Anchoring bias is a cognitive error that occurs when an individual relies too heavily on a single piece of initial information when making a decision or attempting to solve a problem. This singular focus can prevent a person from accurately assessing other available options or information.

Anchoring Bias

Confirmation bias is the cognitive tendency to selectively focus on cases that validate our pre-existing intuitive beliefs while actively disregarding or forgetting cases that disconfirm them. This mental shortcut leads individuals to reinforce incorrect assumptions by ignoring contradictory evidence.

Confirmation Bias

Hindsight bias, also known as the “I knew it all along” phenomenon, happens when individuals think an outcome was inevitable after the fact. The reconstructive nature of memory contributes to this bias, causing people to remember untrue events that seem to confirm they knew the outcome beforehand.

Hindsight Bias

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut where individuals make decisions based on information that is most easily recalled, such as a recent experience or a vivid example. This reliance on readily available information can lead to flawed judgments, as the most accessible information is not always the most representative or accurate for making a sound decision.

Availability Heuristic

Representative bias is a cognitive shortcut where decisions are made by comparing a person or situation to existing stereotypes or prior beliefs. This reliance on perceived similarity often leads to flawed judgments, as other relevant statistical information, like base rates, is frequently ignored.

Representative Bias

* Anchoring bias
* Confirmation bias
* Hindsight bias
* Representative bias
* Availability heuristic

Columbia University

Google

Choosing a belief, action or object out of a set of alternative options.

Decision-Making

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

- Heuristics and biases
- Desirable difficulty
- Decision time
- Reasoning
- Expected emotions

Focuses of Research on  Decision-Making

- Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition


References for Decision Making by Journal

Decision-Making Biases

Problem solving is a fundamental cognitive process people engage in daily to find solutions for challenges they encounter. These challenges can range from straightforward tasks, such as doubling a recipe, to more complex situations, like handling an unexpected equipment failure under a tight deadline. A more formal definition states that "problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods in an orderly manner to find solutions to problems."

Problem Solving

Being an informed consumer of information is important because decisions based on this information have significant consequences. For example, in public policy, examining research to determine the effectiveness of programs ensures that taxpayer money is invested wisely.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After