Something might happen, possibly happen, or even be likely or probable to happen, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. When we assume something will inevitably happen because it could happen, we are engaging in the appeal to possibility or probability fallacy. Something being probable doesn’t prove it as a fact. However, this doesn’t prevent us from making decisions based […]
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The anecdotal fallacy is to use a particular personal or isolated example to attempt to prove a generalized universal conclusion. The anecdotal fallacy is also known as misleading vividness. What is most vivid in our environment and most available (availability heuristic) to us, is what is first used to draw conclusions. This vivid availability of information in our memory affects […]
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The bandwagon effect represents the phenomena of the increasing adoption of beliefs, ideas, fads, trends, fashions, styles, and behaviors as more people accept it. The more something becomes popularized by others, the more likely even more people will adopt it into their own lives. The term “bandwagon” is used because of the political success of one campaigner in 1848 American […]
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The backfire effect is the tendency to reject evidence, facts or information that goes against the beliefs we are attached to. Normally we tend to give ourselves and others more credit, that our perceptions of reality can change given more accurate or new information. But often that isn’t the case. Information we first absorb and use has an anchoring effect […]
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Automation bias is an over-reliance on automated aids and decision support systems. Trust and complacency develops. Erroneous automated information is favored even when accurate contradictory non-automated information is presented. A person becomes complacent of their own ability to discern reality because they rely too much on an automated system. Instead of being aware and vigilant to seek and process information, […]
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Anthropomorphism and personification is taking qualities, aspects, characteristics, properties and attributes of human consciousness (thoughts, emotions, intentions, behavior) or physical forms (body, face, eye), and applying them to non-human entities, real or imagined. Anthropomorphism is seen in recent and older children’s animated movies, children literature, comics, sci-fi, other fiction, and all the way back to ancient mythologies. Anthropomorphism has been […]
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The availability heuristic works like it sounds: whatever is most available is most easily used to make judgments and come to decisions. Judgments are based on memory recall. Recent information is imprinted on memory more vividly, and also primes us towards focusing on that information. The less something is vivid or available, the less likely it is to be used. […]
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Attentional bias is when we focus our attention on one specific thing. Cognitively, this is when we focus on one or two possible outcomes instead of seeing more options available. Physically it’s to focus our attention on a specific sensory stimulus. To focus on one thing at a time is useful. It prevent our brains from being bombarded with multiple […]
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Anchoring Someone tells you something. Someone else tells you something else. You rely on the first piece of information more than later pieces of information to form a conclusion. The first piece of information that is received into consciousness impacts us with greater weight, anchoring us like an anchor stabilizes a boat/ship. It fixates us into a position on a […]
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