A deadline is a point in time by which something must be done. Deadlines can be implemented by and for various types of entities, such as individuals and companies, and in various types of domains, such as school and the workplace. Deadlines can be beneficial in various ways, so it’s worthwhile to understand how …
A false authority is someone whose supposed authority in a certain domain is substantially flawed, generally because their credentials or expertise are irrelevant, dubious, insufficient, or missing entirely. For example, an actor who promotes a medical product despite having no medical training can be considered a false authority, because they lack relevant credentials or …
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes people to fail to properly understand the perspective of those who do not have as much information as them. For example, the curse of knowledge can mean that an expert in some field might struggle to teach beginners, because the expert intuitively assumes that …
The value-action gap is a phenomenon where people act in a way that’s inconsistent with their values. Accordingly, the value-action gap occurs when people act in a way that contradicts or fails to support their values. For example, many people display a value-action gap when it comes to environmental issues, because even though they …
A nudge is a simple aspect of people’s decision-making environment that alters their behavior in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their incentives. For example, if a school wants to reduce the amount of soda that students drink, then placing water bottles instead of soda cans near the register in …
The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to think or act a certain way if they believe that others are doing the same. For example, the bandwagon effect can cause someone to adopt a certain political ideology, because they see that other people in their social circle have adopted the same …
The familiarity backfire effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember misinformation better, and to remember it as being true, after they’re shown corrective information that’s supposed to debunk it, as a result of the increased exposure to the misinformation. For example, if someone is shown evidence that disproves a certain health-related …
If you’re new to the site, this page contains a few recommended articles that you can start with. If you want to learn about mental performance: Confirmation bias Debiasing Self-distancing If you want to learn about logical fallacies: Introduction to fallacies Strawman arguments Ad-hominem attacks If you want to learn about social psychology: Egocentric bias …
The empathy gap is a cognitive bias that causes people to struggle to understand mental states that are different from their present state, or to struggle to consider how such states affect people’s judgment and decision-making. Essentially, the empathy gap means that when people are in a certain mental state (e.g. happy or angry), …
The argument from incredulity is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone concludes that since they can’t believe something is true, then it must be false, and vice versa. For example, someone using the argument from incredulity might claim that since they don’t see how a certain scientific theory could be true, then it …