Cognitive Bias/Logical Fallacy

AP PSYCH

bystander effect

is when people don’t help in an emergency if there are other people because they believe that others will help

misinformation effect

is when a person’s memory of an event becomes distorted/inaccurate because they’ve been exposed to misleading info after, leading them to add those false details into their original memory

choice-supportive bias

is when a person remembers their chosen option as having been better than it actually was, while downplaying the positive aspects of rejected alternatives

sunk cost fallacy

is our tendency to follow through with some that we’ve heavily invested in, even when giving up is clearly the better idea

black or white fallacy

is when a complex situation is incorrectly reduced to only 2 extreme, mutually exclusive options, ignoring any middle ground or intermediate possibilities

middle ground fallacy

is when someone argues that the middle position between 2 extremes must be correct simply because it’s the middle position

confirmation bias

is the tendency to interpret new info as confirmation of pre-existing beliefs and opinions while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative info

-selectively interpreting info

hindsight bias

is the tendency to perceive past events as more predictable than what they actually were

negativity bias

results in adverse events having a greater impact on our psychology state than positive ones

anchoring bias

is when we rely too heavily on pre-existing info or the 1st piece of info(the anchor) when making a decision

self-serving bias

is the tendency to take personal responsibility for positive outcomes and blame external factors for negative outcomes

bandwagon effect

refers to our habit of adopting certain behaviors or beliefs because many people do the same