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 …
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 …
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 …
The post hoc fallacy (from the Latin post hoc ergo propter hoc, meaning “after this, therefore because of this”) is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone assumes that because one event occurred after another, then the second event must have been caused by the first. For example, the post hoc fallacy occurs when someone …
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 …
Intentional learning is learning that occurs as a result of activities where learning is a deliberate—and often primary—goal for the learner. For example, someone who reads research articles in order to understand a scientific phenomenon is engaging in intentional learning. It can be beneficial to understand intentional learning, in order to better understand how …
Brooks’ law is the observation that “adding manpower to a late software project makes it later”. Applied broadly, this principle denotes that when it comes to various types of projects, adding more resources—especially more people—is often unhelpful and even counterproductive. Brooks’ law has important implications when it comes to personal and organizational productivity, so …
The projection bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the degree to which their future attributes (e.g., tastes and beliefs) will resemble their current ones. Essentially, this bias leads people to engage in flawed self-forecasting, by projecting their current attributes onto their future self, and thus underestimating how much their attributes …
Inert knowledge is information that a person knows but doesn’t fully understand, which means that they can only recognize, express, or use it in very limited ways. For example, a student has inert knowledge if they memorize a math formula and are able to repeat it, but they don’t understand what it means or …
The law of small numbers is the incorrect belief that small samples are likely to be highly representative of the populations from which they are drawn, similarly to large samples. For example, the law of small numbers could cause someone to assume that the way one person behaves necessarily represents the way everyone from …