Cognitive biases can be dangerous. If left undetected, these errors in our thinking can lead us down many a wrong road.
Given their abstract nature, it can be difficult to find 1) an exhaustive list of cognitive biases, and 2) clear descriptions and explanations for each. Which is why I’m writing today about Wikipedia’s List of Cognitive Biases.
It doesn’t take long to read, but by the end of it, I’m confident you’ll have learnt something new, or will have been reminded about a bias that you want to avoid.
Here was my favourite new one: Effort Justification. We tend to attribute greater value to an outcome the more effort we put into achieving it. This can result in more value being applied to an outcome than it actually has. A great example of this is the IKEA Effect: people place higher value on items they assemble themselves, regardless of the quality of the end product.
Happy reading!