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Cognitive Ease

Human beings have evolved to take comfort in familiar environments. Familiar environments are easy to process. Common trees and animals, neighborhood, etc are easy to process. So people favor it.

But a stray tiger in the environment is unfamiliar, and therefore hard to process. The brain feels uncomfortable and springs to action.

Situations and Sources

Familiar situations are favored. If you see something that is false but was seen many times, it seems to be true.

Other sources of cognitive ease are:

  • What is familiar
  • What is easy
  • What validates preexisting beliefs

Arises from inclination towards Cognitive Ease.

Types of Cognitive Bias

  • Confirmation Bias - easy acceptance of information that validates what we already believe (preexisting beliefs) and rejection of what contrasts our belief
  • The Halo Effect - thinking that someone/something is completely good/bad makes us accept evidence that supports our belief and reject what doesn’t support them
  • Impact Bias - thinking that something will impact us in a specific way for a specific amount of time. We feel fairly confident, but actually the impact passes sooner.
  • Hindsight Bias - “I knew it all along” thinking.
  • Outcome Bias - judging a decision by the outcome instead of the “quality of the decision at the time it was made”
  • Hidden Bias - attitudes or stereotypes we have, both favorable and unfavorable, particularly about other people in regard to race, gender, age, etc.

Quotes

Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance. — Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

Last update : 16 octobre 2023
Created : 21 septembre 2023