availability curse of

anchoring sunk cost fallacy heuristic knowledge

The first thing you judge influences your You irrationally cling to things that have Your judgments are influenced by what Once you understand something you
judgment of all that follows. already cost you something. springs most easily to mind. presume it to be obvious to everyone.
Human minds are associative in nature, so the order in which we When we've invested our time, money, or emotion into something, How recent, emotionally powerful, or unusual your memories are Things makes sense once they make sense, so it can be hard to
receive information helps determine the course of our judgments it hurts us to let it go. This aversion to pain can distort our better can make them seem more relevant. This, in turn, can cause you to remember why they didn't. We build complex networks of
and perceptions. judgment and cause us to make unwise investments. apply them too readily. understanding and forget how intricate the path to our available
Try to gain different perspectives and relevant statistical knowledge really is.
Be especially mindful of this bias during financial negotiations such To regain objectivity, ask yourself: had I not already invested
as houses, cars, and salaries. The initial price offered is proven to something, would I still do so now? What would I counsel a friend information rather than relying purely on first judgments and When teaching someone something new, go slow and explain like
have a significant effect. to do if they were in the same situation? emotive influences. they're ten years old (without being patronizing). Repeat key points
and facilitate active practice to help embed knowledge.

confirmation dunning-kruger belief bias self-serving

bias effect bias
You look for ways to justify your The more you know, the less confident If a conclusion supports your existing beliefs, You believe your failures are due to external
existing beliefs. you're likely to be. you'll rationalize anything that supports it. factors, yet you're personally responsible for
We automatically find ways to make new information fit our existing Because experts know just how much they don't know, they tend It's difficult for us to set aside our existing beliefs to consider the true your successes.
narratives and preconceptions, and to dismiss information that does not. to underestimate their ability; but it's easy to be over-confident merits of an argument. In practice this means that our ideas become Many of us enjoy unearned privileges, luck and advantages that
Think of your ideas and beliefs as software you're actively trying to when you have only a simple idea of how things are. impervious to criticism, and are perpetually reinforced. others do not. It's easy to tell ourselves that we deserve these things,
find problems with rather than things to be defended. “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are A useful thing to ask is 'when and how did I get this belief?' whilst blaming circumstance when things don't go our way.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are so certain of themselves, yet wiser people so full of doubts.” We tend to automatically defend our ideas without ever When judging others, be mindful of how this bias interacts
the easiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman - Bertrand Russell really questioning them. with the just-world hypothesis, fundamental attribution error,
and the in-group bias.

backfire effect barnum effect groupthink negativity bias

When your core beliefs are challenged, it can You see personal specifics in vague You let the social dynamics of a group You allow negative things to disproportionately
cause you to believe even more strongly. statements by filling in the gaps. situation override the best outcomes. influence your thinking.
We can experience being wrong about some ideas as an attack upon Because our minds are given to making connections, it's easy for us Dissent can be uncomfortable and dangerous to one's social The pain of loss and hurt are felt more keenly and persistently than the
our very selves, or our tribal identity. This can lead to motivated to take nebulous statements and find ways to interpret them so that standing, and so often the most confident or first voice will fleeting gratification of pleasant things. We are primed for survival, and
reasoning which causes us to reinforce our beliefs even if we might they seem specific and personal. determine group decisions. our aversion to pain can distort our judgment for a modern world.
accept particular facts and disconfirming evidence. Psychics, astrologers and others use this bias to make it seem like Rather than openly contradicting others, seek to facilitate Pro-and-con lists, as well as thinking in terms of probabilities,
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you they're telling you something relevant. Consider how things might objective means of evaluation and critical thinking practices can help you evaluate things more objectively than relying on
know for sure that just ain’t so.” be interpreted to apply to anyone, not just you. as a group activity. a cognitive impression.
- Mark Twain

