Do you sometimes feel that your way of thinking is irrational or that you have made some wrong decisions? You may be “tricked” by your own brain. The human brain is a very complex and magical organ that can help us process all kinds of information, solve problems, and create imaginations. However, the brain also has its limitations and flaws. It will be affected by some psychological biases (cognitive biases), leading to deviations in our cognition and judgment of things. Psychological bias refers to our thinking tendency that does not conform to logical or objective standards when processing information. There are many kinds of psychological deviations, some are to save cognitive resources, some are to protect self-esteem, and some are to adapt to the social environment. Psychological biases are not necessarily bad. Sometimes they can help us make decisions quickly or increase our happiness. However, if we don’t pay attention to controlling and correcting them, they can also cause us a lot of trouble and distress. The following are 15 common psychological mistakes made by contemporary people. Don’t be “deceived” by your own brain: ###1. The Sunk Cost Fallacy When you invest in something in the early stage After a lot of cost (time, energy or money), even if the matter is destined to have no good outcome, you still continue to invest in it wishfully. This psychological bias will put you into a vicious cycle. The more you invest, the less willing you are to give up. You may think that you have given so much and you cannot let it go to waste. Or you might feel like you still have a chance to turn things around and you just need to hold on a little longer to succeed. But in fact, you can no longer recover your previous losses, and continuing to invest will only make you lose more. You should learn to stop losses in time and shift your attention to more valuable and promising things. The sooner you take action against the sunk cost fallacy, the sooner your life will change for the better. ###2. Personal Bias We all have our own subjective worldview, and you are the sum of everything that has happened to you so far. It’s easy to look down on or disrespect someone because of something, without realizing all the variables in their situation. This kind of psychological bias can make us lack empathy and tolerance towards others, and even lead to discrimination and prejudice. We may overlook the strengths and efforts of others and only see their flaws and mistakes. We may think that we are smarter, better, or more moral than others, forgetting that we have made mistakes or needed help from others. So, don’t project your version of reality onto someone who may not be the same as you at all. Try to put yourself in others’ shoes, understand others’ positions and feelings, and give them a fair evaluation and opportunity. ###3. Anchoring effect (Anchoring) When we make decisions, we will rely too much on the information we first received. This initial message is the “anchor”. For example, when you buy something, you will be affected by the original price or discount marked by the merchant, and you will feel that you are getting a good deal, while ignoring the true value of the product. Or when you are interviewing, you will be affected by the first salary number proposed by the recruiter and feel that you should accept or reject it, without considering your own ability and market level. This kind of psychological deviation can cause us to lose our rationality and judgment and be manipulated and used by others. However, your brain can trick you and even make decisions that are bad for you because it doesn’t care if the information you get is accurate. In each run, the brain defaults to using the available data, no matter what they are. If everything you hear about someone is mean gossip, your entire opinion of that person will be based on that piece of information, even if it’s not factual. The anchoring effect thus distorts our behavior. The same is true in business negotiations. The first person to name a number sets the stage for the negotiation. This is the anchor point. Pay close attention to the anchor points you set for yourself, and pay even more attention to the anchor points others are trying to set for you. Don’t blindly accept or reject the first option, but collect and compare more information to find the most appropriate and advantageous answer. ###4. Cascade Denial Cascade refers to the mapping relationship between multiple objects in computer science. Cascading can be applied in many aspects, such as switches on the network, router cascading, etc. “Cascading denial” is very common in life, and you may have done it before, but you just didn’t realize what it was. Here are examples of “cascading denial”: - “It’s not like that!” - “Even if it is, it’s not that bad!” - “Even if it is, it’s not a big deal!” - “Even if it is, it’s not me It’s their fault!” - “Even if it is, I didn’t mean it!” - “Even if I did it, they deserve it!” People do this to minimize harm, or to justify their actions and save face. But in fact, this kind of psychological bias can cause us to lose integrity and responsibility, and harm trust and relationships with ourselves and others. We should learn to admit our mistakes and apologize and correct them in time. Only in this way can you win the respect and trust of others, and also allow yourself to grow and progress. ###5. Overestimate the Odds of Success This phenomenon is also known as Survivorship Bias. After all, history is written by the winners, and the media only reports on those who succeeded and never shows the thousands of failures. Don’t base your success strategy on the evidence provided by survivors; instead, look at what failed others and learn from it to improve. ###6. Black & White Dilemma As humans, we love duality. For a long time during human evolution, our