46 Biases in Category

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To act, we must be confident we can make an impact and feel what we do is important

Overconfidence Effect
We have excessive confidence in our own answers, judgments, and abilities relative to our actual accuracy.
Social Desirability Bias
We present ourselves in a favorable light by over-reporting good behavior and under-reporting bad behavior.
Third-Person Effect
We believe that mass media messages have a greater effect on others than on ourselves.
False Consensus Effect
We overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Hard-Easy Effect
We are overconfident on easy tasks and underconfident on difficult tasks.
Dunning-Kruger Effect
People with low ability overestimate their competence, while those with high ability underestimate theirs.
Egocentric Bias
We rely too heavily on our own perspective and overestimate our role in events.
Optimism Bias
We believe we are less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events than others.
Forer Effect (Barnum Effect)
We believe vague, general personality descriptions are highly accurate and specifically tailored to us.
Self-Serving Bias
We attribute successes to our own abilities and efforts, but attribute failures to external factors.
Actor-Observer Bias
We attribute our own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to their character.
Illusion of Control
We overestimate our ability to control events, especially random outcomes.
Illusory Superiority
We overestimate our own qualities and abilities relative to others (also called "Lake Wobegon effect").
Fundamental Attribution Error
We overemphasize personal characteristics and underemphasize situational factors when explaining others' behavior.
Defensive Attribution Hypothesis
We attribute more blame to a harm-doer as the severity of the outcome increases, to protect our belief in a controllable world.
Trait Ascription Bias
We view ourselves as more variable in personality across situations while viewing others as more predictable.
Effort Justification
We value outcomes more highly when we've had to put significant effort into achieving them.
Risk Compensation (Peltzman Effect)
We take more risks when we feel protected by safety measures, offsetting the benefits of those measures.
Action Bias
We prefer to "do something" rather than nothing, even when inaction would be the statistically better choice (common in investing and sports).
Courtesy Bias
We tend to give opinions that are socially acceptable to avoid offending others, rather than stating our true beliefs (often skews survey data).

To stay focused, we favor the immediate, relatable thing in front of us

Hyperbolic Discounting
We prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, later rewards, with preferences changing over time.
Appeal to Novelty
We assume that something new is automatically better than something old.
Identifiable Victim Effect
We respond more strongly to a single, identifiable person in need than to a large, anonymous group.
Affect Heuristic
We rely on our current emotions ("gut feelings") to make quick decisions, judging risks/benefits based on how we feel.

To get things done, we tend to complete things we've invested time and energy in

Sunk Cost Fallacy
We continue investing in something because of previously invested resources (time, money, effort), regardless of future value.
Escalation of Commitment
We increase commitment to a decision despite evidence that it was wrong, especially when responsible for it.
Generation Effect
We remember information better when we generated it ourselves than when we simply read it.
Loss Aversion
We feel the pain of losing something more strongly than the pleasure of gaining something of equal value.
IKEA Effect
We place disproportionately high value on products we partially created ourselves.
Processing Difficulty Effect
We remember information better when it requires more effort to process (also called "desirable difficulty").
Unit Bias
We tend to consume a standard unit (one serving, one plate) regardless of the actual amount.
Zero-Risk Bias
We prefer to completely eliminate a small risk rather than significantly reduce a larger risk.
Disposition Effect
We sell assets that have increased in value while holding assets that have decreased in value.
Pseudocertainty Effect
We make risk-averse choices when outcomes are framed as gains but risk-seeking choices to avoid sure losses.
Endowment Effect
We value things we own more highly than things we don't, simply because we own them.
Backfire Effect
When confronted with evidence against our beliefs, we sometimes strengthen those beliefs instead of changing them.
Doubling-back Aversion
We tend to avoid returning to a previous location or state, even when retracing our steps is the most efficient path.

To avoid mistakes, we aim to preserve autonomy and group status, and avoid irreversible decisions

System Justification
We defend and justify the existing social, economic, and political systems, even at personal cost.
Reactance
When we feel our freedom is threatened, we react by wanting the opposite of what we're being pushed to do.
Decoy Effect
Our preference between two options changes when a third, asymmetrically dominated option is introduced.
Social Comparison Bias
We favor potential candidates who don't compete with our own strengths when making hiring or selection decisions.
Status Quo Bias
We prefer the current state of affairs and resist change, even when change would be beneficial.
Abilene Paradox
A group collectively decides on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of all individuals in the group.
Law of the Instrument
We over-rely on a familiar tool or approach ("If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail").
Chesterton's Fence
We should understand why something exists before removing it, as it may serve a purpose we're unaware of.
Ambiguity Effect
We avoid options where the probability of a favorable outcome is unknown, preferring options with known probabilities.