10 common cognitive biases

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Cognitive biases are thinking errors or pattern distortions in judgment that occur systematically in certain situations. Cognitive distortions are an example of evolutionary mental behavior.

Some of them serve an adaptive function as they facilitate more efficient actions or faster decisions. Others seem to stem from a lack of appropriate thinking skills, or from inappropriate use of skills that were previously useful.

There is no end to the mistakes we make when processing information, here are 10 of the most common ones.

10 Effect of confirmation

The confirmation effect is manifested in the tendency to seek or interpret information in a way that confirms what the person believes in. People reinforce their ideas and opinions by selectively collecting evidence or distorting memories. For example, it seems to me that there are more emergency medical calls on a full moon day. I find out that there were 78 conversions on the day of the next full moon, which confirms my faith, and I do not look at the number of conversions on the rest of the month. The obvious problem here is that this error allows inaccurate information to be passed off as true.

Returning to the above example, suppose there are, on average, 90 ambulance calls every day. My conclusion that 78 is above the norm is incorrect, and yet I am not able to notice it, and do not even consider the possibility. This error is very common and can have dangerous consequences if decisions are made based on false information.

9 Availability heuristic

The availability heuristic is based on vivid memories. The problem is that people tend to remember vivid or unusual events more easily than everyday, mundane events. For example, plane crashes receive a lot of media attention. There are no car accidents. However, people are afraid to fly an airplane more than to travel by car, even though an airplane is statistically safer transport. This is where the media plays a role, rare or unusual events such as medical errors, animal attacks and natural disasters always generate a lot of noise, and as a result, people feel that these events are more likely to occur.

8 Illusion of Control

The illusion of control is the tendency of people to believe that they can control or at least influence events that they have no control over. This error can be expressed in the addiction to gambling and belief in the paranormal. In studies conducted on psychokinesis, participants are asked to predict the outcome of a coin toss.

With a regular coin, participants will guess correctly 50% of the time. However, they do not realize that this is the result of probability or sheer luck and instead perceive their correct answers as confirmation of their control over external events.

Fun Fact: When playing dice in casinos, people roll the dice harder when the number is high and softer when the number is low. In reality, the power of the throw does not determine the result, but the player believes that he can control the number that will come up.

7 Planning error

Scheduling error is the tendency to underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. The planning error actually stems from another error, the optimism error, which occurs when a person is overly confident about the outcome of a planned action. People are more prone to planning error if they haven’t dealt with similar problems before, because we estimate based on past events. For example, if you ask a person how many minutes it will take to walk to a store, he will remember and give an answer close to the truth. If I ask how long it will take something that you have never done before, such as writing a dissertation or climbing Mount Everest, and you do not have that experience, due to innate optimism, you will feel that it takes less time than in reality. To avoid this mistake, remember Hofstadter's Law: it always takes longer than you expect, even if you take Hofstadter's Law into account.

Fun fact: “Realistic pessimism” is a phenomenon where people who are depressed or overly pessimistic make more accurate predictions about the outcome of a task.

6 The mistake of restraint

The temptation fallacy is the tendency to exaggerate the ability to resist any temptation or “the ability to control impulse,” usually referring to hunger, drugs, and sex. The truth is, humans do not control intuitive impulses. You can ignore hunger, but you cannot stop feeling it. You may have seen the saying, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it” sounds funny, but it’s true. If you want to get rid of hunger, you must eat. Controlling impulses can be incredibly difficult and requires a lot of composure. However, most people tend to exaggerate their ability to control themselves. And most addicts say they can “quit anytime they want,” but in reality they are not.

Fun Fact: Unfortunately, this misconception often has serious consequences. When a person overestimates the ability to control their impulses, they often tend to subject themselves to temptation more than necessary, which in turn contributes to impulsive behavior.

5 The phenomenon of a just world

The phenomenon of a just world is a phenomenon when witnesses of injustice, in order to rationalize their experience, try to find in the actions of the victim something that could provoke this injustice. This eases their anxiety and makes them feel safe; if they avoid doing such things, this will not happen to them. In fact, it is gaining peace of mind by blaming the innocent victim. An example is a study by L. Carli of Wellesley College. Participants were told two versions of a story about a man and a woman. Both versions were the same, but at the very end, the stories were different: in one ending, a man raped a woman and in the other, he offered to marry him. In both groups, the participants described the woman's actions as inevitably predetermining the outcome.

Interesting fact: There is the opposite phenomenon: The theory of a cruel world - with an abundance of violence and aggression in television and the media, viewers tend to consider the world more dangerous than it really is, showing excessive fear and taking various protective measures.

4 Contribution effect

The contribution effect implies that people will demand more for a thing than they would pay to acquire it. This idea is based on the hypothesis that people value their property highly. Of course, this estimate is not always a mistake; for example, many things have sentimental value or may be “priceless” to a person, however, if I buy a coffee cup today for one dollar and tomorrow I demand two, I have no valid reason. This often happens when people sell a car and want more than it really is worth.

Interesting fact: this misconception is related to two theories: “loss aversion”, where people prefer to avoid losses rather than make a profit, and the “status quo” idea, according to which people do not like change and avoid it whenever possible.

3 Self-esteem error

Self-esteem error occurs when a person attributes positive results to internal factors and negative ones to external ones. A good example of this is school grades, when a student gets a good mark on a test, he considers it a merit of his mind or his diligent study. When he gets a bad grade, he attributes it to a bad teacher or poorly written assignments. It is very common that people regularly take credit for their successes, refusing to accept responsibility for their failures.

Interesting fact: when we evaluate the achievements of other people, the situation changes dramatically. When we find out that the person sitting next to us has failed the exam, we look for an inner reason: he is stupid or lazy. Likewise, if they get the highest grade, they are just lucky or the teacher loves them more. This is known as a fundamental attribution error.

2 Cryptomnesia

Cryptomnesia is a distortion in which a person mistakenly "remembers" that he invented something - a thought, an idea, a joke, a poem, a song. The imagined event is taken as a memory. There are many putative causes of cryptomnesia, including cognitive impairment and poor memory. However, it should be noted that there is no scientific evidence for the existence of cryptomnesia.

The problem is that the information received from people subject to this distortion is scientifically unreliable: perhaps it was deliberate plagiarism, and the victim simply justifies itself.

Interesting fact: False Memory Syndrome is a contradictory phenomenon in which a person and his relationship with the world around him are under the influence of false memories, which are perceived by the object itself as real events. Various memory recovery therapies, including hypnosis, and sedatives are often blamed for these false memories.

1 The blind spot misconception

Misconception "blind spot" - the tendency not to acknowledge one's own misconceptions. In a study led by Emilia Pronin at Princeton University, participants were told about various cognitive biases. When asked how much they themselves are exposed to them, they all answered that less than people on average.