U2AOS1 - The avoidance of cognitive dissonance using cognitive biases

Cognitive Dissonance

An unpleasant psychological state that occurs when people become aware that there is inconsistency among their various beliefs, attitudes or other cognitions, or that their behavior conflicts with their cognitions.

Ways to change cognitive dissonance

1. to change the dissonant cognition

2. changing the behaviour to suit the dissonant cognition 3. add new cognitions to outweigh the dissonant cognition or to justify the behaviour

Cognitive Bias

systematic error in thinking and judgement that can lead to faulty decision-making

Anchoring Bias

Tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of info received when making a decision and to not modify this anchor sufficiently in light of later info

Attentional bias

Tendency to prioritise attention to certain info over other info

Confirmation Bias

tendency to search for or interpret info that aligns w/ pre-existing beliefs, and ignore inconsistent info

False-Consensus Bias

tendency to overestinate the extent to which people are like them in terms of sharing beliefs, personal characterisitics or behaviours

Halo Effect

When the attractiveness of a person can positively influence your impression of them, placing a metaphorical 'halo'

Hindsight Bias

Tendency to overestimate the extent to which an outcome could have been predicted after an event has occured

Misinformation Bias

Tendency for info acquired after an event to influene the accuracy of the memory of the OG event

Optimisim Bias

The mistaken belief that one's chances of experiencing a negative event are lower, and chances of experiencing a positive event are higher than one's peers

Dunning-Kruger Effect

People overestimate their knowledge or ability even if it's areas where they have little to no knowledge or experience

Self-Serving bias

tendency to take credit for successes yet deny responsibility for failures when judging ourselves

Actor-observer Bias

tendency to attribute our own behaviour to external factors yet attribute other's behaviour to internal factors.