Understanding Cognitive Biases
Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from rationality in judgment and decision-making. They're mental shortcuts (heuristics) that our brains use to process information quickly, but they can sometimes lead us to make errors in thinking and reasoning.
These biases evolved to help our ancestors make quick survival decisions, but in our modern world, they can sometimes work against us. The good news? Awareness is the first step to overcoming them.
Available Cognitive Biases
💭 Judgment & Decision-Making Biases
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs.
Availability Heuristic
Judging probability based on how easily examples come to mind, often influenced by recent events or media coverage.
Anchoring Bias
Over-relying on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions.
Representativeness Heuristic
Judging probability based on similarity to mental prototypes, often ignoring statistical base rates.
🎯 Overconfidence & Self-Assessment Biases
Dunning-Kruger Effect
When people with limited knowledge overestimate their own competence in that area.
🔄 Memory & Retrospection Biases
Hindsight Bias
The "I knew it all along" phenomenon: perceiving past events as more predictable than they actually were.
📊 Statistical & Data Biases
Survivorship Bias
The success story illusion: focusing only on winners while ignoring failures creates a distorted view of reality.
💰 Economic & Decision Biases
Sunk Cost Fallacy
The "throwing good money after bad" trap: continuing failing courses of action because of past investments.
Loss Aversion
The tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring equivalent gains - losses feel twice as powerful as gains.
Coming Soon
We're continuously adding new cognitive biases to our collection. Future additions will include:
- Attribution Error - How we explain others' behavior vs. our own
- Planning Fallacy - Underestimating the time and resources needed to complete tasks
- Framing Effect - How different presentations of the same information affect decisions
- Authority Bias - Over-relying on the opinions of authority figures
How to Use This Index
Start with Common Ones
Begin with biases marked as "Very Common" - these are the ones you're most likely to encounter in daily life.
Read the Examples
Each bias page includes real-world scenarios to help you recognize the pattern in your own thinking.
Practice Recognition
Use our Bias Spotter Challenge to test your ability to identify biases in realistic scenarios.
Apply Metacognitive Techniques
Learn metacognitive strategies to monitor your own thinking for these patterns.