Welcome to the fascinating world of cognitive biases
Have you ever wondered why you sometimes make irrational decisions, even when you're sure you're being logical? Or why two people can look at the same information and come to completely different conclusions?
Welcome to the fascinating world of cognitive biases – the mental shortcuts and quirks that shape our thinking in ways we often don't realize. In this newsletter, we'll explore these hidden influences on our minds, uncover how they affect our daily lives, and learn how to harness this knowledge to make better decisions.
Cognitive biases are unconscious errors in thinking that happen when people interpret information from their surroundings that influence their judgements. This can affect a person’s decision making, stemming from a distorted perception of reality. Being aware of these biases is important so that we are able to improve our decision making and perspective.
Here is a list of some common cognitive biases:
The Actor-Observer Bias: When we witness other people’s actions, especially when they make a mistake, we are more likely to attribute their behavior to internal causes - such as their being lazy, their lack of incompetence, or their lack of intelligence. The opposite is also true; when we need to justify our mistakes, we tend to attribute them to external causes - such as the test being too difficult for the level required, the lack of sleep, or other people’s bad influence.
The Anchoring Bias: This is the tendency to be influenced by the very first piece of information we hear, called anchor, that we adjust to before making a decision. For example, before buying a new car or a new house, it is very common to try to estimate what the average price is and stick to that to negotiate. To combat this anchoring bias, you should instead come up with a range of possible prices that are reasonable to you and forget the overall average price.
The Availability Heuristic: This is a mental shortcut that allows us to make decisions more quickly, by estimating the probability of something happening based on the examples we can think of. For example, we might think that plane crashes happen more often than they actually do because we can easily think of many different examples.
The Confirmation Bias: We are always more likely to listen to those who validate and confirm our original opinion. This means that we often let out or don’t consider important information simply because it would lead us to reconsider our position. An example of this behavior is only following people on social media who validate your beliefs.
The False Consensus Bias: We often tend to overestimate how much other people agree with us and think that most people share our same values. Believing that others think like us helps us feel normal and increases our self-esteem. An example of this would be assuming that every person you are friends with has the same political beliefs as you do, even if that’s something you haven’t discussed with them.
The Halo Effect: Also known as the “Physical attractiveness stereotype”, the Halo effect is the tendency to judge a person based on their physical appearance. If someone is good-looking, we are more likely to think that they are funnier, kinder and smarter. We see examples of this in actors that may not be the best at their craft but certainly look the part.
The Hindsight Bias: This is what makes us think that a particular event was more predictable than it actually was. This happens because we often tend to misremember our previous predictions and because we need to always feel in control of the events. An example of this behavior is insisting that you knew the outcome of an event once it is over.
The Misinformation Effect: Our memories are not entirely accurate or reliable, and can be heavily influenced by hearing other people talk from a different perspective. For example, if someone has a heavily biased point of view in a fight, it may be hard to decipher fact from fiction.
The Optimism Bias: Optimism is not always a positive influence on the decision-making process. People tend to ignore negative factors when they need to make an estimation. For example, this can show up in victim-blaming of crimes, when in reality what happened could have happened to anyone else.
The Self-Serving Bias: When we succeed we think we deserved it by working hard. When we fail, we look for external explanations that do not depend on us. For example, blaming traffic as the reason for being late, when in reality you should have left the house earlier to account for this possible factor.
Being aware of the different cognitive biases is important so that we are able to move forward in life with integrity. There are lots of things that we can’t control in our lives, but we do have control over how we take in and think about information.
Additional Resources
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You can reach the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or chat with them at nami.org/help, Monday through Friday, from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., ET. For teenagers and young adults seeking support, the NAMI Teen & Young Adult HelpLine is available at the same number and text options.