December 2, 2025 • 27 mins
We map 17 common cognitive biases that shape how we judge people, weigh risk, and make choices, then show simple ways to trade certainty for curiosity and move from autopilot to agency. The aim is not perfection, but practical awareness that leads to better decisions.
• egocentric and self‑serving biases color self‑perception
• fundamental attribution error and the empathy gap with others
• halo effect and the cost of first impressions
• hindsight bias and memory rewriting
• availability and recency biases skew risk and performance
• stereotypes and false priors shortcut people into boxes
• binary bias flattens nuance into all‑or‑nothing
• in‑group bias and the pull of tribal loyalty
• bandwagon bias and social proof over logic
• authority bias and status signals overriding doubt
• loss aversion, status quo bias, and the endowment effect
• sunk cost fallacy and how to exit cleanly
• survivorship bias and base rates for realism
• framing effect and how language steers judgment
• practical tools: name the bias, add context, choose future‑first
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Welcome to the Sage Solutions podcast, where we talk
about all things personalgrowth, personal development,
and becoming your best self.
My name is David Sage, and I ama self-worth and confidence
coach with Sage CoachingSolutions.
If you were with us in the lastepisode, you know we started a
(00:26):
very specific, slightlyuncomfortable journey.
We began the process of poppingthe hood on the human brain to
take a look at the engine.
We talked about how our mindsaren't these perfect logical
supercomputers that we wish theywere.
They are messy, they areemotional, and they are full of
what we call cognitive biases.
(00:50):
Now, on record, there are over ahundred recorded cognitive
biases.
Some of them are incrediblyniche.
So in these two-part episodes,I'm trying to cover the ones
just the most important ones,the ones that have the biggest
impact on the way that you thinkin your daily life.
(01:12):
Last time we talked about how wetrick ourselves, how we filter
reality to confirm what wealready believe with the
confirmation bias.
And how after gaining just alittle bit of understanding, we
tend to think that we're smarterthan we are with the Dun and
Krueger effect.
But today, today is part two.
(01:33):
And if I had to give a broadsummary, if part one was more
about how you view yourself,part two is largely about how
you view the world and thepeople in it.
We have 17, yes, 17 more mentaltraps to cover today.
We are going to talk about whyyou cling to bad subscriptions,
(01:56):
why we trust people of authoritywithout question, and why losing
$20 hurts twice as much asfinding$20 on the ground feels
good.
Everyone has these cognitivebiases.
They are built into or hardwiredinto the way that we think.
(02:16):
Because from an evolutionarystandpoint, and by that I just
mean survival of the fittest,each and every one of them
served a purpose, a purpose thathelped keep us alive, fed, safe,
and having children.
The goal here isn't to make youfeel defective.
(02:39):
It's the opposite.
It's to give you the manual.
You can't fix a machine if youdon't know how it breaks.
So join me.
Get uncomfortable.
And let's get back into thebuilt-in glitches in our
operating system.
But before we get into it, ourgoal with this podcast is to
(03:03):
share free, helpful tools withyou and anyone you know who is
looking to improve their life.
So take action.
Subscribe and share this podcastwith them.
Now I know I said this waslargely about how we view
others, but there are stillseveral cognitive biases that we
(03:26):
haven't covered that apply tohow we view ourselves.
So I'm gonna start with the mefilter.
We all think that we are humble,observant people, but
biologically, from your point ofview, you are the protagonist of
your own movie.
The camera is always on you in afirst person perspective.
(03:48):
This leads to the egocentricbias.
Don't confuse the fact that weall have the egocentric bias
with being a narcissist.
They are different.
Egocentric bias is simply theinability to fully untangle your
own perspective from reality.
We touched on this in the lastepisode.
(04:09):
It's when you overestimate howmuch people are noticing you.
You spill coffee on your shirt,and you think everyone in the
office is staring at it.
In reality, people barely care.
They're too busy worrying aboutthe coffee stain on their shirt
and assuming the exact samethings.
We subconsciously assume thatour internal world is visible to
(04:32):
external reality.
And this bleeds right into theself-serving bias.
This is one of my favoritesbecause we all do it.
So here's the formula.
If I succeed, it's because of myskill, my hard work, my natural
talent, and my brilliance.
(04:53):
But if I fail, it must bebecause I just had bad luck or
somebody else screwed me over,maybe the economy or the
referee.
Think about it.
When you cut somebody off intraffic, it's because you're
late for a very importantmeeting.
