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Anthropomorphism refers to the cognitive bias where humans attribute human-like characteristics, emotions, and intentions to non-human entities, whether they are animals, objects, or abstract concepts. This bias stems from our inherent need to understand and relate to entities around us, often using human traits as a means to interpret vague or minimal information.
Choice overload is the phenomenon whereby having too many options can make deciding harder, reduce satisfaction with the chosen option, and sometimes prevent choosing at all. More choice is not monotonically better: beyond a point, each added option adds comparison cost, anticipated regret, and doubt.
The decoy effect is a shift in preference caused by adding a third option that nobody should choose. The decoy makes one target option look clearly superior by comparison, even though it does not improve that option itself.
The default effect is the tendency to end up with whatever option requires no action. Pre-selected choices are adopted at far higher rates than identical options requiring an active step — one of the largest and most reliable effects in behavioral science, and the workhorse of choice architecture.
Distinction bias is a cognitive bias that occurs when people perceive two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately. This bias leads individuals to overemphasize minor differences while neglecting overall similarities.
The empathy gap is failing to appreciate how strongly a different emotional or bodily state will shape our own or another person's choices. Calm selves underestimate hunger, pain, fear, craving, anger, and stress; hot selves underestimate what calm reflection will want.
The endowment effect is valuing an item more once it is ours than we valued the identical item before owning it. Ownership changes the reference point: giving it up feels like a loss, while acquiring it had felt like a possible gain.
The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created. Named after the popular Swedish furniture retailer, which sells products needing assembly, the effect highlights how the act of building or assembling something can lead to an increased valuation of the end product.
Impact bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency for people to overestimate the intensity and duration of their emotional reactions to future events. This often leads individuals to predict that they will experience greater impacts, both positive and negative, from future events than they actually do.
The less-is-better effect is a cognitive bias where individuals may prefer fewer or simpler options over more abundant or complex ones, even if the latter offer a greater value or reward. This preference arises because the simpler option is perceived as more desirable when evaluated in isolation rather than in comparison to a set.
The mere ownership effect is the tendency to evaluate an object more favorably simply because you own it — independent of any transaction. Where the endowment effect concerns what you'd charge to give something up, mere ownership shows that possession alone, even momentary and unchosen, makes things seem better.
The observer-expectancy effect, also known as the experimenter-expectancy effect, refers to a cognitive bias where a researcher's expectations or beliefs about the outcome of a study subconsciously influence the participants of the study or the interpretation of results. This can lead to skewed outcomes that conform to the observer's preconceived notions.
Post-purchase rationalization is defending a purchase after the fact so it feels more valuable and less regrettable. It is the consumer version of choice-supportive bias: the receipt turns a debatable option into 'the right choice.'
Unit bias is a cognitive bias that describes the tendency for individuals to believe that a single unit of something is the appropriate and optimal amount to consume or utilize. This bias is noticeable when people prefer a complete unit over portions, regardless of the actual quantity required or desired.