Biases

Cognitive bias Description

1. actor–observer bias Attributing cause of own behaviour to external/situational factors and others’ behaviour to internal/personal factors
2. anchoring bias Overreliance on initial information (anchor) when decision-making and not modifying this anchor sufficiently in light of later information
3. attentional bias Prioritising attention to certain stimuli whilst ignoring other information
4. confirmation bias Seeking, recalling or interpreting information in a way that confirms existing beliefs or expectations, while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence
5. false-consensus bias Overestimating the extent to which other people are like oneself than they really are
6. halo effect When our impression/evaluation of a person in general, or on a specific quality, influences judgements on other characteristics
7. hindsight bias Overestimating the extent to which the outcome of an event could have been foreseen
8. misinformation effect When information acquired after an event influences the accuracy of the memory of that event
9. optimism bias Overestimating their likelihood of experiencing positive events and underestimating the likelihood of experiencing negative events in the future.
   10. self-serving bias When judging oneself, taking credit for successes and blaming failures on external/situational factor
   11. Dunning–Kruger effect Overestimating personal knowledge or skills in an area, despite little or no knowledge or experience in that area, and inability to recognise thisl