What is Cognitive Bias?

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cognitive Bias

Cognitive bias is the mind’s built‑in tendency to think in certain predictable, skewed ways instead of purely logically. It is like using mental shortcuts that are fast and often helpful, but sometimes bend judgement away from the full facts.

A cognitive bias is a “thinking habit” that quietly tilts how a person notices information, remembers it, and decides what it means. For example, only looking for evidence that supports an existing opinion (and ignoring anything that doesn’t) is a common cognitive bias called Confirmation bias.

These biases affect everyone and often run automatically, without awareness. They can save time and effort in everyday life, but they can also lead to unfair judgements, bad decisions, and misunderstandings if they are not noticed and questioned.

Further Reading

https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-bias.html

https://www.scribbr.com/research-bias/cognitive-bias/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias

https://www.scribbr.co.uk/bias-in-research/cognitive-bias-explained/

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/cognitive-bias

https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/cognitive-bias

https://www.britannica.com/science/cognitive-bias

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10352116/

https://positivepsychology.com/cognitive-biases/

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/pb4p5/in_simple_terms_what_is_cognitive_bias_and_what/

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3183713.3196914

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/23/16908

https://direct.mit.edu/opmi/article/doi/10.1162/opmi_a_00112/118343/Prediction-Explanation-and-Control-The-Use-of

https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11370

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/64b5a96fc8686719a6fe79f3070835a17f8f2b8c

https://ualberta.scholaris.ca/handle/123456789/80470

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2390231.2390240

https://link.springer.com/10.3758/s13421-025-01814-w

https://www.nber.org/papers/w24978.pdf

https://www.scirp.org/journal/doi.aspx?doi=10.4236/jss.2022.103007

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01561/pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9364952/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6129743/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13546783.2015.1016450?needAccess=true&role=button

https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.15129

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10071311/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129835/pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3786658/