, your chances of continued success increase, even when events are random.Read entry

Logical FallacyPlan Continuation Bias – when you stick to the plan even when the situation has changedthe tendency to stick to an initial plan, even when the situation has changed and it no longer makes sense.Read entry

Logical FallacyTime-Saving Bias – when speed tricks your sense of timethe tendency to overestimate time saved at high speeds and underestimate time saved at low speeds.Read entry

Logical FallacyZero-Sum Bias – when you think someone’s gain is your lossthe mistaken belief that one person’s gain must come at another’s expense, even when resources can grow.Read entry

Memory Bias

Memory BiasBizarreness Effect – when weird things stick in memory better than ordinary onesthe tendency to recall unusual information more easily than common information.Read entry

Memory BiasBoundary Extension – when your memory ‘zooms out’ beyond what you actually sawthe tendency to remember the background of an image as more expansive than it really was.Read entry

Memory BiasChildhood Amnesia – why we forget our earliest yearsthe natural inability to retain memories from the first few years of life.Read entry

Memory BiasConservatism Bias – when your memory downplays extremesthe tendency to recall high values (like probability or frequency) as lower than they were and low values as higher.Read entry

Memory BiasConsistency Bias – when you believe you’ve always thought the way you do nowthe tendency to remember past beliefs and behaviors as being consistent with your current ones.Read entry

Memory BiasContext Effect – when memories depend on where and how you recall themthe tendency for memory to work better in the same environment where the information was learned.Read entry

Memory BiasContinued Influence Effect – when corrected information still shapes reasoningThe 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 theRead entry

Memory BiasCross-Race Effect – when faces of other races seem harder to tell apartthe tendency to have difficulty recognizing and differentiating faces of other racial or ethnic groups.Read entry

Memory BiasCryptomnesia – when you think you came up with something new, but it’s actually an old memorywhen a forgotten memory resurfaces as an original thought because you don’t recognize it as a memory.Read entry

Memory BiasEgocentric Bias – when your past seems better than it really wasthe tendency to exaggerate past achievements and downplay failures.Read entry

Memory BiasEuphoric Recall – when the past feels better than it really wasthe tendency to remember the past through rose-colored glasses while ignoring the negatives.Read entry

Memory BiasFading Affect Bias – when negative emotional intensity tends to fade fasterFading 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 intensityRead entry

Memory BiasFalse Memory – when you ‘remember’ something that never happenedwhen imagination, stories from others, or time create memories of events that never actually happened.Read entry

Memory BiasGender Differences in Eyewitness Memory – when you recall details better about people of your own genderthe tendency for witnesses to remember more details about individuals of the same gender.Read entry

Memory BiasGeneration Effect – when you remember things better if you created them yourselfinformation you generate yourself is remembered better than information you just hear or read.Read entry

Memory BiasGoogle Effect – when you forget what you can easily look up onlinethe tendency to forget information when you know it can be easily found online.Read entry

Memory BiasHumor Effect – when funny things stick in your memorythe tendency to remember funny things better than neutral or boring ones.Read entry

Memory BiasLag Effect – learning sticks better when spaced out over timeinformation sticks better when learning is spread out over time instead of in one go.Read entry

Memory BiasLeveling and Sharpening – when some details fade and others get exaggeratedover time, some details fade while others become exaggerated and overemphasized.Read entry

Memory BiasLevels-of-Processing Effect – how you learn determines how well you rememberthe deeper you process information, the better you remember it.Read entry

Memory BiasList-Length Effect – the longer the list, the less you recall… but the more you retainas lists grow longer, relative recall decreases, but the total number of remembered items increases.Read entry

Memory BiasMemory Inhibition – when remembering some things makes you forget otherswhen recalling certain items makes it harder to retrieve others.Read entry

Memory BiasMisinformation Effect – when false details alter your memorieswhen memory becomes less accurate due to false details added later.Read entry

Memory BiasModality Effect – you remember the last items better when you hear themspoken information is remembered differently than written, especially at the end of a list.Read entry

