> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://um.fz.ax/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://um.fz.ax/self/cognitive-biases.md).

# cognitive biases

**bandwagon effect** - the tendency to do things because many other people do the same

**confirmation bias** - the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions

**congruence bias** - the tendency to test hypotheses exclusively through direct testing, in contrast to tests of possible alternative hypotheses

**endowment effect** - the fact that people often demand much more to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it

**impact bias** - the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of the impact of future feeling states

**information bias** - the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action

**irrational escalation** - the tendency to make irrational decisions based upon rational decisions in the past or to justify actions already taken

**loss aversion** - the disutility of giving up an object is greater than the utility associated with acquiring it

**omission bias** - the tendency to judge harmful actions as worse, or less moral, than equally harmful omissions

**outcome bias** - the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made

**selective perception** - the tendency for expectations to affect perception

**survivorship bias** - a form of selection bias focusing on what has survived to the present and ignoring what must have been lost

**gambler's fallacy** - the tendency to assume that independent random events are influenced by previous random events

**hindsight bias** - the inclination to see past events as being predictable, based on knowledge of later events

**recency effect** - the tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events

**overconfidence effect** - the tendency to overestimate one's own abilities

**false consensus effect** - the tendency for people to overestimate the degree to which others agree with them

**halo effect** - the tendency for a person's positive or negative traits to "spill over" from one area of their personality to another in others' perceptions of them

**herd instinct** - a common tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict

**projection bias** - the tendency to unconsciously assume that others share the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions

**self-fulfilling prophecy** - the tendency to engage in behaviors that elicit results which will confirm our beliefs

**consistency bias** - incorrectly remembering one's past attitudes and behavior as resembling present attitudes and behavior

**egocentric bias** - recalling the past in a self-serving manner