Spark Your Critical Thinking By Understanding Cognitive Biases

1. Spotlight effect

We think that people pay more attention to what we say and how we look than they really do.

2. Third-person effect

We think that other people are more influenced by social media and mass media than we are.

3. Status Quo bias

People usually don't like change because it makes them feel uncomfortable.

4. Survivorship Bias

We believe that the accounts of those who survived are the whole story. Because the person who died isn't around to tell their story.

5. Zeigarnik Effect

Tasks that are left incomplete are more easily remembered than those that are completed.

6. Ikea Effect

We tend to place a higher value on things that we have created ourselves.

7. Pessimism Bias

We often underestimate the chances of something bad happening.

8. Framing Effect

We can interpret the same facts in different ways, depending on how they are presented to us.

9. Declinism

It's not uncommon to think that the good old days were better than what's to come.

10. Sunk Cost Fallacy

We're more likely to put more money into things that have cost us something, even if the results are negative.

11. Gambler's Fallacy

We believe that the events of the past can have an influence on the possibilities for the future, even if those events are unrelated.

14. Self-serving Bias

We achieve our successes through hard work and determination, but sometimes our failures are due to outside circumstances.

15. Fredkin's Paradox

When we're faced with many choices, it can be tough to figure out which ones matter most. So often we spend the most time on the choices that are the least important.