Cognitive Biases

CogBias

A practical cognitive-bias site with clear definitions, learning paths, assessments, self-audits, and debiasing tools.

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Learning Path

People Judgment

A path for social perception, hiring, leadership, conflict, and the fast trait inferences people make about one another.

6 biases Foundational 45 min

By the end of this path

  • Catch the fastest routes from behavior to trait verdict.
  • Separate social impression from evidence about motive, character, or capacity.
  • Build a stronger baseline before entering harder conflict and identity-heavy cases.

How to study it

Work the pages in order, then loop back and compare which distortions happened earliest, which ones protected the first impression, and which ones interfered with later learning.

Before You Judge A PersonBefore You Read Hostility Into It

Next:

Conflict, Threat, And TribeSocial Pressure And Belonging

Biases in this path

This is a deliberate sequence, not just a themed pile. Start at the top if the context is new to you.

Egocentric bias

Recalling the past in a self-serving manner, e.g., remembering one's exam grades as being better than they were, or remembering a caught fish as bigger than it really was. Also the tendency to rely too heavily on one's own perspective and/or have a different perception of oneself relative to others

Causal AttributionSelf-Perspective

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to explain other people's behavior too quickly in terms of character while underweighting situational pressures and constraints.

Causal AttributionSelf-PerspectiveTeams & managementMedia & politics

Halo effect

The tendency for one salient positive or negative impression to spill over into unrelated judgments about a person, product, or institution.

Opinion ReportingAssociationTeams & managementPersonal decisions

Implicit bias

The underlying attitudes and stereotypes that people unconsciously attribute to another person or group of people that affect how they understand and engage with them. Many researchers suggest that unconscious bias occurs automatically as the brain makes quick judgments based on past experiences and background

Hypothesis AssessmentOutcome

Confirmation bias

The tendency to notice, seek, and remember evidence that supports the story you already prefer more readily than evidence that threatens it.

Hypothesis AssessmentOutcomeMedia & politicsResearch & evidence

Negativity bias

The tendency to give bad news, threats, criticism, and losses more psychological weight than equally sized positives.

Opinion ReportingRecallAssociationBaselineMedia & politicsTeams & management