Buzz
You pride yourself on making well-considered decisions. Whether it’s the meticulously researched car you commute in or the thoughtfully planned dinner you’ll prepare tonight, you invest significant effort into every choice—perhaps even overthinking them.
Business Insider recently compiled a wealth of research into an insightful infographic, available here. It outlines 20 prevalent cognitive biases that can result in poor decisions, such as the misconception that more information always leads to better choices. Visit Business Insider for the complete infographic, or check out a brief overview below.
1. Anchoring bias
The initial piece of information you encounter can disproportionately sway your choices.
2. Availability heuristic
If you frequently rely on personal anecdotes, you may be prioritizing stories about individuals you know over broader, more comprehensive data.
3. Bandwagon effect
The greater the number of people who support an idea, the more inclined you might be to adopt it as well.
4. Blind-spot bias
Failing to recognize your own biases means you may remain unaware of how they shape your thoughts.
5. Choice-supportive bias
After making a decision, you might feel compelled to defend it regardless of new information.
6. Clustering illusion
Do you perceive patterns that don’t actually exist? Your decisions might be influenced by unreliable or irrelevant data.
7. Confirmation bias
Existing beliefs can create resistance to considering alternative viewpoints.
8. Conservatism bias
Long-held beliefs, once ingrained in your mindset, can be challenging to modify or update.
9. Information bias
Believing that more information always leads to better decisions can be misleading, especially when much of it is irrelevant.
10. Ostrich effect
If you tend to ignore negative feedback, you might be deliberately avoiding information that challenges your perspective.
11. Outcome bias
You might focus excessively on the outcome of a decision rather than the process that led to it.
12. Overconfidence
Excessive confidence in your decision-making abilities can cloud your judgment and hinder more logical reasoning.
13. Placebo effect
You might be overly eager to believe in the effectiveness of an outcome, much like someone convinced a sugar pill will relieve their headache.
14. Pro-innovation bias
If you’ve created something, you might be too emotionally attached to it to evaluate it objectively.
15. Recency
You might place greater importance on recent information, even if older data is equally reliable.
16. Salience
The more vividly you can picture something, the more likely you are to focus on it, even if its actual likelihood is low.
17. Selective perception
Your preconceived expectations can shape how you interpret and form opinions.
18. Stereotyping
Assuming someone embodies the characteristics of a broader group prevents you from recognizing their unique qualities.
19. Survivorship bias
By concentrating only on success stories, you may overlook the struggles and failures others faced to reach similar achievements.
20. Zero-risk bias
Avoiding risks entirely by focusing on guaranteed successes might cause you to miss out on potentially rewarding opportunities.