You wouldn't have done it if youdidn't have a good reason.
(05:13):
It's situational.
At least hopefully that's yourreason.
But when someone cuts you off,we immediately assume it's
because they are a jerk.
It's their character, it's justwho they are.
This is the self-serving bias,protecting your self-esteem.
The part that's about ourselvesis the self-serving bias.
(05:37):
The flip side that we attributeto others has its own term
called the fundamentalattribution error, often called
the empathy killer.
It's the tendency to believethat what other people do
reflects who they are ratherthan the situation that they are
in.
If the waiter is rude, we assumethat he is a bad waiter or a
(06:02):
mean person.
But we fail to consider that hemight have just gotten yelled at
by his boss, and maybe he didn'tdeserve to be yelled at in that
situation.
Now if it was us, we would betaking that into consideration,
but we fail to consider that forothers.
Opening up these two biases ishuge for conflict resolution.
(06:26):
This flows directly into thenext bias that we're going to
talk about.
So let's look at how we judgeothers through this lens.
We have what's called the haloeffect.
This is where we take this isgenerally where we take one
positive trait about a personand we let it bleed into
(06:47):
everything else.
For instance, we see someone whois physically attractive, or
maybe very tall, or smart, andwe subconsciously assume that
they are also kind, smart, and agood leader.
(07:08):
We see this in hiring all thetime.
A candidate walks in, they arewell dressed and charming.
That's the halo.
So we ignore the fact that theydon't actually have the skills
for the job.
We assume they do because oftheir other positive attribute.
We let the halo blind us to thedetails.
(07:29):
But this can have a blindingrebound effect.
If there is a particularlynegative or annoying trait that
we notice right away, the haloeffect being one of the main
reasons why first impressionsmake such a big difference.
While a positive halo effect canlead to an upward spiral and
(07:50):
over projection of positivetraits onto someone, the same
but opposite is true of anegative halo effect.
A bad first impression thatshows a negative trait can start
a downward spiral and projectmany other negative traits onto
that person.
(08:11):
And the final bias in this groupwe have is the hindsight bias.
This is the I knew it all alongeffect.
You watch a sporting event.
Your team loses.
Immediately you say, I knew theywere going to lose.
I could just feel it.
No, you didn't.
You were hoping that they wouldwin.
(08:32):
In fact, at the start of thegame, you're like, we got this
one.
But once the event happens, yourbrain rewrites your memory to
make you look like a prophet.
We do this to make the worldfeel more predictable, to give
ourselves more confidence, sothat we can take action when we
need to.
If we knew it all along, thenthe world doesn't seem quite so
(08:56):
scary and random.
But unfortunately, butunfortunately, most of the time,
it's a lie that we tellourselves.
So ask yourself, where are yourewriting history to make
yourself look smarter than youwere?
Where are you using theself-serving bias or the halo
(09:17):
effect in your life?
Alright, we're going to move onto the second cluster, which I'm
going to call the lazy brain.
Now your brain isn't actuallythat lazy.
It burns about 20% of yourbody's calories.
In fact, it's kind of an energyhog.
So whenever it can take ashortcut to save energy, it
(09:40):
will.
And the biggest shortcut that wetake is the availability bias.
This is the tendency to judgethe probability of an event
based on how easily an examplecomes to mind.
If I ask you, is the world moredangerous today than 100 years
ago?
(10:00):
Most people say yes.
Why?
Because you saw a crime on thenews this morning.
It is available to your memory.
And because over timeinformation has become much more
available, especially negativeinformation because that's what
gets views and news stationsknow this because of our
(10:24):
negativity bias, we see it moreand more.
Not to mention the echo chambersof social media.
Because it is available to yourmemory, you don't see the
millions of people who didn'tget robbed today.
You just remember that readilyavailable story from the news.
When in the past, violence andviolent crimes were much, much
(10:50):
higher.
Another example is that peopleare terrified of shark attacks,
because they are both memorableand available in movies and
media, but they aren't afraid ofvending machines, which
statistically kill more peopleper year by falling on them than
sharks do by eating people.
(11:11):
Similar to this is the recencybias.
We give way more weight to themost recent information.
If an employee does a great jobfor 11 months but messes up in
December, guess what theirperformance review looks like in
January?
It looks like the mistake.
We forget the history becausethe recent data is so much
(11:33):
louder.
And oftentimes more available.
