Foibles, Faults, and Fallacies
About this book
Zeigarnik effect
We remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
Twinkie defense
We accept shoddy reasons when they support our needs.
Trait ascription bias
We think others’ personalities are more predictable than our own.
Tip of the tongue phenomenon
Often when we fail to recall a detail, it seems close to mind.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
We think something happened because we believed it would.
Salience bias
Focus on striking or tragic elements skews our perception of the whole.
Rhyme as reason effect
We feel a statement is more truthful if it rhymes.
Pareidolia
We recognize things that aren’t there in vague or random inputs.
Normalcy bias
We refuse to plan for, or react to, a disaster we’ve never experienced before.
Mind projection fallacy
We think nature conforms to our ideas of it.
Illusory superiority
We overestimate our own qualities and abilities.
Humor effect
We more easily remember humorous items.
False memory
We mistake something we imagined for a memory.
End-of-history illusion
We think we will change less in the future than we have in the past.
Context effect
It’s harder for us to remember things out of context.
Confirmation bias
We look for and focus on confirmations of our own opinions and beliefs.
Chronological snobbery
We think the works of earlier times are inherently inferior.
Barnum effect
We think general personality descriptions apply to ourselves particularly.
Anthropomorphism
We project human emotions and behavior on things and other animals.