Coalition For Truth

List of cognitive biases conducive to misinformation

1. Confirmation Bias: Favoring information that confirms existing beliefs.
2. Anchoring Bias / Anchoring and Adjustment: Relying too heavily on the first piece of information and insufficiently adjusting from it.
3. Availability Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind.
4. Hindsight Bias: Seeing events as predictable after they occur.
5. Self-Serving Bias: Attributing success to oneself and failures to external causes.
6. Dunning-Kruger Effect: Overestimating ability due to lack of competence.
7. Fundamental Attribution Error: Blaming others’ actions on personality rather than situation.
8. Sunk Cost Fallacy: Continuing something due to invested resources.
9. Optimism Bias: Believing bad events are less likely for oneself.
10. Negativity Bias / Negativity Effect: Giving more weight to negative information.
11. Bandwagon Effect: Adopting beliefs because many others do.
12. Status Quo Bias: Preferring things to remain the same.
13. Halo Effect: One good trait shapes overall impression.
14. Horns Effect: One bad trait shapes overall negative impression.
15. In-Group Bias: Favoring one’s own group.
16. Out-Group Homogeneity Bias: Seeing members of other groups as more similar than they are.
17. Just-World Hypothesis / Just-World Bias: Believing people get what they deserve.
18. Actor-Observer Bias / Actor-Observer Asymmetry: Explaining one’s own actions by situation, others’ by character.
19. False Consensus Effect: Overestimating how much others agree with oneself.
20. Reactance / Reactance Bias: Doing the opposite when feeling restricted.
21. Illusory Correlation: Seeing relationships where none exist.
22. Gambler’s Fallacy: Believing past random events affect future ones.
23. Planning Fallacy: Underestimating time or effort needed for tasks.
24. Curse of Knowledge: Difficulty imagining not knowing something.
25. Neglect of Probability: Ignoring actual probability in decision-making.
26. Base Rate Fallacy / Base Rate Neglect: Ignoring statistical base rates.
27. Framing Effect: Being influenced by how information is presented.
28. Survivorship Bias: Focusing on winners and ignoring failures.
29. Illusion of Control: Overestimating control over events.
30. Authority Bias: Overvaluing the opinions of authority figures.
31. False Memory: Misremembering or recalling events inaccurately.
32. Hyperbolic Discounting: Preferring smaller immediate rewards to larger delayed ones.
33. Inattentional Blindness: Missing unexpected stimuli while focusing elsewhere.
34. Spotlight Effect: Overestimating how much others notice you.
35. Illusory Superiority: Overestimating one’s own qualities.
36. Affect Heuristic: Decisions based on emotions rather than facts.
37. Ostrich Effect: Ignoring negative information.
38. Semmelweis Reflex: Rejecting evidence that contradicts existing beliefs.
39. Belief Bias: Judging arguments based on whether the conclusion seems believable.
40. Clustering Illusion: Seeing patterns in randomness.
41. Groupthink: Preferring group harmony over critical analysis.
42. Spotlight Fallacy: Believing others are focused on us more than they are.
43. Egocentric Bias: Overemphasizing one’s own role in events.
44. False Uniqueness Effect: Believing one’s abilities are more unique than they are.
45. Pessimism Bias: Expecting worse outcomes than warranted.
46. Illusion of Transparency: Overestimating how much others know your thoughts/feelings.
47. Outcome Bias: Judging decisions by results instead of the process.
48. Projection Bias: Assuming others share one’s beliefs or feelings.
49. Zeigarnik Effect: Remembering uncompleted tasks better than completed ones.
50. Information Bias: Seeking unnecessary information.
51. Normalcy Bias: Believing things will continue as they always have.
52. Choice-Supportive Bias: Remembering one’s previous choices as better than they were.
53. Blind Spot Bias: Not recognizing one’s own biases.
54. Barnum Effect: Accepting vague statements as personally meaningful.
55. Salience Bias: Focusing on the most noticeable information.
56. Overconfidence Bias: Being more confident than accurate.
57. Endowment Effect: Valuing things more simply because one owns them.
58. Choice Paralysis: Inability to choose when faced with too many options.
59. Illusory Truth Effect: Believing repeated statements as true.
60. Availability Cascade: Repeated public discussion increases belief in an idea.
61. Representativeness Heuristic: Judging based on resemblance to a typical case.
62. Herd Behavior: Following the group without independent thought.
63. Curse of Expertise: Difficulty explaining concepts due to assumed knowledge.
64. Peak-End Rule: Judging experiences by their peak and final moments.
65. Escalation of Commitment: Continuing a failing endeavor due to prior investment.
66. Cognitive Dissonance: Changing beliefs to reduce mental conflict.
67. Naïve Realism: Believing one’s view is objective reality.
68. Conservatism Bias: Slow to update beliefs despite new evidence.
69. Placebo Effect: Experiencing results due to belief rather than cause.
70. Overjustification Effect: Losing intrinsic motivation when external rewards appear.
71. Cognitive Bias Blind Spot: Seeing biases in others but not in oneself (variant of blind spot).
72. Choice Overload: Variant of choice paralysis—too many options overwhelm decision-making.
73. Illusion of Validity: Overestimating accuracy of judgments despite poor evidence.
74. Naïve Cynicism: Believing others are more biased than oneself.