Cognitive biases

Cognitive biases are systematic shortcuts and distortions in thinking that influence the evaluation of information, people, and decisions.

Definition

Cognitive biases result from, among others: from limited attention, memory, emotions, the need for coherence and quick conclusions. They help quickly simplify the world, but they can lead to mistakes: overestimating one's right, confirming beliefs, ignoring contradictory data, or judging based on first impressions.

Key ideas

Missing key ideas.

Practice and life

When making an important decision, ask: What cognitive error might I be missing here? Check especially the confirmation of your own thesis and the effect of the first impression.

Common misunderstanding

It is a mistake to think that cognitive biases only affect others. It is also a mistake to try to disable shortcuts completely instead of monitoring them.

Questions for self-reflection

No questions for self-reflection.

Sources

No sources.