Which of these sway your thinking the most?
Sometimes, cognitive biases are fairly obvious.
You might even find that you recognize these tendencies in yourself or others.
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In other cases, these biases are so subtle that they are almost impossible to notice.
At a Glance
Attention is a limited resource.
This means we can’t possibly evaluate every possible detail and event when forming thoughts and opinions.
Through this bias, people tend to favor information that reinforces the things they already think or believe.
Examples include:
There are a few reasons why this happens.
It also helps protect self-esteem by making people feel that their beliefs are accurate.
This is often indicative that the confirmation bias is working to “bias” their opinions.
It’s also commonly referred to as the “I knew it all along” phenomenon.
Prior to the Senate vote, 58% of the students thought Thomas would be confirmed.
The effect of this bias is that it causes us tooverestimate our abilityto predict events.
This can sometimes lead people to take unwise risks.
Some research suggests that the source of the anchor information may play a role.
Other factors such as priming and mood also appear to have an influence.
Like other cognitive biases, anchoring can have an effect on the decisions you make each day.
For instance, it can influence how much you are willing to pay for your home.
or How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
There are a few factors that may play a role in this phenomenon.
New information may get blended with older memories.
In other cases, new information may be used to fill in “gaps” in memory.
The effects of misinformation can range from the trivial to much more serious.
For example:
While there are many factors that may play a role, perspective plays a key role.
When we are the actors in a situation, we are able to observe our own thoughts and behaviors.
When it comes to other people, however, we cannot see what they are thinking.
The problem with this is that it often leads to misunderstandings.
For example:
Researchers believe that the false consensus effect happens for a variety of reasons.
It also means that we sometimes don’t consider how other people might feel when making choices.
For example:
One factor that may influence the halo effect is our tendency to want to be correct.
It also helps people avoid experiencingcognitive dissonance, which involves holding contradictory beliefs.
This cognitive bias can have a powerful impact in the real world.
When you do well on a project, you probably assume that its because you worked hard.
But when things turn out badly, you are more likely to blame it on circumstances or bad luck.
Some examples of this:
The self-serving bias can be influenced by a variety of factors.
Age and sex have been shown to play a part.
This bias does serve an important role in protecting self-esteem.
However, it can often also lead to faulty attributions such as blaming others for our own shortcomings.
Essentially, we tend to be too optimistic for our own good.
The bad news is that research has found that this optimism bias is incredibly difficult to reduce.
There is good news, however.
Other Kinds of Cognitive Bias
Many other cognitive biases can distort how we perceive the world.
These biases collectively influence much of our thoughts and ultimately, decision making.
Many of these biases are inevitable.
Understanding these biases is very helpful in learning how they can lead us to poor decisions in life.
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