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
Learning Path
Start Here
A first pass through the biases that most often distort everyday judgment, news consumption, and basic decision-making.
9 biases
Foundational
45 min
By the end of this path
- Name the core biases that recur across everyday judgment, news intake, and low-stakes decision making.
- Recognize the difference between a vivid example, a distorted sample, and a socially sticky first impression.
- Leave with a reliable first map of the site before moving into narrower paths.
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.
Next:
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.
Availability heuristic
The tendency to judge frequency, risk, or importance by how easily examples come to mind.
EstimationAssociationMedia & politicsPersonal decisions
Anchoring effect
The tendency for the first salient number, frame, or option to pull later estimates toward itself even when it is arbitrary or weakly relevant.
EstimationBaselineForecasting & planningPersonal decisions
Base-rate neglect
The tendency to underweight general prevalence information when vivid case-specific details are available.
EstimationBaselineResearch & evidenceForecasting & planning
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
Status quo bias
The tendency to prefer the current option, default, or inherited arrangement simply because it is the current option, default, or inherited arrangement.
DecisionInertiaPersonal decisionsTeams & management
Sunk cost effect
The tendency to keep investing in a losing path because of what has already been spent, even when the forward-looking case has weakened.
DecisionInertiaPersonal decisionsTeams & management
Hindsight bias
The tendency, after an outcome is known, to see it as having been more obvious or predictable than it actually was beforehand.
RecallOutcomePostmortems & learningForecasting & planning