brains were binary in nature, which is why code is also written in 0s and 1s. This trait has permeated modern life, where you either “win” or “lose,” you either say “yes” or you say “no.” We like to think in black and white, but that actually does no one any good. There’s always a third option you haven’t considered. Life is not a zero sum game! Find a win-win solution whenever possible. ###7. Correlation vs Causation Just because two things happen one after another does not mean there is a connection between them. This kind of psychological bias exists because many things in life have cause and effect. For example, you’ll see a rainbow after a rain because the humidity in the air allows light to refract. But not everything follows the same rules. We all learned in our first year of statistics that just because two variables are correlated does not mean there is a causal relationship between them! This is why so many predictions fail. People fail to realize that there is no connection between things at all. Just because there is a statistical relationship between two variables does not mean that one causes the other. For example, ice cream sales and forest fires are related because both occur more often during hot summer months, but there is no causal relationship between the two. As far as we know, buying ice cream has no impact on forest fires. ###8. Loss Aversion vs Reward Generally speaking, people tend to be “loss averse”. This means that people would rather play it safe and protect what they have than take risks for the greater good. Losing $10 has a much greater impact on your emotional state than winning $10, even though the total number of wins and losses is the same. Because people are so afraid of losing what they have, they default to shutting themselves out of the game entirely, leaving all the rewards to those who are willing to take the risk. This is why only 1% of people are rich. ###9. Expect others to read your mind, or act like you. Just because you understand something, does not mean others understand it; just because you have an idea in your head, does not mean It means that other people have the same idea in their head. If you want to know why this is the case, go back to #2. i This situation is especially likely to happen in management positions, where you hope your employees think the same way you do, but they don’t. Because the average employee doesn’t have your perspective, they can’t see the big picture and how the dominoes will fall. So, you have to segment the work for them and make sure employees are fully aware of all the necessary information and tools. If you haven’t trained your people well or explained clearly what your desired results are, you can’t get mad at people who don’t get things done the way you want them to. ###10. You wait for motivation to strike you (You wait for motivation to strike you) People believe that motivation is erratic, sometimes it is there and sometimes it is not. What they don’t know, however, is that motivation only finds you when one is in a creative state, or already at work. This is why most people are uninspired. If you’re not doing anything that inspires you, where will the inspiration come from? If you want to score goals, you first need to be on the pitch. ###11. The Dunning-Kruger Effect Generally speaking, the most incompetent people usually have high self-confidence. If you’ve ever worked for a multinational company, you’ve probably encountered bosses or managers who don’t deserve to be so high on the food chain. We often see situations where people with less ability end up succeeding. In fact, this is a cognitive bias known as the “Dunning-Kruger effect.” People with lower abilities overestimate their abilities on a task. The more you understand about the situation at hand, the more you become aware of these variables and how they are intertwined. Translating the Dunning-Kruger effect into financial terms is: “Everyone is a stock god in a bull market!” ###12. Red Car Effect The red car effect is also a cognitive bias of the brain. If you buy a red car, then you will find that suddenly there are more red cars on the road than before. Is it true that the number of red cars has increased? No, but you are paying more and more attention to them. The scientific name for this phenomenon is “The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon” or “The Frequency Illusion”. The more focused you are, the more often something happens. ###13． Confirmation Bias: When a person establishes a certain belief or concept, during the process of collecting and analyzing information, there will be a tendency to look for evidence to support the belief. Therefore, we selectively believe facts that are consistent with our existing beliefs. But in growing as a person we need opposing viewpoints and be open to the logic behind them. ###14. Everyone has their own “truth”. One person stands on top of “9” and says it is 6, and another person says it is 9. Both people feel that they are right. Yes, you have your own opinions, but your opinions may not be objective facts. You have your own “truth,” but that doesn’t mean you’re right. ###15. Worry about things that are beyond your control. In the process of human evolution, in order to adapt to the survival of the fittest in nature, the brain is naturally more susceptible to stress. Even in modern society, we still feel stressed on a regular basis. However, a psychology professor at the University of California conducted a large-scale study on the things people worry about, and the results are very interesting: 85% of the things people worry about don’t happen! If you want to make your life gradually better, you must understand the 15 cognitive biases mentioned in this article and prevent yourself from being “deceived” by your brain.
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