Now let's get into something alittle bit stickier.
False priors, which is a fancyterm for stereotypes.
This is what most people thinkof when they hear the word bias.
Now we can be biased in lots ofdifferent ways based on our
(11:55):
experiences, based on ourupbringing.
But oftentimes when bias istalked about, it's in the
context of our unconsciousbiases towards groups of people
and the stereotypes that we holdabout them.
This is the ultimate lazy brainmove.
Instead of evaluating a personas a complex individual, the
(12:19):
brain says, Oh, I recognize thispattern.
This person is X, so they mustbe Y.
We use our past experiences, orpriors, to predict the future.
If you were bitten by a dogonce, your brain creates a false
prior that all dogs aredangerous.
It saves processing power, butit destroys our ability to see
(12:43):
reality and people for who theyare.
It destroys our ability toevaluate each individual on a
case-by-case basis.
And the compounding of thissocietally causes commonly held
stereotypes and can even lead tothings oppression, racism,
sexism, and many other problemsthat we've dealt with throughout
(13:07):
history.
So the final of our lazy biasesis the binary bias.
Now, if you've listened to thispodcast, you've heard me rant
about this one.
The binary bias is actually oneof my personal pet peeves.
And it's because it is the polaropposite view of a major part of
(13:27):
one of my core fundamentals.
Lifelong learning in shades ofgray through curiosity and
critical thinking.
Well the binary bias is none ofthat.
It's quickly labeling things asgood or bad, right or wrong,
black or white, pretty or ugly,smart or stupid, and on and on
(13:51):
and on.
Complexity can be hard.
Nuance takes calories.
So we flatten the world into twochoices.
You're either with us or you'reagainst us.
That food is either a superfoodor it's a poison.
But real wisdom is usually foundin shades of grey, not the
(14:13):
binary.
But unfortunately, the binary iseasier and tends to feel safer.
Okay, we are now a good chunkthrough.
Take a deep breath.
Let's talk about why you act theway you do in groups.
(14:33):
We are social primates.
We are terrified of being kickedout of the tribe.
This drives the in group bias,which is really simple
tribalism.
We give preferential treatmentto those we perceive as being in
our group, and we are suspiciousof those who are outside our
(14:55):
group.
This isn't just about race orreligion or sex.
It happens with sports teams.
It happens with iPhone usersversus Android users.
Oh he's a Packers fan?
He must be a good guy.
We lower the bar for our tribeand raise the bar for everyone
else.
(15:15):
So this directly connects to thenext one.
The bandwagon effect.
The bandwagon effect is ifeveryone else is doing it, it
must be right.
You walk past two restaurants.
One is empty, one has a line outthe door.
Which one do you want to go to?
The one with the line.
Even though the one without aline will not have any weight,
(15:38):
and you will probably get a lessbusy server and better service,
while the one with the line youwill have to wait to be seated,
and it will likely be busy,causing a less great experience.
This is because social proof isa powerful drug.
It overrides your own logic.
You might not even like thatrestaurant, but your brain
(16:00):
assumes the crowd knowssomething you don't.
Now when it comes to arestaurant, they might be right.
I'm not saying that social proofdoesn't hold any weight.
I'm just arguing that it's notproof, and there are many times
where where we do things justbecause the rest of society is
doing things.
(16:20):
Even if there's no real weightto it.
That's right.
I'm looking at you six seven.
Alright, moving on.
And then there is the authoritybias.
This one is kinda scary.
It is our tendency to attributegreater accuracy to the opinion
of an authority figure, and bemore influenced by that opinion.
(16:44):
If someone wears a white labcoat or a police uniform, or
even just a really expensivesuit, we often shut off our
critical thinking.
There was a famously eerieexperiment, the Milgram
experiment, where people werewilling to shock others just
because a man in a lab coat toldthem to.
(17:05):
We have to be careful here notto fall into this bias.
Because the effects can beterrible.
Just because someone has a titledoesn't mean that they have the
truth.
We're all human and we all makemistakes.
Remember, everyone, includingauthority figures, has all of
(17:27):
these biases as well.
So think about your own life.
Who are you following justbecause everyone else is?
That's the bandwagon effect.
Who are you listening to justbecause they look important?
That's the authority bias.
Moving on to our second lastcluster of biases.
(17:48):
These are the three that keepyou stuck in a life that you
don't love.
The first is loss aversion.
