Cognitive bias can be very subtle. You may not even realize that they are influencing you by:
This happens because our brains naturally rely on mental shortcuts in order to make decisions more quickly. We couldn’t possibly evaluate every single detail and possible scenario when we need to form an opinion, and this is when cognitive bias may play an important role.
This article will illustrate the most common types of cognitive biases. Even though some of the following biases are inevitable, knowing them will help you make better decisions.
When we witness other people’s actions, especially when they make a mistake, we are more likely to attribute their behavior to internal causes, such as:
Instead, when we need to justify our mistakes, we tend to attribute them to external causes, such as:
In the first case, we are the observers. In the second, the actors. This makes a huge difference in our judgment. We go easier on ourselves because we are aware of our thoughts and intentions. Instead, when we judge others, we lack empathy and do not take into account all of the variables that may have played a role.
The anchoring bias is the tendency to be influenced by the very first piece of information we hear, called anchor, that we adjust to before making a decision. For example, before buying a new car or a new house, it is very common to try to estimate what the average price is and stick to that to negotiate. To combat this anchoring bias, you should instead come up with a range of possible prices that are reasonable to you and forget the overall average price.
Currently, we do not fully understand what causes this bias. The factors that may play a role include:
The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows us to make decisions more quickly, by estimating the probability of something happening based on the examples we can think of. For example, we might think that plane crashes happen more often than they actually do because we can easily think of many different examples.
We are always more likely to listen to those who validate and confirm our original opinion. This means that we often let out or don’t consider important information simply because it would lead us to reconsider our position.
Knowing this mechanism will help you remember that you need as much information as possible before making a decision or forming an opinion.
Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that affect how we perceive and process information. They cause us to draw incorrect conclusions about the world around us. Being aware of different types of cognitive biases can help us recognize our own faulty thinking and make better decisions. Here are 15 of the most common cognitive biases:
1. Confirmation Bias
This is the tendency to seek out and favor information that confirms your existing beliefs. People display confirmation bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or interpret it in a biased way. For example, reading only news sources that align with your political views.
2. Anchoring Bias
This bias occurs when you rely too heavily on an initial piece of information when making decisions. It skews your judgment to be focused on that “anchor” value. For example, basing your opinion of a new colleague too strongly on your impression of their first interaction with you.
3. Availability Heuristic
Judging the probability of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. For instance, overestimating your likelihood to win the lottery after hearing about someone else winning it.
4. Bandwagon Effect
The tendency to believe or do something because many other people believe or do it. For example adopting certain slang terms or apparel trends just because they’re popular among your peer group.
5. Projection Bias
Assuming others share the same thoughts, beliefs, or values as yourself. For example, overestimating how many people agree with your political opinions.
6. Neglect of Probability
Making a decision based on the consequences without considering how likely each consequence is. For instance buying multiple lottery tickets to increase your chance of winning a huge jackpot, even though it’s still extremely unlikely.
7. Bias Blind Spot
Failing to recognize your own cognitive biases Believing you are less prone to biases than other people and overestimating your skills of objective reasoning
8. Peak-End Rule
Judging an experience largely based on how you felt at its most intense point (peak), and at its end. Your overall impression of that experience ignores most of its actual duration.
9. False Consensus Effect
Overestimating how much other people agree with your beliefs, choices, behaviors, and values. Assuming your own preferences are “normal” compared to those who are different.
10. In-group Favoritism
Perceiving and treating people in your own self-defined group (such as your company or nation) more positively than those outside that group. For example, giving a job candidate who went to your university extra favorability points.
11. Loss Aversion Bias
Weighing potential losses heavier than potential gains when making decisions. You might avoid a financially wise investment if there’s any risk of loss, even when the gain outweighs the risk.
12. Framing Effect
Drawing different conclusions depending on how data is presented. For example, favoring an option when positive language describes it compared to negative language, even though the numbers are the same.
13. Survivorship Bias
Focusing only on data from instances that were successful. Overlooking those that failed or dropped out along the way. For example, focusing on successful start-up founders while ignoring the much larger number whose businesses failed.
14. Dunning-Kruger Effect
Overestimating your own skills, knowledge, or abilities compared to reality. Being unaware of how much you still need to learn due to having a limited understanding of a topic or field overall.
15. Gambler’s Fallacy
Believing that past random events affect future random chances. For instance, thinking you’re “due” to win at roulette if you’ve lost multiple times in a row. In reality, the odds stay the same with each independent spin.
How Cognitive Biases Impact Us
Cognitive biases directly affect many aspects of our daily lives:
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Decision-making – Biases like loss aversion, false consensus, and anchoring often undermine our ability to make fully rational choices. We end up over- or under-estimating risks.
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Beliefs – Confirmation bias causes us to seek out only information that supports our existing beliefs. This creates narrow-mindedness and discourages us from changing our minds when appropriate.
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Problem-solving – Availability heuristic and other biases may lead us to overlook creative solutions to challenges right in front of us. Our thinking becomes limited by bias rather than exploring all options.
