Decision Making
01
Loss Aversion
Losses loom larger than gains.
People feel the pain of losing something roughly twice as intensely as the pleasure of gaining the equivalent thing, leading to risk-averse behavior.
Behavioral Insights
A curated archive of weekly behavioral science insights drawn from research and practice.
Insight of the Week
Spacing Effect
Memory & RecallSpace it out to remember it better.
Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than massed together (cramming).
Decision Making
02
The Default Effect
The path of least resistance is the path most traveled.
When a choice is pre-selected, people tend to stick with it because changing requires cognitive effort and deviates from the perceived recommendation.
Social Influence & Norms
03
Social Proof
We look to others to determine correct behavior.
In ambiguous situations, individuals assume the actions of others reflect the correct behavior, driving conformity and herd mentality.
Decision Making
04
The Anchoring Effect
Initial information biases all subsequent judgments.
People rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the 'anchor') when making decisions, even if the anchor is irrelevant.
Memory & Recall
05
The Peak-End Rule
Memories are defined by highlights and endings, not averages.
People judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak (most intense point) and at its end, rather than the total sum or average of every moment.
Motivation & Incentives
06
Hyperbolic Discounting
We prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, later ones.
Valuations fall rapidly for small delay periods, meaning people consistently choose immediate gratification over long-term benefits, affecting savings and health.
Decision Making
07
The Endowment Effect
Ownership instantly increases perceived value.
People ascribe more value to things merely because they own them, creating a barrier to trading or selling.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
08
The Availability Heuristic
If we can recall it easily, we think it happens frequently.
People judge the probability of events by how easily examples come to mind, often leading to an overestimation of rare but dramatic events.
Attention & Cognitive Biases
09
Confirmation Bias
We see what we want to see.
The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.
Decision Making
10
The Decoy Effect
A third, inferior option changes the preference between two others.
Consumers will tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when also presented with a third option that is asymmetrically dominated.
Habit Formation & Behavior Change
11
Implementation Intentions
Planning 'when' and 'where' bridges the gap between goal and action.
Forming simple 'If-Then' plans (e.g., 'If it is 5pm, then I will run') significantly increases the likelihood of goal attainment by automating the response to cues.
Attention & Cognitive Biases
12
The Mere Exposure Effect
Familiarity breeds liking.
People tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.
Social Influence & Norms
13
Reciprocity
We feel obliged to return favors.
People feel a strong social obligation to repay what another person has provided, even if the favor was uninvited.
Decision Making
14
The Sunk Cost Fallacy
Throwing good money after bad.
Individuals continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, effort), regardless of the current costs or benefits.
Decision Making
15
Choice Overload
Too many options can paralyze decision making.
While people claim to want more choice, presenting too many options can lead to anxiety, indecision, and lower satisfaction with the final choice.
Motivation & Incentives
16
The Goal Gradient Effect
We run faster as we approach the finish line.
Motivation increases as people get closer to achieving a goal.
Habit Formation & Behavior Change
17
The Fresh Start Effect
New beginnings facilitate new behaviors.
Temporal landmarks (birthdays, New Years, Mondays) separate past failures from the current self, increasing motivation for aspirational behaviors.
Attention & Cognitive Biases
18
Inattentional Blindness
We miss what we aren't looking for.
The failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task.
Motivation & Incentives
19
The Ikea Effect
We love what we build.
Labor leads to love; people place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created.
Emotion & Self-Control
20
Ego Depletion
Willpower is a limited resource that can be exhausted.
Self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up, impairing subsequent self-control tasks.
Motivation & Incentives
21
The Licensing Effect
Being good gives us permission to be bad.
When people do something positive (like exercising), they often feel licensed to do something self-indulgent later (like eating junk food).
Social Influence & Norms
22
Scarcity
We want what we might lose.
Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.
Memory & Recall
23
The Zeigarnik Effect
Unfinished business stays on the mind.
People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
Decision Making
24
Mental Accounting
We treat money differently depending on where it came from.
Individuals categorize funds into different 'accounts' (e.g., salary vs. bonus), which affects how they spend it, violating the principle of fungibility.
Social Influence & Norms
25
The Spotlight Effect
We think everyone is watching us.
People tend to overestimate how much others notice aspects of their appearance or behavior.
