Misc

50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World

Published

2 years ago

February 1, 2020

Marcus Lu

50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World

Cognitive biases are widely accepted as something that makes us human.

Every day, systematic errors in our thought process impact the way we live and work. But in a world where everything we do is changing rapidly—from the way we store information to the way we watch TV—what really classifies as rational thinking?

It’s a question with no right or wrong answer, but to help us decide for ourselves, today’s infographic from TitleMax lists 50 cognitive biases that we may want to become privy to.

In the name of self-awareness, here’s a closer look at three recently discovered biases that we are most prone to exhibiting in the modern world.

Automation Bias

AI-infused applications are becoming incredibly good at “personalizing” our content, but will there come a time when we let algorithms make all of our decisions?

Automation bias refers to the tendency to favor the suggestions of automated systems.

Take Netflix, for example. Everything we see on the platform is the result of algorithms—even the preview images that are generated. Then, to harness the power of data and machine learning, Netflix categorizes its content into tens of thousands of micro-genres. Pairing these genre tags with a viewer’s history allows them to assign several of over 2,000 “taste profiles” to each user.

And while there’s nothing wrong with allowing Netflix to guide what we watch, there’s an enormous sea of content standing by. Estimates from 2015 claimed it would take nearly four years to watch all of Netflix’s content. Thousands more hours of content have since been added.

If we want to counter this cognitive bias, finding a new favorite series on platforms like Netflix may require some good old-fashioned human curiosity.

The Google Effect

Also known as “digital amnesia”, the aptly named Google Effect describes our tendency to forget information that can be easily accessed online.

First described in 2011 by Betsy Sparrow (Columbia University) and her colleagues, their paper described the results of several memory experiments involving technology.

In one experiment, participants typed trivia statements into a computer and were later asked to recall them. Half believed the statements were saved, and half believed the statements were erased. The results were significant: participants who assumed they could look up their statements did not make much effort to remember them.

Because search engines are continually available to us, we may often be in a state of not feeling we need to encode the information internally. When we need it, we will look it up.

– Sparrow B, et al. Science 333, 777 (2011)

Our modern brains appear to be re-prioritizing the information we hold onto. Notably, the study doesn’t suggest we’re becoming less intelligent—our ability to learn offline remains the same.

The IKEA Effect

Identified in 2011 by Michael Norton (Harvard Business School) and his colleagues, this cognitive bias refers to our tendency to attach a higher value to things we help create.

Combining the Ikea Effect with other related traits, such as our willingness to pay a premium for customization, is a strategy employed by companies seeking to increase the intrinsic value that we attach to their products.

For instance, American retailer Build-A-Bear Workshop is anchored around creating a highly interactive customer experience. With the help of staff, children (or adults) can assemble their stuffed animals from scratch, then add clothing and accessories at extra cost.

Nike also incorporates this bias into its offering. The footwear company offers a Nike By You line of customizable products, where customers pay a premium to design bespoke shoes with an extensive online configurator.

While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with our susceptibility to the Ikea Effect, understanding its significance may help us make more appropriate decisions as consumers.

What Can We Do?

As we navigate an increasingly complex world, it’s natural for us to unconsciously adopt new patterns of behavior.

Becoming aware of our cognitive biases, and their implications, can help us stay on the right course.

Related Topics:cognitive biases ikea effect google effect digital amnesia automation bias

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Misc

Which Countries Have the Most Similar Values?

Where you’re from greatly influencers how you view the world. Here’s a look at the core values in 94 different countries.

Published

2 days ago

November 26, 2021

Carmen Ang

Creator Program

Which Countries Value the Same Things?

Our culture can have significant impacts on our belief systems and our values.

In fact, research has shown that our cultural influences can rewire our brains, which can impact our visual perceptions and how we view the world around us.

Because of this, where we’re from can greatly influence what we prioritize in life. This graphic by Anders Sundell illustrates the primary values of 94 different countries, and highlights which places share similar values.

Methodology

Sundell used data from the World Values Survey, an international survey that interviews hundreds of thousands of participants from across the globe.

For the purposes of this graphic, Sundell focused on one specific section of the survey that asked respondents to rate various aspects of their life on a scale of one (very important) to four (not important at all). Six aspects were included: family, friends, leisure time, politics, work, and religion.

From there, Sundell calculated the median score for each country and identified their primary value, then grouped them based on their similarities. On this netgraph, each country is connected to three other countries that share the most similar values.

Generally speaking, countries that prioritize friends and leisure are concentrated on the far left of the graphic, whereas countries that value religion and work fall more to the right.

