The Most Dangerous Mental Errors
On this page
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Humans generally think very highly of themselves
- The Curse of Knowledge
- Groupthink
- Confirmation Bias
- Survivorship Bias
- Loss Aversion
- Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
- Entrenchment Effect
- The Dunning-Kruger Effect
- Spotlight Effect
- Bandwagon Effect
- Heaven’s Reward Fallacy
- Sunk Cost Fallacy
- Ad Hominem
- Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
- Personal Incredulity
- The Ikea Effect
- The Texas Sharpshooter
- The Gambler's Fallacy
- Availability Bias
Fundamental Attribution Error
We cut ourselves a break, but hold others accountable.
Humans tend to:
(1) Attribute someone else's actions to their character—and not to their situation or context.
(2) Attribute our actions to our situation and context—and not to our character.
Humans generally think very highly of themselves
We tend to believe that we see the world with perfect objectivity.
We also assume that people who disagree with us must be ignorant, uninformed, or biased.
This error sits at the core of many societal problems.
The Curse of Knowledge
Experts—or generally intelligent people—make the flawed assumption that others have the same background and knowledge on a topic as they do.
It makes them unable to teach or lead in an effective manner for those still coming up the learning curve.
Groupthink
An all-too-common psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus and conformity within a group.
People set aside their own beliefs or principles to adopt those of the group and appease the whole.
Opposition is silent and decision-making falters.
Confirmation Bias
Survivorship Bias
History is written by the victors.
Studying and learning from "survivors”—while systematically ignoring "casualties”—creates material distortions in our conclusions.
We overestimate the odds of success because we only read about successes.
