Editing Cognitive bias (section)

== Types ==
Biases can be distinguished on a number of dimensions. Examples of cognitive biases include -
* Biases specific to ''groups'' (such as the [[Group polarization#Risky shift|risky shift]]) versus biases at the individual level.
* Biases that affect [[decision-making]], where the ''desirability'' of options has to be considered (e.g., [[sunk costs]] fallacy).
* Biases, such as [[illusory correlation]], that affect ''judgment'' of how likely something is or whether one thing is the cause of another.
* Biases that affect ''memory'',<ref name="Schacter.1999">{{cite journal | vauthors = Schacter DL | title = The seven sins of memory. Insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience | journal = The American Psychologist | volume = 54 | issue = 3 | pages = 182–203 | date = March 1999 | pmid = 10199218 | doi = 10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.182 | s2cid = 14882268 }}</ref> such as consistency bias (remembering one's past attitudes and behavior as more similar to one's present attitudes).
* Biases that reflect a subject's ''motivation'',<ref name="Kunda1990">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kunda Z | title = The case for motivated reasoning | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 108 | issue = 3 | pages = 480–98 | date = November 1990 | pmid = 2270237 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480 | s2cid = 9703661 | url = http://synapse.princeton.edu/~sam/kunda90_psychol_bulletin_the-case-for-motivated-reasoning.pdf | access-date = 2017-10-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170706055600/http://synapse.princeton.edu/~sam/kunda90_psychol_bulletin_the-case-for-motivated-reasoning.pdf | archive-date = 2017-07-06 }}</ref> for example, the desire for a positive self-image leading to [[egocentric bias]] and the avoidance of unpleasant [[cognitive dissonance]].<ref name="Hoorens1993">{{cite book | vauthors = Hoorens V |year=1993 |contribution=Self-enhancement and Superiority Biases in Social Comparison |title=European Review of Social Psychology 4 |editor=Stroebe, W. |editor-link=Wolfgang Stroebe |editor2=Hewstone, Miles |publisher=Wiley }}</ref>

Other biases are due to the particular way the brain perceives, forms memories and makes judgments. This distinction is sometimes described as "[[hot cognition]]" versus "cold cognition", as [[motivated reasoning]] can involve a state of [[arousal]]. Among the "cold" biases,

* some are due to ''ignoring relevant information'' (e.g., [[neglect of probability]]),
* some involve a decision or judgment being ''affected by irrelevant information'' (for example the [[Framing (social sciences)|framing effect]] where the same problem receives different responses depending on how it is described; or the [[distinction bias]] where choices presented together have different outcomes than those presented separately), and
* others give ''excessive weight'' to an unimportant but salient feature of the problem (e.g., [[Anchoring (cognitive bias)|anchoring]]).

As some biases reflect motivation specifically the motivation to have positive attitudes to oneself.<ref name="Hoorens1993" /> It accounts for the fact that many biases are self-motivated or self-directed (e.g., [[illusion of asymmetric insight]], [[self-serving bias]]). There are also biases in how subjects evaluate in-groups or out-groups; evaluating in-groups as more diverse and "better" in many respects, even when those groups are arbitrarily defined ([[ingroup bias]], [[outgroup homogeneity bias]]).

Some cognitive biases belong to the subgroup of [[attentional bias]]es, which refers to paying increased attention to certain stimuli. It has been shown, for example, that people addicted to alcohol and other drugs pay more attention to drug-related stimuli. Common psychological tests to measure those biases are the [[Stroop effect|Stroop task]]<ref name="pmid5328883">{{cite journal | vauthors = Jensen AR, Rohwer WD | title = The Stroop color-word test: a review | journal = Acta Psychologica | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 36–93 | year = 1966 | pmid = 5328883 | doi = 10.1016/0001-6918(66)90004-7 }}</ref><ref name="pmid2034749">{{cite journal | vauthors = MacLeod CM | title = Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 109 | issue = 2 | pages = 163–203 | date = March 1991 | pmid = 2034749 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163 | hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-002C-5646-A | url = http://content.apa.org/journals/bul/109/2/163 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.475.2563 }}</ref> and the [[Dot-probe paradigm|dot probe task]].

