Why We Favor People Who Feel Like “Us” Why do we treat our in-group better than we do our out-group? Imagine two equally qualified job candidates. One went to your…
Heuristics
61 Articles
Why We Overestimate How Much Future Events Will Affect Us Why do we overestimate our emotional reactions to future events? Imagine you’re waiting to hear whether you got your dream…
Why Repetition Can Make Falsehoods Feel True Why do we believe misinformation more easily when it’s repeated many times? Imagine hearing a claim once: “Coffee dehydrates you.” You’re unsure. Then…
When Coincidence Looks Like a Pattern Why do we think some things are related when they aren’t? You wash your car, and it rains. The next time this happens, you…
Why a Good Story Can Feel More Accurate Than the Evidence Why are we overconfident in our predictions? The illusion of validity is a cognitive bias that describes our tendency to be…
Why We Think Others Can Read Us Better Than They Can Why do we feel that others can read our mind? Imagine you’re giving a presentation. Your heart is racing….
When We Think We Influence What We Can’t Why do we think we have more control over the world than we do? Imagine buying a lottery ticket. One machine randomly…
Why One Face Can Move Us More Than a Thousand Statistics Why are we more likely to offer help to a specific individual than a vague group? Imagine hearing: “Ten…
Why We Value Things More When We Build Them Ourselves Why do we place disproportionately high value on things we helped to create? Imagine buying a bookshelf. One arrives fully…
Below is the complete table of all 116 entries currently listed by The Decision Lab. Their page describes these collectively as cognitive biases, although the collection also contains heuristics, psychological…