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Scenario 1 – Joe and Jane decided to play a game in which they toss a coin a few times. Every time a head came up, Joe had to give Jane $10 and every time a tail came up, Jane had to give Joe $10. They could toss the coin any number of times they ... Read More

Confirmation bias is a common type of cognitive bias: the more we believe in something, the more likely we are to search for confirming evidence.

Why do ignorant folks tend to overestimate the extent of their knowledge? How do incompetent people often seem to be unaware of how deficient their expertise is? Turns out, we are not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. And one of the most obvious manifestations of this psychological deficiency is the Dunning–Kruger effect, the cognitive ... Read More

"I'll be there in 10 minutes!" We tend to underestimate the time it will take to complete an action. That's the planning fallacy at play.

The negativity bias shows that not only do we register negative events more readily, but we also tend to dwell on these events for longer.

“This is just wrong.” How many times have you heard that phrase during a heated conversation? Such categorical statements never seem to help in coming to an agreement, or at least to create opportunities to learn. Whether at an interpersonal level or at a broader scale, a lack of nuanced thinking can have a significant ... Read More

Survivorship bias is a common bias that leads to false conclusions by focusing on the elements that made it past a selection process, and overlooking the ones that did not.

Historians and physicians alike are constantly fighting an invisible beast: the hindsight bias, also known as creeping determinism, which is the tendency for people to perceive past outcomes as having been more predictable than they actually were. Linked to distortions of our memories, the hindsight bias causes us to think we knew how an event ... Read More

The psychological term for jumping to conclusions is “inference-observation confusion”, which is when people make an inference but fail to label it as one.

Overreacting, catastrophizing, maximizing, overplaying… We have many words for exaggeration. However, all exaggeration mostly falls under three categories.

How many times have you forgotten where you left your keys? What about your friend who always seems to make up events that never happened? Do you ever struggle to remember someone’s name? Don’t worry—you’re not the only one. Our memory is far from perfect, and the memory bias effect doesn’t help. A memory bias ... Read More

One of the most prevalent phenomena in our collective psyche is the need to be right. Pundits debate their views of climate change and political conflicts on television, we have arguments with friends as to who said what, and we often triumphantly proclaim: “I told you so!” This phenomenon starts early. From a very young ... Read More

Why do we often want to stick with our current beliefs, even when new knowledge seems to contradict them? Why does dogmatic belief habitually trump objective evidence? This effect is called the Semmelweis reflex, which Thomas Szasz described as “the invincible social power of false truths”—a phenomenon so dangerous it has caused many deaths throughout ... Read More

What do astrology, fortune telling, and cold reading have in common? They all exploit the Barnum Effect to convince people that the statements are personal to them.

Why is it that we struggle so much to embrace the power of simplicity? And how can we balance complexity and simplicity?

“It was better before,” says your friend. “Ha, those were the days,” your reply with a sigh. Declinism is the belief that societies tend towards decline, often linked with rosy retrospection—our tendency to view the past more favourably and the future more negatively. It may seem harmless, but declinism can cloud your judgement and lead ... Read More

The egocentric bias is a common cognitive bias that causes us to rely too much on our own perspective when considering events, ideas, and beliefs. It can make it harder to understand other people’s perspectives, and can cloud our judgement when making decisions.

“Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist,” once said French author Guy de Maupassant. Whether it’s short-term memory allowing us to perform simple calculations on the fly, long-term memory which can store larger quantities of information, sometimes for a whole life span, ... Read More

The framing effect is considered one of the largest biases in decision making. Many of our decisions are impacted by this cognitive bias.

Surely, a knife is made for cutting things. And you can only use a cotton swab to clean your ears — right? Functional fixedness is a form of cognitive bias which makes us automatically narrow down the function of each tool. Although functional fixedness offers great mental shortcuts, it can present barriers to working to your full creative potential.

Most people believe that their personalities, work situations, and values won’t change much in the future, even though they have changed tremendously in the past. This is because of a phenomenon called the end-of-history illusion.

When something is described as ambiguous, it means that it is confusing, unclear, or open to different interpretations. Entrepreneurs face ambiguous situations all the time; it’s the nature of the business. For example, entrepreneurs make decisions about pricing, marketing, vendors, and finances that don’t have certain outcomes. In addition, entrepreneurs often have to make choices ... Read More

Whether it’s a doctor, a financial advisor, or a manager, we sometimes apply whatever an authority figure tells us to do, despite knowing that their recommended approach is inefficient, wrong, and potentially even dangerous. Why is that? One explanation is the authority bias. The authority bias is our tendency to be more influenced by the ... Read More

We often automatically follow a train of thought or an external cue without noticing the selective factors in our attention. This phenomenon is called the attentional bias.

Our beliefs can help us navigate the world around us. However, when our beliefs do not line up with reality, they can cause harm to ourselves and others.

The informal fallacy of making choices that fit with those of our peers is known as social proof. While it can help us to make everyday decisions, it is vital to learn how to use it wisely rather than blindly following the crowd into what could turn out to be a bad choice.

Do you tend to focus on negative details? Mental filtering is a cognitive distortion that leads us to magnify the negative details of a situation, while filtering out the positives.

Although practising gratitude is seen as a positive practice, forcing gratitude could lead to gratitude traps. These traps could have a detrimental impact on your wellbeing.

Tech projects lose valuable developers. The solution: introducing the Developer Experience method to reduce employee churn and boost productivity. Learn why your CXOs should invest in DX to avoid growth stagnation.

Developer productivity is falling. But it doesn't have to. The solution? The Developer Productivity Flywheel