Action Bias: Preferring Action Over Inaction

  The action bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to favor action over inaction, without properly considering the outcomes that this will bring. For example, the action bias can drive someone to make unnecessary changes to their investment portfolio, even if it would be better for them to do nothing. The action bias …

Read more

The Platinum Rule: Treat Others the Way They Want to Be Treated

  The platinum rule is a moral principle which denotes that you should treat others the way they want to be treated. For example, the platinum rule denotes that if someone wants you to leave them alone, then you should do that. The platinum rule can be useful in many situations, but it’s important to …

Read more

Begging the Question (Petitio Principii): Fallacious Circular Reasoning

  Begging the question (also called petitio principii or circular reasoning) is a logical fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premise depends on or is equivalent to the argument’s conclusion. In other words, an argument begs the question if one or more of its premises assume that the argument’s conclusion is necessarily true. For example, …

Read more

Snuck Premise: How to Handle Fallacious Presuppositions

  A snuck premise is a controversial and unsupported assumption that someone includes in their argument as if it’s necessarily true. For example, if someone says “the problem with this immoral law is that it will have negative consequences”, the premise that the law is immoral can be considered snuck, if it’s controversial and unsupported …

Read more

The von Restorff Isolation Effect: What Stands Out Is Remembered Better

  The von Restorff isolation effect (sometimes called the von Restorff effect or the isolation effect) is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember things better when they stand out from other things that they’re next to. For example, the von Restorff isolation effect means that people who are shown a color photo in …

Read more

Ingroups and Outgroups: How Social Identity Influences People

  An ingroup is a social group that a person identifies as being a part of, based on factors like nationality, race, religion, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation. An outgroup is a social group that a person does not identify with, based on similar factors as would cause that person to identify with an ingroup …

Read more

Brandolini’s Law: The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle

  Brandolini’s law (also called the bullshit asymmetry principle), is the adage that “the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it”. This denotes that it’s generally much easier to say something without concern for things such as the truth, evidence, or logic, than it is …

Read more

Incidental Learning: Learning Without Trying to Learn

  Incidental learning is learning that occurs unintentionally, from activities where learning is not a conscious goal for the learner. For example, when someone plays a sport just for fun, but ends up improving their skills over time, they’re engaging in incidental learning. Incidental learning can be beneficial in various contexts, so it’s important to …

Read more