Philosophy
Theoretical Foundations and Distinction from Risk Aversion While often conflated, loss aversion and traditional risk aversion are distinct Cognitive Bias mechanisms for decision-making under uncertainty. Risk aversion, a theory established around 300 years ago in 1738, describes a preference for a certain outcome over a risky prospect with a higher
Philosophy
Moral Foundations Theory is a descriptive account of human morality developed by Jonathan Haidt to explore the shared themes and similarities across disparate populations in terms that secularists might understand. The framework identifies several innate psychological systems that constitute a first draft of the moral mind. Christian's call
Philosophy
Status quo bias is a Cognitive Bias defined as a non-rational or biased preference for the current way of doing things. It involves a preference that the current state of affairs remains the same, taking the existing baseline as a reference point. This bias minimises the perceived risks associated with
Philosophy
The recency effect is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency of an individual to recall or prioritise information presented most recently within a series. It represents one component of the serial-position effect, which describes how the accuracy of recall varies as a function of an item's position
Philosophy
A fallacy is the application of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning in the construction of an argument. Such reasoning may appear to be well-structured if the error remains unnoticed. Logical fallacies are errors in the structure or content of arguments that render them logically unsound. These defects in reasoning are
Philosophy
Self-serving bias, or self-serving attributional bias, is a pervasive Cognitive Bias where individuals attribute positive outcomes to their own internal characteristics, such as skill or effort, while ascribing negative outcomes to external, situational factors beyond their control. This mechanism serves as a psychological buffer, allowing the mind to maintain and
Philosophy
Rosy retrospection is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency of individuals to recall past events more positively than they were experienced at the time of their occurrence. This phenomenon involves a selective memory process where the mind systematically enhances positive elements while filtering out or downplaying difficult, neutral, or
Philosophy
Mood-congruent memory (MCM) is a Cognitive Bias where the retrieval and encoding of information are facilitated when the affective valence of that information matches the current mood state of the individual. This bias manifests as a tendency for persons in a positive mood to preferentially remember pleasant events, while those
Philosophy
The straw man fallacy is an informal Logical Fallacies of relevance characterised by the deliberate or inadvertent distortion of an opposing position to facilitate its refutation. In this form of faulty reasoning, a proponent avoids engaging with the actual substance of a target argument and instead constructs a similar but
Philosophy
The Dark Triad comprises three intercorrelated personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Narcissism is characterised by grandiosity, an inflated sense of brilliance, and a persistent need for narcissistic supply, or external validation of one's superiority. Psychopathy involves low empathy, diminished impulse control, and a tendency to view others
Philosophy
The halo effect, also referred to as the halo error, is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency for a positive impression of an individual, company, or brand in one specific area to influence opinions and feelings regarding other unrelated attributes. This phenomenon prevents an observer from forming an objective
Philosophy
Base rate neglect, also known as the base rate fallacy or base rate bias, is a Cognitive Bias characterised by the tendency of individuals to undervalue or ignore general statistical information, such as prevalence or prior probabilities, in favour of specific, individuating information. This phenomenon is classified as a specific