Cognitive Biases

A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them that affects the decisions and judgments that they make. Cognitive biases are often a result of your brain’s attempt to simplify information processing. Biases often work as rules of thumb that help you make sense of the world and reach decisions with relative speed.

The concept of cognitive bias was introduced by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1972. Since then, researchers have described a number of different types of biases that affect decision-making in a wide range of areas including social behavior, cognition, behavioral economics, education, management, healthcare, business, and finance.

Some of the more common cognitive biases include:

• Action Bias
• Commitment and Consistency Bias
• Confirmation Bias
• Conformity Bias
• Fundamental Attribution Error
• Hindsight Bias
• Mere Exposure Effect
• Overconfidence Bias

References

• Common Cognitive Biases
• What Is Cognitive Bias? - Verywell Mind
• The most common cognitive biases - Medium post