Cognitive Biases

Question 1

Anchoring/Focalism

Answer 1

Tendency to rely to heavily on one piece of information when making decisions (usually the first piece of info we acquire on that subject)

Question 2

Ambiguity Effect

Answer 2

Tendency to avoid options for which missing information makes the probability seem unknown

Question 3

Bandwagon Effect

Answer 3

Tendency to do/believe things because many others do or believe the same (groupthink; herd behavior)

Question 4

Choice-supportive Bias

Answer 4

Tendency to remember ones choices as better than they actually were

Question 5

Confirmation Bias

Answer 5

Tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember info in a way that confirms ones preconceptions

Question 6

Dunning-Kruger Effect

Answer 6

Tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their ability

Question 7

Empathy Gap

Answer 7

Tendency to underestimate the influence or strength of feelings, in either oneself or others.

Question 8

Gambler’s Fallacy

Answer 8

tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality they are unchanged

Question 9

Discounting

Answer 9

tendency for people to have a stronger preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs

Question 10

Identifiable Victim Effect

Answer 10

tendency to respond more strongly to a single identified person at risk than to a large group of people at risk

Question 11

Mere Exposure Effect

Answer 11

tendency to express undue liking for things merely because of familiarity with them

Question 12

Negativity Bias

Answer 12

phenomenon by which humans have a greater recall of unpleasant memories compared with positive memories

Question 13

Planning Fallacy

Answer 13

tendency to underestimate task-completion times

Question 14

Post-Purchase Rationalization

Answer 14

tendency to persuade oneself through rational argument that a purchase was a good value

Question 15

Social Comparison Bias

Answer 15

tendency, when making hiring decisions, to favour potential candidates who don’t compete with one’s own particular strengths

Question 16

Backfire Effect

Answer 16

When people react to disconfirming evidence by strengthening their beliefs

Question 17

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 17

tendency for people to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior

Question 18

Group Attribution Error

Answer 18

biased belief that the characteristics of an individual group member are reflective of the group as a whole or the tendency to assume that group decision outcomes reflect the preferences of group members, even when information is available that clearly suggests otherwise

Question 19

Ingroup Bias

Answer 19

tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others they perceive to be members of their own groups

Question 20

Just World Hypothesis

Answer 20

tendency for people to want to believe that the world is fundamentally just, causing them to rationalize an otherwise inexplicable injustice as deserved by the victim(s)

Question 21

Projection Bias

Answer 21

tendency to unconsciously assume that others (or one’s future selves) share one’s current emotional states, thoughts and values

Question 22

Trait Ascription Bias

Answer 22

tendency for people to view themselves as relatively variable in terms of personality, behavior, and mood while viewing others as much more predictable

Question 23

Illusion of Asymmetric Insight

Answer 23

People perceive their knowledge of their peers to surpass their peers’ knowledge of them

Question 24

Cryptomnesia

Answer 24

a form of misattribution where a memory is mistaken for imagination, because there is no subjective experience of it being a memory

Question 25

Misinformation Effect

Answer 25

Memory becoming less accurate because of interference from post-event information

Question 26

Spotlight Effect

Answer 26

tendency to overestimate the amount that other people notice your appearance or behavior

Question 27

Suggestibility

Answer 27

A form of misattribution where ideas suggested by a questioner are mistaken for memory

Question 28

Zeigarnik effect

Answer 28

uncompleted or interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones

Question 29

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 29

mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values