The false-consensus effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood that others think and act in the same way that they do. For example, the false consensus effect could cause extremists to assume that their views are shared by a large portion of the population, in situations where that’s not …
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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 …
Read moreThe Curse of Knowledge: What It Is and How to Account for It
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 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
The familiarity backfire effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember a myth as true, after they are shown information which is meant to prove that it’s false. Since the familiarity backfire effect plays a crucial role in how people respond to refutations of pseudoscientific theories and conspiracies, it’s important to understand …
Read moreThe Familiarity Backfire Effect: Why Debunking a Myth Can Make People Believe It
The empathy gap is a cognitive bias that makes it difficult for people to account for the manner in which differences in mental states affect the way that they and other people make decisions. For example, when it comes to misjudging your own perspective, when a person who is dieting feels full, they struggle …
Read moreThe Empathy Gap: Why People Fail to Understand Different Perspectives
Flirting is a key part of many social interactions. At the same time however, flirting is also a behavior that few people truly understand. Fortunately, psychologists have conducted quite a bit of research on the topic of flirting. In the following article, you will learn about the different styles of flirting, including the verbal …
The Benjamin Franklin effect is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to like someone more after they do that person a favor. For example, the Ben Franklin effect could cause someone to start liking a person that they previously hated, if they do that person a small favor, such as loan them a book. …
Read moreThe Benjamin Franklin Effect: How to Build Rapport by Asking for Favors
The overkill backfire effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to reject arguments that they think are too complex, in favor of arguments that are easy for them to understand. For example, the overkill effect could cause someone to reject a complex scientific explanation for a certain phenomenon, because a certain myth that …
Read moreThe Overkill Backfire Effect: on the Danger of Presenting Too Much Evidence