Shelf 03.1
Decisions pillar · HiPerformance Culture
Cognitive Biases & Heuristics
Skilled judgement fails in patterned ways, not random ones, and those patterns can be studied and corrected.
The holdings here trace how shortcuts such as anchoring, confirmation bias and the sunk cost fallacy distort decisions when the stakes are high. Each entry grades the claim against the underlying research and flags where popular accounts overstate what the evidence supports.
newest 24 Jul 2026
Most read here · Deep dive
The Framing Effect: How Identical Information Changes Your Decisions →
Editor's Pick · Cognitive Biases & Heuristics
The Availability Heuristic: Why Vivid Events Feel More Likely Than They Are
The availability heuristic makes vivid events feel common. Explore the science, evidence hierarchy, and debiasing protocols behind this cognitive bias.
Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
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Reading order
Measure yourself
Cognitive Bias Test: Which Thinking Errors Hijack Your Decisions?Get a baseline before you change anything. 20 questions; scored on real dimensions.
Read the evidence
The Availability Heuristic: Why Vivid Events Feel More Likely Than They AreThe evidence in full, 43 references on the record.
Apply it
90-Day Cognitive Debiasing Protocol: Systematically Eliminate Your Worst Thinking ErrorsA written method to run: 12 weeks.
Check the hype
What Is Choice Overload? Do Too Many Options Really Backfire?Choice overload is real, but only under four specific conditions; the universal effect has near-zero evidence.
The complete shelf, unpaginated
Holdings
Deep Dives
Long-form investigations with full bibliographies.
Cognitive Dissonance: The Psychology of Belief Conflict & Attitude ChangeCognitive dissonance is a measurable neural conflict signal: detectable in 60 ms, predictive of belief change, and redirectable into genuine behaviour reform. A deep dive into 34 sources.Deep dive · 19 Jun 2026
The Anchoring Effect: How the First Number You Hear Hijacks Every Decision AfterThe anchoring effect distorts judgments from courtrooms to hospitals. A deep dive into 50 years of evidence: mechanism, neural basis, and debiasing science.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
The Availability Heuristic: Why Vivid Events Feel More Likely Than They AreThe availability heuristic makes vivid events feel common. Explore the science, evidence hierarchy, and debiasing protocols behind this cognitive bias.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
Confirmation Bias: The Neuroscience of Motivated Reasoning & Selective EvidenceHow confidence hijacks your brain's evidence processing. The neuroscience of confirmation bias, with 26 peer-reviewed sources and an evidence-based debiasing protocol.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
Why Incompetence Feels Like Competence: The Dunning-Kruger Effect ExaminedThe Dunning-Kruger effect isn't what you think. New evidence reveals why low performers resist feedback, and what actually fixes miscalibration.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
The Framing Effect: How Identical Information Changes Your DecisionsThe framing effect changes decisions by 50 percentage points. The neuroscience of why identical information produces opposite choices, and how to override it.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
Why We Keep Throwing Good Resources After Bad: The Sunk Cost Fallacy ExaminedThe science behind sunk cost psychology: why your brain fights rational exit, what the fMRI data shows, and a 4-step protocol to override the bias.Deep dive · 18 Jun 2026
Guides
Structured, chaptered field manuals.
Protocols
Multi-week programmes with a written method.
Assessments
Scored self-assessments with real question banks.
Trend Breakdowns
Claims from the feed, checked against their sources.
Glossary
Defined terms, each with its own entry.- Anchoring BiasAnchoring bias is a cognitive heuristic in which an initial number disproportionately skews decisions. Definition, mechanism, examples, and debiasing.
- Availability HeuristicThe availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that judges likelihood by how easily examples come to mind, distorting risk perception and decision-making.
- Bandwagon EffectThe bandwagon effect is the social tendency to adopt beliefs because others hold them. Learn its mechanism, when it distorts decisions, and how to resist.
- Cognitive DissonanceCognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs. How it works in the brain and how to resolve or exploit it.
- Confirmation BiasConfirmation bias is the tendency to seek and interpret information that confirms existing beliefs. Learn its mechanism, effects, and how to counter it.
- Dunning-Kruger EffectDunning-Kruger effect: a cognitive bias where limited knowledge produces overconfidence. Definition, mechanism, research evidence, and practical remedies.
- Endowment EffectThe endowment effect is the cognitive bias where owned objects are valued more than identical unowned ones, distorting markets and decisions.
- Framing EffectThe framing effect is a cognitive bias causing identical information to produce opposite decisions depending on whether it is framed as a gain or a loss.
- Fundamental Attribution ErrorFundamental attribution error is the tendency to over-attribute others' behaviour to personality rather than situation, coined by Lee Ross in 1977.
- Halo EffectA cognitive bias in which one impression distorts all other judgements of a person. How the halo effect corrupts hiring and reviews, and how to reduce it.
- Hindsight BiasHindsight bias is the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that it was predictable all along. Definition, mechanisms, and debiasing.
- IKEA EffectThe IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which people assign disproportionately higher value to products they have partially assembled themselves.
- Loss AversionLoss aversion weights losses roughly twice as heavily as equivalent gains. Definition, mechanism, coefficient, and how to counter the bias.
- Mere Exposure EffectThe mere exposure effect is the bias whereby repeated contact with a stimulus generates preference for it, independent of its actual quality.
- Negativity BiasNegativity bias is a cognitive tendency in which negative events, losses, and criticism exert greater psychological weight than positive experiences.
- Optimism BiasOptimism bias is the tendency to overestimate positive outcomes and underestimate risk, affecting ~80% of people and underpinning the planning fallacy.
- Overconfidence BiasOverconfidence bias is the systematic tendency to overrate one's knowledge and predictions. Learn its three forms, calibration data, and how to correct it.
- Recency BiasRecency bias is the cognitive tendency to over-weight the most recent information, distorting appraisals, investment decisions, and everyday judgements.
- Self-Serving BiasSelf-serving bias: the tendency to attribute success to ability and failure to external causes. Covers mechanism, moderators, and counteraction strategies.
- Status Quo BiasStatus-quo bias is the tendency to prefer the current state of affairs and treat departures from it as losses, driving irrational inertia in decisions.
- Sunk Cost FallacySunk cost fallacy keeps decision-makers committed to failing pursuits because of past investment. Definition, mechanism, and how to correct it.
- Survivorship BiasSurvivorship bias is the error of judging outcomes by studying survivors while ignoring failures. Learn the mechanism, examples, and how to correct for it.
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Most read on this shelf
- The Framing Effect: How Identical Information Changes Your DecisionsDeep dive
- Cognitive Bias Test: Which Thinking Errors Hijack Your Decisions?Assessment
- What Is Choice Overload? Do Too Many Options Really Backfire?Trend breakdown
- The Availability Heuristic: Why Vivid Events Feel More Likely Than They AreDeep dive
- The Anchoring Effect: How the First Number You Hear Hijacks Every Decision AfterDeep dive