Each Country’s Primary Values

Interestingly, family came first for all 94 countries—except Indonesia, where religion was considered most important.

Because of this, Sundell identified each country’s primary value besides family, which was much more diverse across the board:

Abbr.	Country	Continent	Primary Value (Exc. Family)
AL	🇦🇱 Albania	Europe	Work
AD	🇦🇩 Andorra	Europe	Leisure
AR	🇦🇷 Argentina	South America	Work
AM	🇦🇲 Armenia	Asia	Work
AU	🇦🇺 Australia	Oceania	Friends
AT	🇦🇹 Austria	Europe	Friends
AZ	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	Asia	Work
BD	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Asia	Religion
BY	🇧🇾 Belarus	Europe	Work
BO	🇧🇴 Bolivia	South America	Work
BA	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	Work
BR	🇧🇷 Brazil	South America	Work
BG	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Europe	Work
CA	🇨🇦 Canada	North America	Leisure
CL	🇨🇱 Chile	South America	Leisure
CN	🇨🇳 China	Asia	Work
CO	🇨🇴 Colombia	South America	Work
HR	🇭🇷 Croatia	Europe	Work
CY	🇨🇾 Cyprus	Europe	Friends
CZ	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	Europe	Friends
DK	🇩🇰 Denmark	Europe	Friends
EC	🇪🇨 Ecuador	South America	Work
EG	🇪🇬 Egypt	Africa	Religion
EE	🇪🇪 Estonia	Europe	Friends
ET	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	Africa	Religion
FI	🇫🇮 Finland	Europe	Leisure
FR	🇫🇷 France	Europe	Work
GE	🇬🇪 Georgia	Asia	Work
DE	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe	Friends
GH	🇬🇭 Ghana	Africa	Work
GR	🇬🇷 Greece	Europe	Work
GT	🇬🇹 Guatemala	North America	Work
HT	🇭🇹 Haiti	North America	Work
HK	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia	Friends
HU	🇭🇺 Hungary	Europe	Friends
IS	🇮🇸 Iceland	Europe	Friends
IN	🇮🇳 India	Asia	Work
ID	🇮🇩 Indonesia	Asia	Religion
IR	🇮🇷 Iran	Asia	Work
IQ	🇮🇶 Iraq	Asia	Religion
IT	🇮🇹 Italy	Europe	Work
JP	🇯🇵 Japan	Asia	Leisure
JO	🇯🇴 Jordan	Asia	Religion
KZ	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	Asia	Work
KW	🇰🇼 Kuwait	Asia	Religion
KG	🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	Asia	Friends
LB	🇱🇧 Lebanon	Asia	Work
LY	🇱🇾 Libya	Africa	Religion
LT	🇱🇹 Lithuania	Europe	Work
MO	🇲🇴 Macao	Asia	Friends
MY	🇲🇾 Malaysia	Asia	Religion
MX	🇲🇽 Mexico	North America	Work
ME	🇲🇪 Montenegro	Europe	Work
MA	🇲🇦 Morocco	Africa	Religion
MM	🇲🇲 Myanmar	Asia	Religion
NL	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe	Friends
NZ	🇳🇿 New Zealand	Oceania	Friends
NI	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	North America	Work
NG	🇳🇬 Nigeria	Africa	Religion
MK	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	Europe	Work
NO	🇳🇴 Norway	Europe	Friends
PK	🇵🇰 Pakistan	Europe	Religion
PE	🇵🇪 Peru	South America	Work
PH	🇵🇭 Philippines	Asia	Work
PL	🇵🇱 Poland	Europe	Work
PT	🇵🇹 Portugal	Europe	Work
PR	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	North America	Work
QA	🇶🇦 Qatar	Asia	Religion
RO	🇷🇴 Romania	Europe	Work
RU	🇷🇺 Russia	Asia	Friends
RW	🇷🇼 Rwanda	Africa	Friends
RS	🇷🇸 Serbia	Europe	Friends
SG	🇸🇬 Singapore	Asia	Friends
SK	🇸🇰 Slovakia	Europe	Work
SI	🇸🇮 Slovenia	Europe	Work
ZA	🇿🇦 South Africa	Africa	Work
KR	🇰🇷 South Korea	Asia	Friends
ES	🇪🇸 Spain	Europe	Work
SE	🇸🇪 Sweden	Europe	Friends
CH	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Europe	Friends
TW	🇹🇼 Taiwan	Asia	Work
TJ	🇹🇯 Tajikistan	Asia	Religion
TH	🇹🇭 Thailand	Asia	Work
TT	🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago	South America	Religion
TN	🇹🇳 Tunisia	Africa	Religion
TR	🇹🇷 Turkey	Asia	Friends
UA	🇺🇦 Ukraine	Europe	Work
GB	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Europe	Friends
US	🇺🇸 United States	North America	Friends
UY	🇺🇾 Uruguay	South America	Work
UZ	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	Asia	Work
VN	🇻🇳 Vietnam	Asia	Work
YE	🇾🇪 Yemen	Asia	Religion
ZW	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	Africa	Work