declinism framing effect fundamental halo effect optimism bias pessimism bias
attribution error
You see the past as better than it was, and You allow yourself to be unduly influenced You judge others on their character, but How much you like someone, influences You overestimate the likelihood of You overestimate the likelihood of
expect the future to be worse than is likely. by context and delivery. yourself on the situation. your other judgments of them. positive outcomes. negative outcomes.
Despite living in the most peaceful and prosperous time in history, We all like to think that we think independently, but the truth is that If you haven’t had a good night’s sleep, you know why you’re being Our judgments are associative and automatic, and so if we want to There can be benefits to a positive attitude, but it's unwise to allow Pessimism is often a defense mechanism against disappointment,
many people believe things are getting worse. The 24 hour news all of us are, in fact, influenced by delivery, framing and subtle cues. a bit slow; but if you observe someone else being slow you don’t be objective we need to consciously control for irrelevant such an attitude to adversely affect our ability to make rational or it can be the result of depression and anxiety disorders.
cycle, with its reporting of overtly negative and violent events, may This is why the ad industry is a thing, despite almost everyone have such knowledge and so might presume them to just be a influences. This is especially important in a professional setting. judgments (they're not mutually exclusive). Perhaps the worst aspect of pessimism is that even if something
account for some of this effect. believing they’re not affected by advertising messages. slow person. We're all affected by cultural and personal prejudices. If you make rational, realistic judgments you'll have a lot more to good happens, you'll probably feel pessmistic about it anyway.
Instead of relying on nostalgic impressions of how great things used Only when we have the intellectual humility to accept the fact that It's not only kind to view others' situations with charity, it's more It's only through becoming aware of them that we can feel positive about.
to be, use measurable metrics such as life expectancy, levels of crime we can be manipulated, can we hope to limit how much we are. objective too. Be mindful to also err on the side of taking personal mitigate their effects.
and violence, and prosperity statistics. Try to be mindful of how things are being put to you. responsibility rather than justifying and blaming.

just world bystander reactance spotlight effect

hypothesis in-group bias placebo effect
effect
Your preference for a just world makes you You unfairly favor those who belong to If you believe you're taking medicine it can You presume someone else is going to do You'd rather do the opposite of what You overestimate how much people notice
presume that it exists. your group. sometimes 'work' even if it's fake. something in an emergency situation. someone is trying to make you do. how you look and act.
A world in which people don't always get what they deserve, We presume that we're fair and impartial, but the truth is that The placebo effect can work for stuff that our mind influences (such as When something terrible is happening in a public setting we can When we feel our liberty is being constrained, our inclination is to Most people are much more concerned about themselves than they
hard work doesn't always pay off, and injustice happens is an we automatically favor those who are most like us, or belong to pain) but not so much for things like viruses or broken bones. experience a kind of shock and mental paralysis that distracts us resist, however in doing so we can over-compensate. are about you. Absent overt prejudices, people generally want to like
uncomfortable one that threatens our preferred narrative. our groups. Homeopathy, acupuncture, and many other forms of natural from a sense of personal responsibility. The problem is that Be careful not to lose objectivity when someone is being and get along with you as it gives them validation too.
However, it is also the reality. Try to imagine yourself in the position of those in out-groups; whilst 'medicine' have been proven to be no more effective than placebo. everyone can experience this sense of deindividuation in a crowd. coercive/manipulative, or trying to force you do something. Instead of worrying about how you’re being judged, consider how
A more just world requires understanding rather than blame. also attempting to be dispassionate when judging those who belong Keep a healthy body and bank balance by using evidence-based If there's an emergency situation, presume to be the one who will Wisdom springs from reflection, folly from reaction. you make others feel. They'll remember this much more, and you'll
Remember that everyone has their own life story, we’re all fallible, to your in-groups. medicine from a qualified doctor. help or call for help. Be the change you want to see in the world. make the world a better place.
and bad things happen to good people.

Cognitive biases make our judgments irrational. We have evolved to use shortcuts in our thinking, which are often useful, but a cognitive bias means there’s a kind of misfiring going on causing us to lose objectivity. This poster has been designed to help you
identify some of the most common biases and how to avoid falling victim to them. Help people become aware of their biases generally by sharing the website yourbias.is or more specifically e.g. yourbias.is/confirmation-bias
This poster is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license 2020 by Jesse Richardson. You are free to print and redistribute this artwork non-commercially with the binding proviso that you reproduce it in full so that others may share alike. To learn more about biases you should read the books Thinking, Fast and Slow and You Are Not So Smart.
The illustration above is a reference to Michaelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ which many believe depicted the human brain in God’s surrounding decoration.

Download this poster at www.yourbias.is