Apologetics Biases Quiz

Anchoring

Letting an initial number or first piece of information exert disproportionate influence on later judgments.

Sunk cost fallacy

Continuing to invest because of past costs that cannot be recovered, rather than judging future value.

Availability heuristic

Judging how frequent or likely something is by how easily examples come to mind.

Curse of knowledge

Once familiar with a subject, assuming that others understand it as readily as you do.

Confirmation bias

Seeking, noticing, or interpreting information in ways that support a belief already held.

Dunning–Kruger effect

The tendency for limited skill or knowledge in an area to be accompanied by excessive confidence in one's ability.

Belief bias

Judging an argument's strength largely by whether its conclusion fits what one already believes.

Self-serving bias

Crediting oneself for success while blaming failures on outside circumstances.

Backfire effect

In some circumstances, reacting to a challenge to a strongly held belief by becoming even more committed to it.

Barnum effect

Interpreting vague, widely applicable descriptions as uniquely accurate about oneself.

Groupthink

Allowing the pressure for agreement within a group to prevent independent scrutiny of a decision.

Negativity bias

Giving negative information greater weight in judgment than comparable positive information.

Declinism

Idealizing the past and expecting the present or future to be worse than evidence warrants.

Framing effect

Letting the way equivalent information is worded or presented change one's judgment.

Fundamental attribution error

Explaining other people's behavior by character while underweighting their situation, especially compared with explanations of one's own behavior.

Halo effect

Letting a favorable impression of one characteristic influence judgments about unrelated characteristics.

Optimism bias

Overestimating the likelihood of favorable outcomes or underestimating one's own risks.

Pessimism bias

Overestimating the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes.

Just world hypothesis

Assuming that the world generally gives people the outcomes they deserve.

In-group bias

Favoring members of one's own group over outsiders without a relevant justification.

Placebo effect

A change in experienced symptoms or response influenced by belief in a treatment even when the treatment itself is inactive.

Bystander effect

Being less likely to take personal action in an emergency when others are present and responsibility feels shared.

Reactance

Resisting an option mainly because one feels pressured or controlled to choose it.

Spotlight effect

Overestimating how much other people notice one's appearance or behavior.