OH Those Biases!!!

So many Biases

Psychologists have identified over 180 cognitive biases, with new ones emerging as research deepens into how we perceive, remember, and make decisions. These biases can broadly be grouped into categories based on their nature and the ways they influence our thinking, such as:

  1. Memory Biases – Affect how we recall information
  2. Decision-Making Biases – Impact judgments and choices
  3. Social Biases – Influence interactions with others
  4. Attention Biases – Affect what we focus on

These biases serve as shortcuts, or heuristics, that help us navigate complex information but can lead to systematic errors in judgment and decision-making.

And the Problems They Cause

Cognitive biases create real-world consequences, often leading to costly mistakes in business, relationships, and everyday decision-making.

Here are three examples of specific problems created by each of the four bias categories:

Memory Biases – Distorting the Past and Shaping the Future

  • Hindsight Bias in Business Planning: After a failed product launch, a CEO claims they “knew it wouldn’t work all along” and ignores the actual reasons for failure, missing valuable lessons for future strategies.
  • Misattribution in Legal Cases: A witness confidently recalls seeing a suspect at a crime scene, but due to the misinformation effect, they are recalling details influenced by news reports rather than firsthand memory.
  • Consistency Bias in Performance Reviews: A manager overestimates an employee’s past performance because they currently like them, leading to an undeserved promotion and resentment among colleagues.


Decision-Making Biases – Leading to Poor Choices

  • Confirmation Bias in Hiring: A recruiter forms an initial positive impression of a candidate and unconsciously favors evidence that supports their gut feeling while overlooking red flags in the interview process.
  • Loss Aversion in Investing: An investor holds onto a plummeting stock for too long because they fear realizing a loss, even though cutting losses earlier would have been the better financial move.
  • Overconfidence Bias in Project Planning: A team underestimates how long it will take to develop a new software feature, leading to missed deadlines and dissatisfied clients.


Social Biases – Straining Relationships and Group Dynamics

  • Fundamental Attribution Error in Workplace Conflict: A manager assumes an employee missed a deadline due to laziness rather than considering external pressures, creating unnecessary friction.
  • Halo Effect in Leadership: A charismatic executive is assumed to be competent in all aspects of business, leading to poor strategic decisions that go unchecked.
  • Ingroup Bias in Teamwork: A company’s leadership consistently promotes internal candidates over more qualified external applicants, limiting innovation and diversity of thought.


Attention Biases – Skewing What We Notice and Value

  • Anchoring Bias in Salary Negotiations: A job applicant hears an initial low salary offer and struggles to negotiate higher because they’ve been psychologically anchored to that starting point.
  • Availability Heuristic in Risk Assessment: A person avoids flying after hearing about a recent plane crash, even though statistically, driving is far more dangerous.
  • Selective Attention in Product Design: A company designs an app’s interface based on what its developers find intuitive, ignoring how real users struggle with navigation.


Cognitive biases may be unavoidable, but being aware of them helps us make better decisions, challenge our assumptions, and minimize costly mistakes. Whether in business, relationships, or personal choices, recognizing these mental shortcuts can empower us to think more clearly and behave more wisely.

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