After family, work was the most valued, with 46 different countries identifying it as their second-highest priority. Friends came second, followed by religion, and then lastly, leisure.

Work

Almost half of the countries on the list perceive work as the most important aspect of their lives, apart from family.

South American countries, in particular, put an emphasis on work, with seven of nine South American countries valuing work over friends and politics. The only outliers on the continent were Chile (leisure), and Trinidad and Tobago (religion).

Friends

Friends were identified as a top priority in 25 of the 94 countries on the list. Europe in particular valued friendship, especially in Norway and Sweden.

While these Nordic countries prioritize their existing friendships, research shows that they aren’t generally keen on making new ones. A global survey found that expats in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark found it extremely difficult to make new friends.

Religion

18 of the 94 countries ranked religion as a top value.

These countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, are predominantly Islamic except for a few. For instance, in Trinidad and Tobago, the largest religious group is Christianity.

Leisure

Only five countries on the list ranked leisure as a top priority—Japan, Canada, Andorra, Chile, and Finland. Finland takes leisure seriously. Its capital, Helsinki, was recognized as the number one city in the world for work-life balance. And Canada’s capital, Ottawa, ranked sixth on the ranking.

Misc

24 Cognitive Biases That Are Warping Your Perception of Reality

The world isn’t as it seems—here are some of the most important cognitive biases that are messing with how you think the world works, and why.

Published

4 days ago

November 24, 2021

Jeff Desjardins

We are each entitled to our own personal world view.

But unfortunately, when it comes to interpreting information and trying to make objective sense of reality, human brains are hard-wired to make all kinds of mental mistakes that can impact our ability to make rational judgments.

In total, there are over 180 cognitive biases that interfere with how we process data, think critically, and perceive reality.

Flawed Human Reasoning

There is no simple way to get around these basic human instincts, but one thing that we can do is understand the specific mistakes we make and why.

Today’s infographic comes to us from School of Thought, a non-profit dedicated to spreading critical thinking. The graphic describes 24 of the key biases that warp our sense of reality, providing useful examples along the way.

24 Cognitive Biases That Are Warping Your Perception of Reality

At the beginning of the infographic, you may have noticed illustrations of two gentlemen.

In case you were wondering, those happen to represent Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two of the leading social scientists known for their contributions to this field. Not only did they pioneer work around cognitive biases starting in the late 1960s, but their partnership also resulted in a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.

Biases Distorting Reality

Here are some of the biases we found most interesting from the list:

Declinism:
You remember the past as better than it was, and expect the future to be worse than it is likely to be. This is an interesting one, since statistically this is one of the most peaceful and prosperous times in history—yet the 24-hour news cycle rarely reflects this. (For a good example how the world is improving, see these six charts)

Just World Hypothesis:
Your preference for a just world makes you presume that it exists. Of course, it’s much more uncomfortable to think that the world is unfair, but by understanding this you will make more accurate judgments about people and situations.

Belief Bias
If a conclusion supports your existing beliefs, you’ll rationalize anything that supports it. In other words, instead of willingly looking at new information, we are primed to defend our own ideas without actually questioning them.

Framing Effect:
Context and delivery can have a big impact on how a story is interpreted. We must have the humility to recognize that we can be manipulated, and work to limit the effect that framing has on our critical thinking.

The Curse of Knowledge
Ever try to explain something you know intricately and have worked on for many years? It’s hard, because you’ve internalized everything you’ve learned, and now you forget how to explain it. This bias is similar—you know something inside and out, and what is obvious to you is not to others.

Reactance:
Sometimes we all get the urge to do the opposite of what we’re told. Nobody likes being constrained. The only problem is that when we’re in this situation, there is a tendency to overreact and to throw any logic out of the window.

Spotlight Effect:
Because we each live inside our own heads, our natural focus is on what we’re thinking and doing. We project this onto others, and we overestimate how much they notice about how we look or how we act.

Want to see more on cognitive biases? Here are 188 of them in one infographic.