Cognitive Bias

Misinformation effect: Memories of an event can become affected or influenced by information you received after the event occurred. Researchers have proven that memory is inaccurate because it is vulnerable to revision when you receive new information.

Actor-observer bias: You attribute your actions to external influences and other people's actions to internal ones.

False consensus effect: Assuming more people agree with your opinions and share your values than actually do. This happens because you tend to spend most of your time with family and friends, who share beliefs similar to yours.

Availability bias occurs when you believe the information you possess is more important than it actually is. This happens when you watch or listen to media sources that tend to run dramatic stories without sharing any balancing statistics on how rare such events may be.

Bandwagon effect, also known as herd mentality or groupthink: Te propensity to accept beliefs or values because many other people hold them as well. This is a conformity bias as most people desire acceptance, fearing rejection if they hold opposing beliefs. People assume an opinion is correct because many others agree with it.

Authority bias is when you accept the opinion of an authority figure because you believe they know more than you. You might assume that they have already thought through an issue and made the right conclusion. And, because they are an authority in their field, you grant more credibility to their viewpoint than you would for anyone else.

Negativity bias: Paying more attention to bad news than good. This is a natural bias that dates back to prehistoric days when noticing threats, risks, and other lethal dangers could save your life. In today’s civilized world, this bias is not as necessary.

Illusion of control is the belief that you have more control over a situation than you actually do.

Exposing yourself to new information and different viewpoints helps open up new neural pathways in your brain.

Understanding these bias and being alert for them will help improve critical thinking.

Communicate better to understand the source of the information