Psychologists Daniel Kahnemanand Amos Tvarsky found that the
pain of losing ispsychologically about twice as
powerful as the pleasure ofgaining.
(18:10):
You will work harder to keep$100than you will to earn$100.
This bias leads us to playsmall.
We don't apply for the new jobbecause we're afraid of losing
the security of the old one.
We don't start the businessbecause we are afraid of losing
our savings.
We prioritize safety over growthevery single time unless we
(18:33):
consciously fight it.
The cousin of loss aversion isthe status quo bias.
This is the preference forthings to stay exactly the same.
Change requires effort.
Change requires risk.
So if we have a choice, weusually choose doing nothing,
(18:54):
not changing.
This is why you stay with thesame insurance company, even
though they keep raising yourrates.
This is why you stay in arelationship that has been dead
for two years.
Because doing something feelsrisky.
Doing nothing feels safe.
But in the long run, the statusquo is often the most dangerous
(19:16):
place to be.
Rounding out this trio, we havethe endowment effect, also
called the clutter trap.
What is it?
It's the tendency to valuesomething more highly simply
because you own it.
This is one of the main reasonswhy it's so hard to declutter
your house.
(19:37):
You think your old mug is worth$10 because it's yours, but if
you saw it in a store, you mightpay a dollar for it.
And you know what?
Heck, I'm gonna throw anotherone in.
While this one is technically alogical fallacy, depending on
who you ask, it also counts as acognitive bias.
(19:58):
The sunk cost fallacy.
The past investment trap.
The tendency to continue doingsomething just because you've
already invested money, effort,or time into it, even if the
current costs outweigh thebenefits.
Staying in a bad career becauseI spent four years in college
(20:19):
for this, or finishing aterrible book just because you
read the first fifty pages, orstaying in a relationship that
neither of you have been happyfor years and years simply
because of how long you've beenin it.
The sunk cost fallacy compoundson these other biases by adding
(20:41):
the time, money, or effortinvestment on top.
Okay, we're rounding the homestretch here.
I only have two biases left, andthey're in a category I'm just
gonna call miscellaneous.
The first is the survivorshipbias.
Focusing on the people or thingsthat survived a process and
(21:05):
overlooking those that don't.
This is the survivorship bias.
I'll give you an example.
We look at college dropouts likeSteve Jobs and Bill Gates, and
we think, wow, look at them,they're successful.
Dropping out is good forbusiness.
But we ignore the thousands ofdropouts who are broke,
(21:27):
struggling, and still have debt.
We only look at the winners, andthis distorts our view of what
it really takes to succeed.
And finally, we have the framingeffect.
This is very similar, butdifferent, to what we talked
about in the episode aboutframing.
(21:49):
The context which we talkedabout framing was using
different mental frames tochange your conscious
perspective of reality, becausethere are many ways to interpret
reality.
The framing effect is more abouthow the framing in which other
people relay information to youchanges the perspective that you
(22:14):
have on it.
It's sort of a reversal of it.
It's the same with how youportray information to others.
The framing effect is drawingdifferent conclusions from the
same information depending onhow that information is being
presented.
You tend to accept their frame.
You feel better buying meat thatis 90% fat-free than you would
(22:37):
if the meat said 10% fat.
Even though they're literallythe same thing.
This can be used for good or forbad.
How you frame your own lifeproblems determines how you
solve them.
But the way that other peopleframe things to you often
determines the automatic framethat you use.
(22:57):
So be aware.
Okay, that was a lot of biases.
I get it.
It felt like a bit of amarathon.
Especially between this episodeand the last one.
But we have covered just shy of30 different ways that your
brain lies to you.
We talked about ego-relatedbiases, like the self-serving
(23:22):
bias.
We've talked about how itaffects your memory with the
recency and availability bias.
We covered the effect of thetribe with bandwagon effect and
the authority bias.
We also covered a bias of fearwith loss aversion.
So what do we do with all this?
(23:42):
It can feel kind ofoverwhelming.
So here it is.
Start with acceptance.
Don't beat yourself up forhaving these hardwired biases.
Accept that they're going tohappen and that it's okay to be
human.
And then we move to where ouragency is.
(24:04):
In shades of gray, in takingcontrol of our conscious
perspective, in awareness,curiosity, and focusing on our
locus of control.
Because you are now aware of allof these different biases, you
can approach your own brain withcuriosity.
(24:25):
You can notice when they'rehappening, and take control of
your agency, your locus ofcontrol to redirect your
perspective of reality to a moreobjective way of looking at it.
