mind traps

“In driver’s training we were taught to identify our visual blind spots and eliminate them with the help of mirrors and sensors. In life (...) we need to learn to recognize our cognitive blind spots and revise our thinking accordingly”

from Think Again by Adam Grant

baja

The sequence in which we observe characteristics of a person is often determined by chance. Sequence matters, however, because the halo effect increases the weight of first impressions, sometimes to the point that subsequent information is mostly wasted.

Daniel Kahneman • Thinking, Fast and Slow

halo effect

the negativity bias can keep us so blind to the positive that we may start to take it for granted or not catch it when it enters our lives.

James Doty • Mind Magic

Paul Venuto • feed updates

For hundreds of years, “Occam’s razor” has been a go-to in any critical thinker’s mental toolbox. Also known as the “principle of parsimony,” this heuristic (read: a mental shortcut) is often summarized as: “When you have two competing explanations for the same phenomenon, the simpler one is the better.”

Big Think • 3 Brilliant Critical Thinking Tools Used by Daniel Dennett

Because people with ADHD feel things so strongly, our brains often make the wrong prediction. The intensity level of our response does not match the gravity of the situation.

Jesse J. Anderson • Extra Focus

prone to wrong predictions (especially in extreme situations). How to alleviate this besides being aware?

cognitive dissonance

How to free yourself from "hindsight bias”

Josh Kaufman bigthink.com

Closure or need for closure ( NFC ), used interchangeably with need for cognitive closure ( NFCC ), are social psychological terms that describe an individual's desire for a clear, firm answer or peaceful resolution to a question or problem to avert ambiguity.[1]

Arie Kruglanski • Closure (psychology)

Sometimes, knowing the name is good enough. Most cognitive biases work that way. Once you find out what availability bias is, you can figure out where you’ve fallen for it. Noticing availability bias without knowing it is much harder. It’s the same for emotions, ideas, design patterns, and specific situations in life. Having a name helps you... See more

Neil Kakkar • Vocabulary as a Meta Mental Model

availability bias

“Sometimes, knowing the name is good enough.”