Habit Formation & Behavior Change
26
Temptation Bundling
Pairing 'wants' with 'shoulds' increases compliance.
Coupling instantly gratifying 'want' activities (e.g., listening to audiobooks) with 'should' behaviors (e.g., exercising) increases the likelihood of doing the latter.
Emotion & Self-Control
27
The Hot-Cold Empathy Gap
We underestimate the power of visceral states.
People have difficulty predicting how they will behave in a 'hot' state (angry, hungry, aroused) when they are currently in a 'cold' (calm) state.
Decision Making
28
Framing Effect
It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
People react differently to a particular choice depending on whether it is presented as a loss or as a gain.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
29
Ambiguity Aversion
Better the devil you know.
People prefer known risks over unknown risks (ambiguity), often avoiding options where the probability of the outcome is uncertain.
Emotion & Self-Control
30
Identifying the Victim Effect
One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.
People are more likely to offer help to a specific, identifiable victim than to a large, vaguely defined group with the same need.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
31
Optimism Bias
It won't happen to me.
People tend to overestimate the likelihood of positive events and underestimate the likelihood of negative events happening to them.
Social Influence & Norms
32
The Bystander Effect
The more people present, the less likely anyone helps.
Individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present due to diffusion of responsibility.
Motivation & Incentives
33
Overjustification Effect
Paying for passion kills the passion.
Offering an extrinsic reward for an already intrinsically rewarding activity can decrease a person's future intrinsic motivation to perform that activity.
Memory & Recall
34
Chunking
Breaking it down makes it stick.
The process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into larger units to improve memory retention and cognitive processing.
Memory & Recall
35
Serial Position Effect
First and last matter most.
The tendency of a person to recall the first (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect) in a series best, and the middle items worst.
Emotion & Self-Control
36
Negativity Bias
Bad is stronger than good.
Negative events or feedback have a greater psychological impact than neutral or positive things of equal intensity.
Decision Making
37
Status Quo Bias
Change is painful.
A preference for the current state of affairs; the current baseline is taken as a reference point, and any change from that baseline is perceived as a loss.
Attention & Cognitive Biases
38
Dunning-Kruger Effect
We don't know what we don't know.
People with low ability at a task overestimate their ability because they lack the meta-cognitive skills to recognize their own incompetence.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
39
The Gambler's Fallacy
Thinking the universe owes us a win.
The mistaken belief that if an event happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future.
Habit Formation & Behavior Change
40
Self-Herding
We follow our own past actions.
People infer their preferences by observing their own past behavior, leading them to repeat actions even if the original decision was arbitrary.
Attention & Cognitive Biases
41
Halo Effect
One good trait implies others.
The tendency for positive impressions of a person in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas.
Memory & Recall
42
Fluid Intelligence vs. Crystallized Intelligence
Problem solving vs. accumulated knowledge.
Fluid intelligence (solving new problems) peaks in early adulthood, while crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge) peaks later in life.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
43
Certainty Effect
We overvalue 100%.
People overweight outcomes that are considered certain relative to outcomes that are merely probable.
Decision Making
44
Planning Fallacy
Everything takes longer than you think.
The tendency to underestimate the time, costs, and risks of future actions and at the same time overestimate the benefits of the same actions.
Risk Perception & Uncertainty
45
Zero-Risk Bias
We pay a premium for total safety.
The preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a greater reduction in a larger risk.
Emotion & Self-Control
46
Affect Heuristic
Gut feelings drive decisions.
A mental shortcut in which people make decisions that are heavily influenced by their current emotions.
Memory & Recall
47
Spacing Effect
Space it out to remember it better.
Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than massed together (cramming).
Motivation & Incentives
48
Pygmalion Effect
High expectations lead to high performance.
The phenomenon whereby higher expectations placed upon individuals lead to an increase in performance.
Decision Making
49
Paradox of Choice
Less is more.
Eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers and often leads to higher sales and satisfaction.
Habit Formation & Behavior Change
50
Habit Loops (Cue-Routine-Reward)
Habits are powered by triggers and rewards.
A habit consists of a cue (trigger), a routine (behavior), and a reward; understanding this loop is key to changing behavior.
No insights match your search.
Try different keywords or clear the search.