So remember curiosity overcertainty, cognitive biases
(24:46):
thrive on certainty.
They thrive on making you thinkI know the truth.
I know what happened, I know whothey are, but life is rarely
that black and white.
It operates primarily in shadesof gray.
To hack these biases, you haveto get curious.
(25:07):
When you feel absolutely sureabout something, ask yourself,
wait, is this just availabilitybias or binary bias?
When you're terrified to make achange, ask is this just loss
aversion or status quo bias?
When you judge someoneinstantly, you can ask, am I
(25:29):
stereotyping them?
Or is this even the halo effect?
You will never fully get rid ofthese.
Like I said, they are hardwiredinto our brains.
But if you can spot them, youcan stop them from driving the
car.
You can put them in the backseat.
I really appreciate you stickingwith it and listening to this
(25:52):
deep dive.
This is not a topic that's oftencovered in personal development,
but I really do believe thatit's incredibly important, and
that having this awareness makesa huge difference in your life.
This is the heavy lifting ofpersonal development.
It's not just positiveaffirmations, it's debugging the
(26:16):
code.
If you enjoyed these episodes,please share it with a friend.
Break your in-group bias andinvite somebody new into our
circle.
And remember, you are enough,and you deserve to fill up your
(26:36):
inner cup with happiness, trueconfidence, and resilience.
Thank you for listening to theSage Solutions podcast.
Your time is valuable, and I'mso glad you choose to learn and
grow here with me.
(26:57):
If you haven't already, don'tforget to subscribe so you don't
miss out on more Sage advice.
One last thing.
The League Language.
This podcast is for educationaland informational purposes only.
(27:18):
No coaching client relationshipis formed.
It is not intended as asubstitute for the personalized
advice of a physician,professional coach,
psychotherapist, or otherqualified professional.
Welcome to the Sage Solutions podcast, where we talk
about all things personalgrowth, personal development,
and becoming your best self.
My name is David Sage, and I ama self-worth and confidence
coach with Sage CoachingSolutions.
If you were with us in the lastepisode, you know we started a
(00:26):
very specific, slightlyuncomfortable journey.
We began the process of poppingthe hood on the human brain to
take a look at the engine.
We talked about how our mindsaren't these perfect logical
supercomputers that we wish theywere.
They are messy, they areemotional, and they are full of
what we call cognitive biases.
(00:50):
Now, on record, there are over ahundred recorded cognitive
biases.
Some of them are incrediblyniche.
So in these two-part episodes,I'm trying to cover the ones
just the most important ones,the ones that have the biggest
impact on the way that you thinkin your daily life.
(01:12):
Last time we talked about how wetrick ourselves, how we filter
reality to confirm what wealready believe with the
confirmation bias.
And how after gaining just alittle bit of understanding, we
tend to think that we're smarterthan we are with the Dun and
Krueger effect.
But today, today is part two.
(01:33):
And if I had to give a broadsummary, if part one was more
about how you view yourself,part two is largely about how
you view the world and thepeople in it.
We have 17, yes, 17 more mentaltraps to cover today.
We are going to talk about whyyou cling to bad subscriptions,
(01:56):
why we trust people of authoritywithout question, and why losing
$20 hurts twice as much asfinding$20 on the ground feels
good.
Everyone has these cognitivebiases.
They are built into or hardwiredinto the way that we think.
(02:16):
Because from an evolutionarystandpoint, and by that I just
mean survival of the fittest,each and every one of them
served a purpose, a purpose thathelped keep us alive, fed, safe,
and having children.
The goal here isn't to make youfeel defective.
(02:39):
It's the opposite.
It's to give you the manual.
You can't fix a machine if youdon't know how it breaks.
So join me.
Get uncomfortable.
And let's get back into thebuilt-in glitches in our
operating system.
But before we get into it, ourgoal with this podcast is to
(03:03):
share free, helpful tools withyou and anyone you know who is
looking to improve their life.
So take action.
Subscribe and share this podcastwith them.
Now I know I said this waslargely about how we view
others, but there are stillseveral cognitive biases that we
(03:26):
haven't covered that apply tohow we view ourselves.
So I'm gonna start with the mefilter.
We all think that we are humble,observant people, but
biologically, from your point ofview, you are the protagonist of
your own movie.
The camera is always on you in afirst person perspective.
(03:48):
This leads to the egocentricbias.
