12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational

http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational

George Dvorsky
Jan. 9, 2013

The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations. The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless — plus, we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions. Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.

Before we start, it's important to distinguish between cognitive biases and logical fallacies. A logical fallacy is an error in logical argumentation (e.g. ad hominem attacks, slippery slopes, circular arguments, appeal to force, etc.). A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking — a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability).

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Confirmation Bias .... the often unconscious act of referencing only those perspectives that fuel our pre-existing views, while at the same time ignoring or dismissing opinions — no matter how valid — that threaten our world view.

Ingroup Bias .... causes us to overestimate the abilities and value of our immediate group at the expense of people we don't really know.

Gambler's Fallacy ..... The classic example is coin-tossing. After flipping heads, say, five consecutive times, our inclination is to predict an increase in likelihood that the next coin toss will be tails — that the odds must certainly be in the favor of heads. But in reality, the odds are still 50/50. (Assuming a far coin.)

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Negativity Bias. People tend to pay more attention to bad news — and it's not just because we're morbid. ..... More evolutionarily, heeding bad news may be more adaptive than ignoring good news (e.g. "saber tooth tigers suck" vs. "this berry tastes good"). .....

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Projection Bias. ..... We tend to assume that most people think just like us — though there may be no justification for it. .....

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