A red herring fallacy is an attempt to redirect a conversation away from its original topic. A red herring is used by introducing an irrelevant piece of information that distracts the reader or listener. This can be intentional or unintentional.
As a result, one can divert others’ attention away from the original discussion topic or avoid answering a difficult question.
Hostile attribution bias is the tendency to interpret the ambiguous behavior of others as hostile. Under hostile attribution bias, people assume that others have negative intentions towards them and want to hurt them, even when others have no such intentions.
As a result, people who exhibit hostile attribution bias also tend to react aggressively, causing problems in their relationships with others.
Vividness bias is the tendency to focus on certain attributes of a decision or situation while overlooking other elements that are equally or more important.
Vividness bias can lead to suboptimal decisions and influence our judgment in different contexts, such as job negotiations, responses to advertising, or choices about a course of study.
Normalcy bias is the tendency to underestimate the likelihood or impact of a negative event. Normalcy bias prevents us from understanding the possibility or the seriousness of a crisis or a natural disaster.
Because normalcy bias can lead us to believe that nothing serious is going to happen, we may not take appropriate or adequate preparations for a crisis and might put ourselves at risk.
Correspondence bias is the tendency to form assumptions about a person’s character based on their behavior. When we try to explain why people act in a certain way, we often focus on personality traits, underestimating the power of specific situations to lead to specific behaviors. In other words, people are inclined to think that others’ actions reflect their personality.
As a result, we are more likely to react negatively to people and hold them directly accountable for their actions, even if this may not be the case.
Overconfidence bias is the tendency to overestimate our knowledge and abilities in a certain area. As people often possess incorrect ideas about their performance, behavior, or characteristics, their estimations of risk and success often deviate from reality.
Overconfidence bias can impact decision-making and interfere with our ability to exercise caution.
The egocentric bias refers to people’s tendency to fixate on their own perspective when examining events or beliefs. Under the egocentric bias, we see things as being more centered on ourselves than is actually the case. This results in a distorted view of reality that makes it difficult for us to acknowledge other people’s perspectives and feelings.
Status quo bias refers to people’s preference for keeping things the way they currently are. Under status quo bias, people perceive change as a risk or a loss. Because of this, they try to maintain the current situation. This can impact the quality of their decisions.
Status quo bias can create resistance to change, hinder progress, or cause us to miss out on valuable opportunities.
Bias for action (also called action bias) is the tendency to favor action over inaction. Because of bias for action, we often feel compelled to act, even when we don’t have all the information we need or are uncertain about the outcome.
Depending on the situation, bias for action can be beneficial for our personal and professional growth. It can also cause us to act impulsively.
Perception bias is the tendency to perceive ourselves and our environment in a subjective way. Although we like to think our judgment is impartial, we are, in fact, unconsciously influenced by our assumptions and expectations.
If left unchecked, perception bias can affect how we evaluate ourselves and others. As a result, we may form inaccurate impressions.This, in turn, can impact the quality of our decision-making.