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Financial judgments – Framing effects, anchoring bias, and other cognitive biases routinely impact how we perceive and manage money matters like investments, budgets, and savings.
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Workplace interactions – Projection bias and false consensus effect shape our expectations of and communication with bosses, colleagues, clients, and team members. Misunderstandings occur.
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General behavior – Social bandwagon biases pressure us to conform to norms we might disagree with just to fit in. This inhibits diversity of thought and action.
In many cases, cognitive biases are useful shortcuts for processing information quickly. The problem arises when biases become so entrenched they persist even in situations where rational thinking would produce much better outcomes.
Overcoming and Accounting for Cognitive Biases
While we can never eliminate cognitive biases entirely since they’re part of how our brains work, we can take steps to recognize and mitigate their influence on our thinking:
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Learn about different types of biases so you know what to watch out for. Awareness is the first step.
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When making important decisions, carefully analyze your thought process. Identify areas where you feel bias creeping in.
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Intentionally seek out perspectives and information sources that don’t conform to your existing views. Don’t reject them before listening.
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Keep track of past instances where your biased thinking led to poor judgments. Use these as motivation to improve.
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For key decisions, conduct more objective analysis of statistical data over relying on heuristics or intuition alone.
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Don’t go with your gut instinct. Take time to thoroughly weigh all aspects of important matters before finalizing conclusions.
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Discuss your opinions and proposed decisions with others who will challenge you. Don’t just stick to your echo chamber.
Although completely unbiased thinking is impossible, paying close attention to biases improves reasoning and leads to more balanced perspectives. See cognitive biases as tools to refine, not flaws to eradicate entirely. With vigilance, we can make better choices.
The False Consensus effect
We often tend to overestimate how much other people agree with us and think that most people share our same values. This is called “the False Consensus effect”.
This happens for several different reasons, including:
- The time spent with our family and friends, with whom we share similar opinions and values. This leads us to think that this small group of people is a valid representation of the rest of the world, but this might not be the case;
- Believing that others think like us helps us feel normal and increases our self-esteem.
The false consensus bias can lead to an overvaluation of one’s personal opinions and to not consider other points of views before making a decision.
Also known as the “Physical attractiveness stereotype”, the Halo effect is the tendency to judge a person based on their physical appearance.
This applies to:
- People. If someone is good-looking, we are more likely to think that they are funnier, kinder and smarter;
- Products. If a product is sponsored by attractive people, we tend to think it is a good product.
This process is influenced by our need to validate our opinions. We want to always be right, even when it comes to a simple first impression.
It is extremely important to acknowledge this bias because we might discard valid people based on their appearance, for example during job interviews.
The hindsight bias is what makes us think that a particular event was more predictable than it actually was. This happens because we often tend to misremember our previous predictions and because we need to always feel in control of the events.
Examples of this behavior include:
- Insisting that you knew the outcome of an event once it is over;
- Often repeating something on the lines of “I knew it all along”;
- Saying that you knew you weren’t going to win after losing a competition.
Knowing you tend to overestimate your abilities will help you think more objectively and avoid poor decisions.
Unfortunately, our memories do not always mirror the actual event. Instead, they can be heavily influenced by:
- Questions asked in a certain way;
- Watching television coverage;
- Hearing other people talk from a different perspective.
This means that memories are not entirely reliable and need to be validated before making a decision, even if we remember them vividly.
Optimism is not necessarily a positive influence on the decision-making process. It was shown that people tend to ignore negative factors when they need to make an estimation. This is due to the human tendency to believe that bad things can happen to others but not to us. People are also more likely to blame the victims for what happened to them, instead of acknowledging the fact that it could have happened to anyone else.
This is called optimism bias and leads us to underestimate the likelihood of bad experiences in our life. Knowing that can prevent us from making poor decisions based on faulty reasons.
We often tend to give ourselves credit for our successes. Instead, we blame others or external causes when we fail. This is called self-serving bias.
In other words, when we succeed we think we deserved it by working hard. When we fail, we look for external explanations that do not depend on us.
This happens because we need to protect our self-esteem, but can also lead to poor self-evaluation.
12 Cognitive Biases Explained – How to Think Better and More Logically Removing Bias
What are the different types of cognitive biases?
There are many types of biases—including the confirmation bias, the hindsight bias, and the anchoring bias, just to name a few—that can influence our beliefs and actions daily. The following are just a few types of cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave.
What are the different types of bias?
Biases have a variety of forms and appear as cognitive (“cold”) bias, such as mental noise, or motivational (“hot”) bias, such as when beliefs are distorted by wishful thinking. Both effects can be present at the same time.
What is a cognitive bias?
A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people process and interpret information in their surroundings, influencing their decisions and judgments. The human brain is powerful but subject to limitations. Cognitive biases are often a result of your brain’s attempt to simplify information processing.
Do humans have cognitive biases?
Furthermore, cognitive biases occur not only in humans but also in animals, such as bees, pigs, and dogs. However, people tend to be less aware of their own biases than of those of others, and to assume that they’re less susceptible to biases than others, a phenomenon known as the bias blind spot.
