Cognitive Distortions

Availability Heuristic You judge the probability of events by how easily examples come to mind. 59 · Moderate AvH Confirmation Bias You favor information that confirms your preexisting beliefs. 78 · Severe CB Hindsight Bias You see past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. 59 · Moderate HB Illusory Correlation You perceive a link between two things when the connection is weak, absent, or random. 60 · Moderate IC Belief Bias You rate an argument by whether you like the conclusion - validity gets confused with agreement. 68 · High BB Illusory Truth Effect Hearing a claim again makes it feel more true - familiarity gets mistaken for evidence. 79 · Severe ITE Cognitive Dissonance You feel discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or behaviors. 69 · High CD System Justification You defend existing social arrangements as fair, natural, or inevitable - even when they harm you or your group. 70 · High SJ False Memory You can remember events that did not happen - or remember real events in ways that never occurred - and still feel sure. 63 · Moderate FM Pseudocertainty Effect A staged "sure thing" can make you accept risks you would reject if the whole gamble were shown at once. 56 · Moderate PCE Cognitive Miser You conserve mental effort by default - quick categories and shortcuts first, slow analysis only if something forces it. 64 · Moderate CM Law of the Instrument You over-rely on a familiar tool or method, even when it may not be suitable. 62 · Moderate LotI Overconfidence Effect Your certainty outruns your accuracy - you are surer than your hit rate deserves. 71 · High OE Pessimism Bias You overestimate how likely bad outcomes are - and call the tilt realism. 65 · Moderate PB Negativity Bias Bad weighs more than good - so one criticism, loss, or threat can outweigh several good things of equal size. 75 · Severe NB Optimism Bias Overestimating the likelihood of positive outcomes. 64 · Moderate OB Curse of Knowledge Once you know something, it gets hard to imagine what it is like not to know it - so you skip steps others still need. 58 · Moderate CK Dunning-Kruger Effect Overestimating one's abilities or knowledge in areas where one is less competent. 73 · High DKE Illusion of Explanatory Depth You feel you understand how something works - until you try to explain the causal steps and the gaps show. 73 · High IoED Bias Blind Spot You spot bias in other people's motives and arguments easily, but give your own side a pass. 68 · High BBS Naive Realism You experience your view as plain reality - so disagreement looks like bias, ignorance, or bad faith in other people. 79 · Severe NR Illusion of Control You overestimate how much your actions influence outcomes that are largely chance, other people, or noise. 60 · Moderate IoC Illusion of Conscious Will You trust the feeling that you consciously willed an action as proof that your thought caused it. 63 · Moderate ICW Self-Handicapping You put obstacles in your own path before a test - so failure can be blamed on the obstacle, not your ability. 65 · Moderate SH Just-World Hypothesis You believe that people get what they deserve in life. 71 · High JWH Egocentric Bias You treat your own viewpoint, knowledge, and contribution as more central than a fair outside tally would show. 65 · Moderate EB Hostile Attribution Bias You read ambiguous behavior as intentional hostility - a bump becomes a slight before you have evidence. 75 · Severe HAB Actor-Observer Bias You explain your own behavior with situations - and other people's behavior with character. 63 · Moderate AOB Reactive Devaluation You devalue proposals or solutions simply because they come from an opposing party. 66 · High RD False Consensus Effect You overestimate how much others agree with your beliefs or behaviors. 60 · Moderate FCE Base Rate Fallacy You combine prior odds and new evidence wrong - case detail hijacks the probability the math would give. 58 · Moderate BRF Focusing Effect You overweight whatever factor is currently in the spotlight and underweight the rest of life that will actually fill your days. 58 · Moderate FE Self-Enhancement Bias You see yourself as above average on the traits you care about - even when the math cannot hold that many winners. 66 · High SEB Affect Heuristic A quick good-or-bad feeling can set both "how risky" and "how beneficial" - before the numbers get a vote. 69 · High AH