Don't confuse the fact that weall have the egocentric bias
with being a narcissist.
They are different.
Egocentric bias is simply theinability to fully untangle your
own perspective from reality.
We touched on this in the lastepisode.
(04:09):
It's when you overestimate howmuch people are noticing you.
You spill coffee on your shirt,and you think everyone in the
office is staring at it.
In reality, people barely care.
They're too busy worrying aboutthe coffee stain on their shirt
and assuming the exact samethings.
We subconsciously assume thatour internal world is visible to
(04:32):
external reality.
And this bleeds right into theself-serving bias.
This is one of my favoritesbecause we all do it.
So here's the formula.
If I succeed, it's because of myskill, my hard work, my natural
talent, and my brilliance.
(04:53):
But if I fail, it must bebecause I just had bad luck or
somebody else screwed me over,maybe the economy or the
referee.
Think about it.
When you cut somebody off intraffic, it's because you're
late for a very importantmeeting.
You wouldn't have done it if youdidn't have a good reason.
(05:13):
It's situational.
At least hopefully that's yourreason.
But when someone cuts you off,we immediately assume it's
because they are a jerk.
It's their character, it's justwho they are.
This is the self-serving bias,protecting your self-esteem.
The part that's about ourselvesis the self-serving bias.
(05:37):
The flip side that we attributeto others has its own term
called the fundamentalattribution error, often called
the empathy killer.
It's the tendency to believethat what other people do
reflects who they are ratherthan the situation that they are
in.
If the waiter is rude, we assumethat he is a bad waiter or a
(06:02):
mean person.
But we fail to consider that hemight have just gotten yelled at
by his boss, and maybe he didn'tdeserve to be yelled at in that
situation.
Now if it was us, we would betaking that into consideration,
but we fail to consider that forothers.
Opening up these two biases ishuge for conflict resolution.
(06:26):
This flows directly into thenext bias that we're going to
talk about.
So let's look at how we judgeothers through this lens.
We have what's called the haloeffect.
This is where we take this isgenerally where we take one
positive trait about a personand we let it bleed into
(06:47):
everything else.
For instance, we see someone whois physically attractive, or
maybe very tall, or smart, andwe subconsciously assume that
they are also kind, smart, and agood leader.
(07:08):
We see this in hiring all thetime.
A candidate walks in, they arewell dressed and charming.
That's the halo.
So we ignore the fact that theydon't actually have the skills
for the job.
We assume they do because oftheir other positive attribute.
We let the halo blind us to thedetails.
(07:29):
But this can have a blindingrebound effect.
If there is a particularlynegative or annoying trait that
we notice right away, the haloeffect being one of the main
reasons why first impressionsmake such a big difference.
While a positive halo effect canlead to an upward spiral and
(07:50):
over projection of positivetraits onto someone, the same
but opposite is true of anegative halo effect.
A bad first impression thatshows a negative trait can start
a downward spiral and projectmany other negative traits onto
that person.
(08:11):
And the final bias in this groupwe have is the hindsight bias.
This is the I knew it all alongeffect.
You watch a sporting event.
Your team loses.
Immediately you say, I knew theywere going to lose.
I could just feel it.
No, you didn't.
You were hoping that they wouldwin.
(08:32):
In fact, at the start of thegame, you're like, we got this
one.
But once the event happens, yourbrain rewrites your memory to
make you look like a prophet.
We do this to make the worldfeel more predictable, to give
ourselves more confidence, sothat we can take action when we
need to.
If we knew it all along, thenthe world doesn't seem quite so
(08:56):
scary and random.
But unfortunately, butunfortunately, most of the time,
it's a lie that we tellourselves.
So ask yourself, where are yourewriting history to make
yourself look smarter than youwere?
Where are you using theself-serving bias or the halo
(09:17):
effect in your life?
Alright, we're going to move onto the second cluster, which I'm
going to call the lazy brain.
Now your brain isn't actuallythat lazy.
It burns about 20% of yourbody's calories.
In fact, it's kind of an energyhog.
So whenever it can take ashortcut to save energy, it
(09:40):
will.
And the biggest shortcut that wetake is the availability bias.
This is the tendency to judgethe probability of an event
based on how easily an examplecomes to mind.
If I ask you, is the world moredangerous today than 100 years
ago?
(10:00):
Most people say yes.
Why?
Because you saw a crime on thenews this morning.
It is available to your memory.
