What is a cognitive bias?

A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from rationality in judgment, where individuals create a subjective reality from their perceptions rather than objective input. While they can sometimes lead to perceptual distortion and illogical interpretations, certain biases are adaptive and enable faster decisions when timeliness outweighs accuracy. Over six decades of research in cognitive science, social psychology, and behavioral economics have identified a continuously evolving list of these mental patterns.

What we know

• A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from the norm or rationality in judgment resulting from a subjective perception of reality. [1, 2, 3]
• Some cognitive biases are adaptive, leading to more effective actions or allowing faster decisions when timeliness is more valuable than accuracy. [2]
• Cognitive biases can stem from mental shortcuts called heuristics, information processing limitations, or motivational factors like wishful thinking. [2, 3]
• Studies have observed certain cognitive biases, such as loss aversion and hyperbolic discounting, in non-human animals as well as humans. [3] · medium confidence

Still open

• There are controversies over whether some cognitive biases count as useless and irrational or whether they result in useful attitudes and behaviors.

Where to go next

• a case in pointHow does memory bias alter recall?
• what followedWhy do people think they are less biased than others?
• how it workedHow do mental shortcuts produce judgments?
• compared withWhat happens when people hold conflicting beliefs?
• the bigger pictureHow does psychological research study judgment?
• an unexpected connectionDo animals experience cognitive biases too?Although psychological research into cognitive biases overwhelmingly focuses on humans, studies have demonstrated loss aversion in monkeys and hyperbolic discounting in rats and pigeons.

Sources

• [1]cognitive bias (Wikidata Q1127759) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Cognitive bias · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]List of cognitive biases · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Cognitive dissonance · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Bias blind spot · CC BY-SA 4.0