The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes people to fail to account for the fact that others don’t know the same things that they do. This bias is most commonly associated with the domain of teaching, where it occurs primarily when experts in a certain field struggle to teach beginners, because …
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Strategic dominance is a state in game theory which occurs when one strategy that a player can use leads to better outcomes for them than all the other possible strategies that they can use, regardless of which strategies their opponents use. Accordingly, a strategy is a dominant strategy if choosing it leads a player to …
Read moreDominant and Dominated Strategies: What They Are and Why They’re Important
The value-action gap is a psychological phenomenon where people act in a manner that is inconsistent with their values. For example, a prevalent value-action gap exists between the way people feel about environmental issues and the way they act when given a chance to address those issues. Specifically, while most people say that they …
Read moreThe Value-Action Gap: Why People Fail to Follow Through on Commitments
The burden of proof is the obligation to provide sufficient supporting evidence for any arguments that you make. Accordingly, the burden of proof fallacy occurs when someone claims that they don’t have a burden of proof with regards to their own arguments, or when someone attempts to shift their own burden of proof to someone …
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Sturgeon’s law is the adage that “ninety percent of everything is crap”. This represents the belief that in general, most of the work which is produced in any given field is of low quality. This principle is a beneficial rule of thumb, since keeping it in mind can help improve the way in which you …
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A nudge is a modification that is made to an environment in order to alter people’s behavior in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or changing their incentives on a significant level. For example, if a school has the goal of reducing the amount of soda that students drink, then placing water bottles …
Read moreNudge: How Small Manipulations Can Make a Big Difference
The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to do things simply because they believe that others are doing the same. This form of thinking can affect various types of decisions that people make, including how they dress, which political candidate they vote for, and what ideologies they adopt. Because the bandwagon …
Read moreThe Bandwagon Effect: Why People Tend to Follow the Crowd
The fallacy fallacy is a logical fallacy which occurs when someone assumes that if an argument contains a logical fallacy, then its conclusion must necessarily be wrong. For example, consider a situation where someone claims that a certain medical treatment is preferable to an alternative simply because it’s perceived as more “natural”, and someone …
Read moreThe Fallacy Fallacy: Why Fallacious Arguments Aren’t Necessarily Wrong
The interleaving effect is a psychological phenomenon which enables people to learn new material better when they mix together different topics as they study. Interleaving is therefore highly beneficial, and can facilitate learning in various domains, including in history, math, music, and sports. In the following article, you will learn more about interleaving, see the various …
Read moreInterleaving: How Mixed Practice Can Boost Your Learning
The egocentric bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to rely too heavily on their own point of view when they examine events in their life or when they try to see things from other people’s perspective. For example, if you do something embarrassing, the egocentric bias might cause you to overestimate the …
Read moreThe Egocentric Bias: Why It’s Hard to See Things from a Different Perspective