And because over timeinformation has become much more
available, especially negativeinformation because that's what
gets views and news stationsknow this because of our
(10:24):
negativity bias, we see it moreand more.
Not to mention the echo chambersof social media.
Because it is available to yourmemory, you don't see the
millions of people who didn'tget robbed today.
You just remember that readilyavailable story from the news.
When in the past, violence andviolent crimes were much, much
(10:50):
higher.
Another example is that peopleare terrified of shark attacks,
because they are both memorableand available in movies and
media, but they aren't afraid ofvending machines, which
statistically kill more peopleper year by falling on them than
sharks do by eating people.
(11:11):
Similar to this is the recencybias.
We give way more weight to themost recent information.
If an employee does a great jobfor 11 months but messes up in
December, guess what theirperformance review looks like in
January?
It looks like the mistake.
We forget the history becausethe recent data is so much
(11:33):
louder.
And oftentimes more available.
Now let's get into something alittle bit stickier.
False priors, which is a fancyterm for stereotypes.
This is what most people thinkof when they hear the word bias.
Now we can be biased in lots ofdifferent ways based on our
(11:55):
experiences, based on ourupbringing.
But oftentimes when bias istalked about, it's in the
context of our unconsciousbiases towards groups of people
and the stereotypes that we holdabout them.
This is the ultimate lazy brainmove.
Instead of evaluating a personas a complex individual, the
(12:19):
brain says, Oh, I recognize thispattern.
This person is X, so they mustbe Y.
We use our past experiences, orpriors, to predict the future.
If you were bitten by a dogonce, your brain creates a false
prior that all dogs aredangerous.
It saves processing power, butit destroys our ability to see
(12:43):
reality and people for who theyare.
It destroys our ability toevaluate each individual on a
case-by-case basis.
And the compounding of thissocietally causes commonly held
stereotypes and can even lead tothings oppression, racism,
sexism, and many other problemsthat we've dealt with throughout
(13:07):
history.
So the final of our lazy biasesis the binary bias.
Now, if you've listened to thispodcast, you've heard me rant
about this one.
The binary bias is actually oneof my personal pet peeves.
And it's because it is the polaropposite view of a major part of
(13:27):
one of my core fundamentals.
Lifelong learning in shades ofgray through curiosity and
critical thinking.
Well the binary bias is none ofthat.
It's quickly labeling things asgood or bad, right or wrong,
black or white, pretty or ugly,smart or stupid, and on and on
(13:51):
and on.
Complexity can be hard.
Nuance takes calories.
So we flatten the world into twochoices.
You're either with us or you'reagainst us.
That food is either a superfoodor it's a poison.
But real wisdom is usually foundin shades of grey, not the
(14:13):
binary.
But unfortunately, the binary iseasier and tends to feel safer.
Okay, we are now a good chunkthrough.
Take a deep breath.
Let's talk about why you act theway you do in groups.
(14:33):
We are social primates.
We are terrified of being kickedout of the tribe.
This drives the in group bias,which is really simple
tribalism.
We give preferential treatmentto those we perceive as being in
our group, and we are suspiciousof those who are outside our
(14:55):
group.
This isn't just about race orreligion or sex.
It happens with sports teams.
It happens with iPhone usersversus Android users.
Oh he's a Packers fan?
He must be a good guy.
We lower the bar for our tribeand raise the bar for everyone
else.
(15:15):
So this directly connects to thenext one.
The bandwagon effect.
The bandwagon effect is ifeveryone else is doing it, it
must be right.
You walk past two restaurants.
One is empty, one has a line outthe door.
Which one do you want to go to?
The one with the line.
Even though the one without aline will not have any weight,
(15:38):
and you will probably get a lessbusy server and better service,
while the one with the line youwill have to wait to be seated,
and it will likely be busy,causing a less great experience.
This is because social proof isa powerful drug.
It overrides your own logic.
You might not even like thatrestaurant, but your brain
(16:00):
assumes the crowd knowssomething you don't.
Now when it comes to arestaurant, they might be right.
I'm not saying that social proofdoesn't hold any weight.
I'm just arguing that it's notproof, and there are many times
where where we do things justbecause the rest of society is
doing things.
(16:20):
Even if there's no real weightto it.
That's right.
I'm looking at you six seven.
Alright, moving on.
And then there is the authoritybias.
This one is kinda scary.
