1. Too much information - We don’t see everything. Some of the information we filter out is actually useful and important.
1.1. We notice things that are already primed in memory or repeated often.
1.1.1. Availability heuristic
1.1.2. Attentional bias
1.1.3. Illusory truth effect
1.1.4. Mere exposure effect
1.1.5. Context effect
1.1.6. Cue-dependent forgetting
1.1.7. Mood-congruent memory bias
1.1.8. Frequency illusion
1.1.9. Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
1.1.10. Empathy gap
1.1.11. Omission bias
1.1.12. Base rate fallacy
1.2. Bizarre/funny/visually-striking/anthropomorphic things stick out more than non-bizarre/unfunny things
1.2.1. Bizarreness effect
1.2.2. Humor effect
1.2.3. Von Restorff effect
1.2.4. Picture superiority effect
1.2.5. Self-relevance effect
1.2.6. Negativity bias
1.3. We notice when something has changed.
1.3.1. Anchoring
1.3.2. Contrast effect
1.3.3. Focusing effect
1.3.4. Money illusion
1.3.5. Framing effect
1.3.6. Weber–Fechner law
1.3.7. Conservatism
1.3.8. Distinction bias
1.4. We are drawn to details that confirm our own existing beliefs.
1.4.1. Confirmation bias
1.4.2. Congruence bias
1.4.3. Post-purchase rationalization
1.4.4. Choice-supportive bias
1.4.5. Selective perception
1.4.6. Observer-expectancy effect
1.4.7. Experimenter’s bias
1.4.8. Observer effect
1.4.9. Expectation bias
1.4.10. Ostrich effect
1.4.11. Subjective validation
1.4.12. Continued influence effect
1.4.13. Semmelweis reflex
1.5. We notice flaws in others more easily than flaws in ourselves.
1.5.1. Bias blind spot
1.5.2. Naïve cynicism
1.5.3. Naïve realism
2. Not enough meaning - Our search for meaning can conjure illusions. We sometimes imagine details that were filled in by our assumptions, and construct meaning and stories that aren’t really there..
2.1. We find stories and patterns even in sparse data.
2.1.1. Confabulation
2.1.2. Clustering illusion
2.1.3. Insensitivity to sample size
2.1.4. Neglect of probability
2.1.5. Anecdotal fallacy
2.1.6. Illusion of validity
2.1.7. Masked man fallacy
2.1.8. Recency illusion
2.1.9. Gambler’s fallacy
2.1.10. Hot-hand fallacy
2.1.11. Illusory correlation
2.1.12. Pareidolia
2.1.13. Anthropomorphism
2.2. We fill in characteristics from stereotypes, generalities, and prior histories whenever there are new specific instances or gaps in information.
2.2.1. Group attribution error
2.2.2. Ultimate attribution error
2.2.3. Stereotyping
2.2.4. Essentialism
2.2.5. Functional fixedness
2.2.6. Moral credential effect
2.2.7. Just-world hypothesis
2.2.8. Argument from fallacy
2.2.9. Authority bias
2.2.10. Automation bias
2.2.11. Bandwagon effect
2.2.12. Placebo effect
2.3. We imagine things and people we’re familiar with or fond of as better than things and people we aren’t familiar with or fond of.
2.3.1. Halo effect
2.3.2. In-group bias
2.3.3. Out-group homogeneity bias
2.3.4. Cross-race effect
2.3.5. Cheerleader effect
2.3.6. Well-traveled road effect
2.3.7. Not invented here
2.3.8. Reactive devaluation
2.3.9. Positivity effect
2.4. We simplify probabilities and numbers to make them easier to think about.
2.4.1. Mental accounting
2.4.2. Normalcy bias
2.4.3. Appeal to probability fallacy
2.4.4. Murphy’s Law
2.4.5. Subadditivity effect
2.4.6. Survivorship bias
2.4.7. Zero sum bias
2.4.8. Denomination effect
2.4.9. Magic number 7+/-2
2.5. We think we know what others are thinking.
2.5.1. Curse of knowledge
2.5.2. Illusion of transparency
2.5.3. Spotlight effect
2.5.4. Illusion of external agency
2.5.5. Illusion of asymmetric insight
2.5.6. Extrinsic incentive error
2.6. We project our current mindset and assumptions onto the past and future.
2.6.1. Hindsight bias
2.6.2. Outcome bias
2.6.3. Moral luck
2.6.4. Declinism
2.6.5. Telescoping effect
2.6.6. Rosy retrospection
2.6.7. Impact bias
2.6.8. Pessimism bias
2.6.9. Planning fallacy
2.6.10. Time-saving bias
2.6.11. Pro-innovation bias
2.6.12. Projection bias
2.6.13. Restraint bias
2.6.14. Self-consistency bias
3. Need to act fast - Quick decisions can be seriously flawed. Some of the quick reactions and decisions we jump to are unfair, self-serving, and counter-productive.
