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

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.”

In psychology, the Ovsiankina effect describes the innate human urge to finish tasks we've initiated. This tendency to resume an interrupted action is especially prevalent when the action hasn't yet been achieved.[1] The effect is named after Maria Ovsiankina, who conducted research on this behavior.

Maria Ovsiankina • Ovsiankina effect

Ovsiankina effect

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

The concept of a shutdown ritual might at first seem extreme, but there’s a good reason for it: the Zeigarnik effect. This effect, which is named for the experimental work of the early-twentieth-century psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, describes the ability of incomplete tasks to dominate our attention. It tells us that if you simply stop whatever you

Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

the Zeigarnik effect

A heuristic (/hjʊˈrɪstɪk/; from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω ( heurískō ) 'method of discovery' [1]) or heuristic technique ( problem solving , mental shortcut , rule of thumb )[2][3][4][5] is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless "good enough" as an app... See more

en.wikipedia.org • Heuristic - Wikipedia

Product framing often takes advantage of the brain’s tendencies to take shortcuts when estimating value Example: A steakhouse offers three steaks of escalating value. The brain will often assume the bottom one is too cheap and the top one is too expensive, ultimately taking the shortcut to the middle option.

framing effect

In data analysis, survival bias is taking the known into account while neglecting the unknown (which nevertheless exists).

Roman Zykov • Roman's Data Science: How to monetize your data

survivorship bias

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?

“If you can’t decide, pretend you’re deciding for a friend.” Solomon’s paradox is a robust finding that we're better at solving other people's problems than our own, because detachment yields objectivity. But research has found that viewing oneself in the 3rd person yields the same detachment and objectivity. So if... See more

the paradox of choice