What is Declinism Bias? Have you ever thought that things were better when your grandparents were kids? That’s Declinism Bias talking. It’s a way of thinking where we believe that the past was much better than the present, and we expect the future to be worse. This isn’t about facts; it’s a feeling. Imagine seeing an old, beautiful black-and-white movie and then thinking al... »
What Is Curse Of Knowledge? When you know something really well, it’s easy to forget what it was like not to know it. That’s the essence of what we call the “Curse of Knowledge.” In more detail, this is when someone who understands a subject very well has trouble thinking about it from the perspective of someone who is new to the topic. They might use words or ideas that ar... »
What is Cryptomnesia? Have you ever had an “aha!” moment where you thought of something you believed was brand new, but it turned out you had heard or seen it before? That’s cryptomnesia. It’s like your brain recycles an old idea and presents it to you as a fresh one. So, one simple definition of cryptomnesia is: A mix-up in your memory that makes you think an old idea is a... »
What is Conjunction Fallacy? The conjunction fallacy is a common mistake in reasoning. Imagine that you’re given information about two options. One option is very specific with lots of details, and the other is more general. Even if it makes more sense to choose the general option, the conjunction fallacy is when you think the detailed option is more likely to happen. This error comes from o... »
What is Congruence Bias? Imagine you have a favorite sports team, and you think they’re the best. Every time they win, you say, “See, I knew they were great!” But when they lose, you might blame the weather, the referees, or say the other team just got lucky. What’s happening here is a little thing called Congruence Bias. This is when people tend to notice and look for stuf... »
What is Confirmation Bias? Confirmation bias happens when we pay more attention to things that match our own ideas and beliefs and ignore things that don’t. Here’s a simple way to understand it: Think about someone who really likes the color red. If they’re choosing a new shirt, they’re more likely to notice and pick the red ones, even if there are shirts in other colors th... »
What is Clustering Illusion? Think of the clustering illusion as a trick your brain plays on you, making you believe there are patterns in places where there’s really just randomness. It’s like when you’re tossing a coin, and it lands on tails four times in a row. You might start thinking the next toss will be tails again because you see a pattern, but in truth, it’s all up... »
What is Bystander Effect? The Bystander Effect is a social phenomenon that occurs when individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The more people that are around, the less likely it is for any single person to step up and assist. Even though this might sound odd, it’s like being in school and wanting to see what other kids do before trying something... »
What is Blind Spot Bias? Blind Spot Bias is when a person can easily find faults in other people’s thinking but not in their own. Like when you’re driving and don’t notice a car hiding in that area your mirror can’t show—that’s the “blind spot.” Just like that missing spot for drivers, we all have blind spots in our thinking. We often think that we’r... »
What is the Ben Franklin Effect? The Ben Franklin Effect is kind of like a trick our brain plays on us. It happens when we do something nice for someone else and then end up liking them more because of it. Now, you might think it would be the other way around—that we would like people more if they did nice things for us. But it’s not quite that simple. The effect was named after Benjamin Fra... »