Individuals' susceptibility to some types of cognitive biases can be measured by the [[Cognitive reflection test|Cognitive Reflection Test]] (CRT) developed by Shane Frederick (2005).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Frederick |first=Shane | name-list-style = vanc |date=2005|title=Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|language=en|volume=19|issue=4|pages=25–42|doi=10.1257/089533005775196732|issn=0895-3309|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Oechssler|first1=Jörg|last2=Roider|first2=Andreas|last3=Schmitz|first3=Patrick W. | name-list-style = vanc |date=2009|title=Cognitive abilities and behavioral biases|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization|volume=72|issue=1|pages=147–152|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2009.04.018|issn=0167-2681|url=https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/21701/2/roder2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803225638/http://epub.uni-regensburg.de/21701/2/roder2.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-03 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== List of biases ===
{{main|List of cognitive biases}}
The following is a list of the more commonly studied cognitive biases:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Description
|-
| [[Fundamental attribution error]] (FAE, aka correspondence bias<ref name="Baumeister" />)
| Tendency to overemphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others. At the same time, individuals under-emphasize the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior. Edward E. Jones and Victor A. Harris' (1967)<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Jones EE, Harris VA  |title=The attribution of attitudes|journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology|year=1967|volume=3|pages=1–24|doi=10.1016/0022-1031(67)90034-0}}</ref> classic study illustrates the FAE. Despite being made aware that the target's speech direction (pro-Castro/anti-Castro) was assigned to the writer, participants ignored the situational pressures and attributed pro-Castro attitudes to the writer when the speech represented such attitudes.
|-
|[[Implicit stereotype|Implicit bias]] (aka implicit stereotype, unconscious bias)
|Tendency to attribute positive or negative qualities to a group of individuals. It can be fully non-factual or be an abusive generalization of a frequent trait in a group to all individuals of that group.
|-
|[[Priming (psychology)|Priming bias]]
|Tendency to be influenced by the first presentation of an issue to create our preconceived idea of it, which we then can adjust with later information.
|-
| [[Confirmation bias]]
| Tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, and discredit information that does not support the initial opinion.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mahoney MJ |title=Publication prejudices: An experimental study of confirmatory bias in the peer review system|journal=Cognitive Therapy and Research |year=1977 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=161–175 |doi=10.1007/bf01173636 |s2cid=7350256}}</ref> Related to the concept of [[cognitive dissonance]], in that individuals may reduce inconsistency by searching for information which reconfirms their views (Jermias, 2001, p.&nbsp;146).<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Jermias J |title=Cognitive dissonance and resistance to change: The influence of commitment confirmation and feedback on judgement usefulness of accounting systems|journal=Accounting, Organizations and Society|year=2001|volume=26|issue=2|pages=141–160|doi=10.1016/s0361-3682(00)00008-8}}</ref>
|-
| [[Affinity bias]]
|Tendency to be favorably biased toward people most like ourselves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/11/19/unconscious-bias-and-three-ways-to-overcome-it/|title=Council Post: Unconscious Bias And Three Ways To Overcome It|first=Monica|last=Thakrar|website=Forbes}}</ref>
|-
| [[Self-serving bias]]
| Tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than for failures. It may also manifest itself as a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way beneficial to their interests.
|-
| [[Belief bias]]
| Tendency to evaluate the logical strength of an argument based on current belief and perceived plausibility of the statement's conclusion. 
|-
| [[Framing effect (psychology)|Framing]]
| Tendency to narrow the description of a situation in order to guide to a selected conclusion. The same primer can be framed differently and therefore lead to different conclusions.
|-
| [[Hindsight bias]]
| Tendency to view past events as being predictable. Also called the "I-knew-it-all-along" effect.
|-
| [[Embodied cognition]]
| Tendency to have selectivity in perception, attention, decision making, and motivation based on the biological state of the body.
|-
|[[Anchoring (cognitive bias)|Anchoring bias]] 
|The inability of people to make appropriate adjustments from a starting point in response to a final answer. It can lead people to make sub-optimal decisions. Anchoring affects decision making in [[negotiation]]s, [[Medical diagnosis|medical diagnoses]], and [[Sentence (law)|judicial sentencing]].<ref>Cho, I. et al. (2018) 'The Anchoring Effect in Decision-Making with Visual Analytics', 2017 IEEE Conference on Visual Analytics Science and Technology, VAST 2017 - Proceedings. IEEE, pp. 116–126. {{doi|10.1109/VAST.2017.8585665}}.</ref>
|-
|[[Status quo bias]]
|Tendency to hold to the current situation rather than an alternative situation, to avoid risk and loss ([[loss aversion]]).<ref>Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L. and Thaler, R. H. (1991) Anomalies The Endowment Effect,
Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias, Journal of Economic Perspectives.</ref> In status quo bias, a decision-maker has the increased propensity to choose an option because it is the default option or [[status quo]]. Has been shown to affect various important economic decisions, for example, a choice of [[Vehicle insurance|car insurance]] or [[Electric utility|electrical service]].<ref>Dean, M. (2008) 'Status quo bias in large and small choice sets', New York, p. 52. Available
at: http://www.yorkshire-exile.co.uk/Dean_SQ.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225094920/http://www.yorkshire-exile.co.uk/Dean_SQ.pdf |date=2010-12-25 }}.</ref>
|-
|[[Overconfidence effect]]
|Tendency to overly trust one's own capability to make correct decisions. People tended to overrate their abilities and skills as decision makers.<ref>{{Citation|last=Gimpel|first=Henner|title=Cognitive Biases in Negotiation Processes|date=2008|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-540-77554-6_16|work=Negotiation, Auctions, and Market Engineering|series=Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing|volume=2|pages=213–226|editor-last=Gimpel|editor-first=Henner|place=Berlin, Heidelberg|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-540-77554-6_16|isbn=978-3-540-77553-9|access-date=2020-11-25|editor2-last=Jennings|editor2-first=Nicholas R.|editor3-last=Kersten|editor3-first=Gregory E.|editor4-last=Ockenfels|editor4-first=Axel}}</ref> See also the [[Dunning–Kruger effect]].
|-
|[[Physical attractiveness stereotype]]
|The tendency to assume people who are [[physical attractiveness|physically attractive]] also possess other desirable personality traits.<ref>Lorenz, Kate. (2005). "[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/07/08/looks/ Do Pretty People Earn More?]" http://www.CNN.com.</ref>
|-
|[[Halo Effect]]
|Tendency for positive impressions to contaminate other evaluations. In marketing, it may manifest itself in positive bias towards a certain product based on previous positive experiences with another product from the same brand. In psychology, the halo effect explains why people often assume individuals who are viewed as attractive to be also popular, successful, and happy.<ref>{{cite Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=IEncyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349443219_The_halo_effect |title=The Halo Effect |last1=Nicolau |first1=Juan |last2=Mellinas |first2=Juan |last3=Fuentes |first3=Eva |date=February 2021 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref>    
|}