3.1. In order to act, we need to be confident in our ability to make an impact and to feel like what we do is important.
3.1.1. Overconfidence effect
3.1.2. Egocentric bias
3.1.3. Optimism bias
3.1.4. Social desirability bias
3.1.5. Third-person effect
3.1.6. Forer effect
3.1.7. Barnum effect
3.1.8. Illusion of control
3.1.9. False consensus effect
3.1.10. Dunning-Kruger effect
3.1.11. Hard-easy effect
3.1.12. Illusory superiority
3.1.13. Lake Wobegone effect
3.1.14. Self-serving bias
3.1.15. Actor-observer bias
3.1.16. Fundamental attribution error
3.1.17. Defensive attribution hypothesis
3.1.18. Trait ascription bias
3.1.19. Effort justification
3.1.20. Risk compensation
3.1.21. Peltzman effect
3.2. In order to stay focused, we favor the immediate, relatable thing in front of us over the delayed and distant.
3.2.1. Hyperbolic discounting
3.2.2. Appeal to novelty
3.2.3. Identifiable victim effect
3.3. In order to get anything done, we’re motivated to complete things that we’ve already invested time and energy in.
3.3.1. Sunk cost fallacy
3.3.2. Irrational escalation
3.3.3. Escalation of commitment
3.3.4. Loss aversion
3.3.5. IKEA effect
3.3.6. Processing difficulty effect
3.3.7. Generation effect
3.3.8. Zero-risk bias
3.3.9. Disposition effect
3.3.10. Unit bias
3.3.11. Pseudocertainty effect
3.3.12. Endowment effect
3.3.13. Backfire effect
3.4. In order to avoid mistakes, we’re motivated to preserve our autonomy and status in a group, and to avoid irreversible decisions.
3.4.1. System justification
3.4.2. Reactance
3.4.3. Reverse psychology
3.4.4. Decoy effect
3.4.5. Social comparison bias
3.4.6. Status quo bias
3.5. We favor options that appear simple or that have more complete information over more complex, ambiguous options.
3.5.1. Ambiguity bias
3.5.2. Information bias
3.5.3. Belief bias
3.5.4. Rhyme as reason effect
3.5.5. Bike-shedding effect
3.5.6. Law of Triviality
3.5.7. Delmore effect
3.5.8. Conjunction fallacy
3.5.9. Occam’s razor
3.5.10. Less-is-better effect
4. What should we remember? Our memory reinforces errors. Some of the stuff we remember for later just makes all of the above systems more biased, and more damaging to our thought processes.
4.1. We edit and reinforce some memories after the fact.
4.1.1. Misattribution of memory
4.1.2. Source confusion
4.1.3. Cryptomnesia
4.1.4. False memory
4.1.5. Suggestibility
4.1.6. Spacing effect
4.2. We discard specifics to form generalities.
4.2.1. Implicit associations
4.2.2. Implicit stereotypes
4.2.3. Stereotypical bias
4.2.4. Prejudice
4.2.5. Negativity bias
4.2.6. Fading affect bias
4.3. We reduce events and lists to their key elements.
4.3.1. Peak–end rule
4.3.2. Leveling and sharpening
4.3.3. Misinformation effect
4.3.4. Duration neglect
4.3.5. Serial recall effect
4.3.6. List-length effect
4.3.7. Modality effect
4.3.8. Memory inhibition
4.3.9. Part-list cueing effect
4.3.10. Primacy effect
4.3.11. Recency effect
4.3.12. Serial position effect
4.3.13. Suffix effect
4.4. We store memories differently based on how they were experienced.
4.4.1. Levels of processing effect
4.4.2. Testing effect
4.4.3. Absent-mindedness
4.4.4. Next-in-line effect
4.4.5. Tip of the tongue phenomenon
4.4.6. Google effect