Memory BiasMood-Congruent Memory Bias – you remember what matches your moodwe better remember and retrieve information that matches our current emotional state.Read entry

Memory BiasNegativity Bias – when bad memories stick stronger than good onesthe brain reacts more strongly to negative experiences and stores them longer in memory.Read entry

Memory BiasNext-in-Line Effect – when you don’t remember what was said right before your turnthe tendency to forget what was just said because you’re too focused on preparing your own response.Read entry

Memory BiasPart-List Cueing Effect – when recalling one item makes others harder to rememberrecalling some items makes it harder to retrieve others from the same list.Read entry

Memory BiasPeak–End Rule – you judge experiences by their most intense moment and the endingEnd Rule – we judge experiences not by their total duration, but by their most intense moment (good or bad) and how they ended.Read entry

Memory BiasPersistence – when traumatic memories keep coming backwhen the brain forces us to relive traumatic memories even when we want to move on.Read entry

Memory BiasPicture Superiority Effect – images stick in memory better than wordsthe brain remembers visual information more effectively than text.Read entry

Memory BiasPositivity Effect – as we age, we remember more good than badas we age, our memory favors positive experiences and pushes negative ones aside.Read entry

Memory BiasPrimacy Effect – you remember the first items bestinformation presented first is remembered better than what comes later.Read entry

Memory BiasRecency Effect – the last things stick in memory bestthe most recent items or events are remembered better than those before them.Read entry

Memory BiasReminiscence Bump – your youth stands out in memorywe remember adolescence and early adulthood more clearly than any other period of life.Read entry

Memory BiasRosy Retrospection – when a past experience is remembered more positivelyRosy 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 followRead entry

Memory BiasSaying Is Believing Effect – when you start believing what you saywhen we tailor a message for others, it becomes part of our own beliefs.Read entry

Memory BiasSelf-Relevance Effect – you remember things better when they relate to youinformation connected to you is remembered better than similar details about others.Read entry

Memory BiasSerial Position Effect – you remember the first and last, but forget the middlethe first and last items in a sequence are remembered best, while the middle tends to be forgotten.Read entry

Memory BiasSocial Cryptomnesia – when you remember change but forget who fought for itwhen society recognizes that change has happened but forgets how it occurred and who made it possible.Read entry

Memory BiasSource Confusion – when you remember information but forget where it came fromthe tendency to misremember where information came from, distorting our memories.Read entry

Memory BiasStereotype Bias – memory distorts facts to fit expectationsmemory reshapes facts to fit expected patterns, even when they don’t match reality.Read entry

Memory BiasSuffix Effect – the last thing is harder to recall if something follows itthe final items in a sequence become harder to remember if extra information follows them.Read entry

Memory BiasSuggestibility – when you ‘remember’ things just because someone suggested themthe tendency to mistake others’ suggestions for real memories.Read entry

Memory BiasTelescoping Effect – recent events feel distant, and distant ones feel recentthe tendency to shift events in time, making recent ones feel distant and distant ones feel recent.Read entry

Memory BiasTesting Effect – self-testing beats passive repetitionmemory improves when you actively recall information instead of just passively reviewing it.Read entry

Memory BiasThe Perky Effect – when reality blends with imaginationwhen real images or experiences influence imagined ones, making it hard to distinguish fantasy from reality.Read entry

Memory BiasTip of the Tongue Phenomenon – when you know a word but just can’t recall itwhen you partially recall something but can’t fully retrieve it.Read entry

Memory BiasVerbatim Effect – you remember the gist, not the exact wordsour brain stores the general meaning of messages rather than their precise wording.Read entry

Memory BiasVon Restorff Effect – the odd one out is easiest to rememberour brain remembers what stands out the most.Read entry

Memory BiasZeigarnik Effect – unfinished tasks stay on your mindthe brain remembers incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.Read entry

Metacognitive Bias

Metacognitive BiasG.I. Joe Fallacy – when you think knowing a bias makes you immune to itthe belief that awareness of a bias is enough to eliminate its effects. Unfortunately, self-control doesn’t work that way.Read entry

