Common Cognitive Biases in Your Everyday Life EXPLAINED

When it comes to assessing risk, humans often tend to fail making the most rational decisions because our brains take so many mental shortcuts. These shortcuts and assumptions prevent us from looking at the bigger picture and making the correct choice.

Like when you see a video on a certain topic pop up on your feed and then another similar sign in the same day. You’re going to start overestimating the importance and probability of this one specific topic.

This video goes over common cognitive biases like the one described above and why we’re fooled by them.

Cognitive Bias #1: Availability Heuristic

Availability Heuristic is when we overestimate the likelihood of events given the availability of information. It’s the example discussed above: You see a video of, say, shark attacks. Then you pass by a billboard warning of a shark attack. Availability Heuristic causes your mind to quickly decide that most sharks will attack you, and/or force you to judge the safety of swimming in the ocean.

In reality, the percentage of a shark attacking a human being is so low that falling coconuts and vending machines kill more people per year than sharks.