Stuff You Should Know How Cognitive Biases Work
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Feb 10, 2026 They explore why our brains take shortcuts like heuristics and fast thinking. They cover classic effects such as anchoring, framing, availability, and the Stroop interference. Topics include predictably irrational marketing tricks, Dunning-Kruger overconfidence, gambler’s fallacy, and how biases affect medicine and forensics. They finish by discussing ways to reduce these mental errors and how AI can inherit them.
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Framing Alters Risk Perception
- Framing the same facts differently shifts emotional reactions and choices.
- Saying "90% survive" vs "10% die" yields opposite impressions from identical data.
Gorilla Video Reveals Inattentional Blindness
- The Selective Attention Test shows many viewers miss a person in a gorilla suit while counting passes.
- This demonstrates inattentional blindness: focused tasks filter out salient but irrelevant stimuli.
Knowledge Shapes Self-Assessment
- The Dunning–Kruger pattern: novices overestimate competence because they lack meta-knowledge.
- Experts may understate ease, recognizing complexity others miss.