Perception Bias

Perception BiasTachypsychia – when time slows down or speeds up in extreme situationsa shift in time perception under stress, fear, or intense concentration.Read entry

Perception BiasTravis Syndrome – when the present seems more significant than any other timethe tendency to overestimate the significance of the present while underestimating the past.Read entry

Probability Bias

Probability BiasSubadditivity Effect – the whole seems less likely than the sum of its partspeople perceive the probability of a whole event as lower than the sum of its mutually exclusive components.Read entry

Prospect Theory

Prospect TheoryAmbiguity Effect – when you avoid the unknown, even if it might be betterthe tendency to avoid options where the probability of success is unknown, even if they could be better.Read entry

Prospect TheoryDisposition Effect – when you sell winners but cling to losersthe tendency to cash in on winners too early and hold onto losers for too long.Read entry

Prospect TheoryDread Aversion – when fearing the worst is worse than the event itselfthe tendency to experience fear of an unpleasant event much more intensely than the pleasure of anticipating a good one.Read entry

Prospect TheoryEndowment Effect – when what’s yours feels more valuablethe tendency to overvalue things just because you own them.Read entry

Prospect TheoryLoss Aversion – when a loss can carry more weight than an equivalent gainLoss 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 itRead entry

Prospect TheoryPseudocertainty Effect – when you avoid risk in gains but chase it in lossesthe tendency to be cautious when things are good but take risks when things go bad.Read entry

Prospect TheoryStatus Quo Bias – when the current option gets extra weight because it is already in placeStatus 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.Read entry

Prospect TheorySystem Justification – when you defend the system, even if it harms youthe tendency to defend the status quo, even when it’s unfair or personally harmful.Read entry

Self-Assessment

Self-AssessmentDunning–Kruger Effect – when performance and self-assessment do not line upKruger 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 bRead entry

Self-AssessmentHard–Easy Effect – when hard tasks seem easier and easy tasks seem harderEasy Effect – the tendency to overestimate performance on hard tasks and underestimate it on easy ones.Read entry

Self-AssessmentHot–Cold Empathy Gap – when one state is a poor guide to choices in anotherCold Empathy Gap is the difficulty of predicting preferences, behavior, or experience across different visceral or affective states. In a relatively cold state, people can underappRead entry

Self-AssessmentIllusion of Explanatory Depth – when you think you understand until you have to explainthe tendency to overestimate your knowledge of a topic until you actually have to explain it.Read entry

Self-AssessmentImpostor Syndrome – when you fear being ‘exposed’ as a fraudthe tendency to downplay your achievements and fear that others will soon ‘expose’ you as incompetent.Read entry

Self-AssessmentObjectivity Illusion – when you believe you’re unbiased, unlike everyone elsethe tendency to think you’re rational and unbiased, but only notice cognitive errors in others.Read entry

Self-Assessment Bias

Self-Assessment BiasPlacement Bias – you either overrate or underrate yourselfpeople remember themselves as more successful in what they feel confident about, and weaker in what they find difficult.Read entry

Self-Assessment BiasWorse-Than-Average Effect – when you assume you're worse than others at difficult tasksthe tendency to underestimate your own competence in challenging activities, even when you have the skills.Read entry

Self-Perception Bias

Self-Perception BiasSpotlight Effect – you think everyone is watching, but they’re notthe tendency to overestimate how much others notice your appearance or behavior.Read entry

Truth Judgment

Truth JudgmentBelief Bias – when you judge logic based on whether you agree with the conclusionthe tendency to judge an argument’s strength based on how believable its conclusion seems, rather than its actual logic.Read entry

Truth JudgmentIllusory Truth Effect – when repeated lies start to feel like truththe tendency to believe information simply because it’s familiar or easy to process.Read entry

Truth JudgmentRhyme as Reason Effect – when something feels true just because it rhymesthe tendency to perceive rhyming statements as more truthful, even when they lack substance.Read entry

Truth JudgmentSubjective Validation – when something feels true because you want it to bethe tendency to believe information is true if it aligns with your beliefs or desires, even if it’s vague or coincidental.Read entry