Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are predictable patterns where judgment goes awry — the mental shortcuts that trip us up. Each page below has a short explanation and real-world examples. All 40 cognitive biases in the ThinkBetter app.

• Loss Aversion BiasWe often feel the pain of losing something more intensely than the pleasure of gaining something of equal value.
• The Ben Franklin EffectSomeone who does a favor for another is more likely to do another favor for that person, even if they didn't particularly like them initially.
• The Baader-Meinhof PhenomenonWhen something you've recently learned or paid attention to suddenly seems to appear everywhere.
• The False Consensus EffectWe tend to think more people share our beliefs and behaviors than they actually do.
• Anchoring BiasAnchoring Bias is the tendency to overly rely on the first piece of information seen when making decisions.
• Dunning-Kruger EffectIndividuals with low ability or knowledge/experience overestimate their competence, while experts may underestimate their capabilities.
• Negativity BiasPredisposition to prioritize and remember negative events or emotions over neutral or positive ones.
• Survivorship BiasThe focus on successful outcomes while overlooking failures due to their lack of visibility.
• Scarcity BiasThe tendency to value and desire something more when it is perceived as rare or in limited supply.
• Sunk Cost FallacyThe tendency to continue something once an investment has been made into it, even when it's clear that is not working or being beneficial.
• Hindsight BiasThe tendency to believe, after an event has occurred, that one would have predicted or expected the outcome.
• Ostrich EffectThe tendency to avoid or ignore negative or unpleasant information.
• Fundamental Attribution ErrorPeople often attribute someone's behavior to their character rather than to external factors.
• Default EffectPeople tend to stick with the pre-defined options or default choices when presented with a decision.
• Ambiguity EffectPeople tend to avoid options with unknown probabilities in favor of those with known risks.
• Base Rate FallacyIgnoring general (usually statistical) information (base rates) in favor of specific anecdotes or recent examples when making decisions.
• Zero-sum ThinkingAssuming that one person's gain is directly balanced by another's loss, treating situations as if there's a fixed amount of value to distribute.
• Rosy RetrospectionPeople tend to remember past events more positively than they experienced them, overlooking negative aspects.
• In-Group BiasPeople tend to favor members of their own group over those from different groups.
• Cognitive DissonanceThe mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time.
• Availability HeuristicPeople tend to rely on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating something.
• Confirmation BiasPeople tend to favor information that confirms their preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.
• Gambler’s FallacyThe mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.
• Empathy GapUnderestimating the influence of emotional states on one's own and others' behavior and decision-making.
• Endowment EffectWe value things more just because we own them.
• Zeigarnik EffectWe remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
• Hyperbolic DiscountingWe prefer immediate rewards over future benefits, even when the future rewards are larger.
• Framing EffectHow information is presented shapes our decisions and judgments, even when the underlying facts are the same.
• Curse of KnowledgeWe find it hard to imagine not knowing something once we've learned it.
• Barnum EffectWe tend to accept vague, general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to ourselves.
• Halo EffectWe tend to judge a person's overall character based on one notable trait or first impression.
• Impact BiasWe tend to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future events.
• Salience BiasWe tend to focus on the most noticeable or striking features of a situation, often overlooking other important aspects.
• GroupthinkWe tend to conform to group opinions, often suppressing our own views or critical thinking to maintain harmony.
• Mere Exposure EffectWe tend to develop a preference for things simply because we're familiar with them.
• Bystander EffectWe are less likely to help someone in need when other people are present.
• Availability CascadeWe tend to believe something is more true or important the more it's repeated in public discourse.
• Hawthorne EffectPeople tend to change their behavior when they know they're being observed.
• Illusion of ControlWe tend to overestimate our ability to control events, even when we have little or no influence over them.
• Narrative FallacyWe have a tendency to create stories to explain events, even when the events are random or unconnected.

Go deeper in ThinkBetter

ThinkBetter is the app for mental models and cognitive biases. For Cognitive Biases, the free version includes more than this page — further examples, a quiz, audio, and a weekly path — and every model and bias in the library. Pro is an optional, inexpensive upgrade for the rest of the deep-dive.