It is our tendency to attributegreater accuracy to the opinion
of an authority figure, and bemore influenced by that opinion.
(16:44):
If someone wears a white labcoat or a police uniform, or
even just a really expensivesuit, we often shut off our
critical thinking.
There was a famously eerieexperiment, the Milgram
experiment, where people werewilling to shock others just
because a man in a lab coat toldthem to.
(17:05):
We have to be careful here notto fall into this bias.
Because the effects can beterrible.
Just because someone has a titledoesn't mean that they have the
truth.
We're all human and we all makemistakes.
Remember, everyone, includingauthority figures, has all of
(17:27):
these biases as well.
So think about your own life.
Who are you following justbecause everyone else is?
That's the bandwagon effect.
Who are you listening to justbecause they look important?
That's the authority bias.
Moving on to our second lastcluster of biases.
(17:48):
These are the three that keepyou stuck in a life that you
don't love.
The first is loss aversion.
Psychologists Daniel Kahnemanand Amos Tvarsky found that the
pain of losing ispsychologically about twice as
powerful as the pleasure ofgaining.
(18:10):
You will work harder to keep$100than you will to earn$100.
This bias leads us to playsmall.
We don't apply for the new jobbecause we're afraid of losing
the security of the old one.
We don't start the businessbecause we are afraid of losing
our savings.
We prioritize safety over growthevery single time unless we
(18:33):
consciously fight it.
The cousin of loss aversion isthe status quo bias.
This is the preference forthings to stay exactly the same.
Change requires effort.
Change requires risk.
So if we have a choice, weusually choose doing nothing,
(18:54):
not changing.
This is why you stay with thesame insurance company, even
though they keep raising yourrates.
This is why you stay in arelationship that has been dead
for two years.
Because doing something feelsrisky.
Doing nothing feels safe.
But in the long run, the statusquo is often the most dangerous
(19:16):
place to be.
Rounding out this trio, we havethe endowment effect, also
called the clutter trap.
What is it?
It's the tendency to valuesomething more highly simply
because you own it.
This is one of the main reasonswhy it's so hard to declutter
your house.
(19:37):
You think your old mug is worth$10 because it's yours, but if
you saw it in a store, you mightpay a dollar for it.
And you know what?
Heck, I'm gonna throw anotherone in.
While this one is technically alogical fallacy, depending on
who you ask, it also counts as acognitive bias.
(19:58):
The sunk cost fallacy.
The past investment trap.
The tendency to continue doingsomething just because you've
already invested money, effort,or time into it, even if the
current costs outweigh thebenefits.
Staying in a bad career becauseI spent four years in college
(20:19):
for this, or finishing aterrible book just because you
read the first fifty pages, orstaying in a relationship that
neither of you have been happyfor years and years simply
because of how long you've beenin it.
The sunk cost fallacy compoundson these other biases by adding
(20:41):
the time, money, or effortinvestment on top.
Okay, we're rounding the homestretch here.
I only have two biases left, andthey're in a category I'm just
gonna call miscellaneous.
The first is the survivorshipbias.
Focusing on the people or thingsthat survived a process and
(21:05):
overlooking those that don't.
This is the survivorship bias.
I'll give you an example.
We look at college dropouts likeSteve Jobs and Bill Gates, and
we think, wow, look at them,they're successful.
Dropping out is good forbusiness.
But we ignore the thousands ofdropouts who are broke,
(21:27):
struggling, and still have debt.
We only look at the winners, andthis distorts our view of what
it really takes to succeed.
And finally, we have the framingeffect.
This is very similar, butdifferent, to what we talked
about in the episode aboutframing.
(21:49):
The context which we talkedabout framing was using
different mental frames tochange your conscious
perspective of reality, becausethere are many ways to interpret
reality.
The framing effect is more abouthow the framing in which other
people relay information to youchanges the perspective that you
(22:14):
have on it.
It's sort of a reversal of it.
It's the same with how youportray information to others.
The framing effect is drawingdifferent conclusions from the
same information depending onhow that information is being
presented.
You tend to accept their frame.
You feel better buying meat thatis 90% fat-free than you would
(22:37):
if the meat said 10% fat.
Even though they're literallythe same thing.
This can be used for good or forbad.
How you frame your own lifeproblems determines how you
solve them.
But the way that other peopleframe things to you often
determines the automatic framethat you use.
(22:57):
So be aware.
Okay, that was a lot of biases.
I get it.
It felt like a bit of amarathon.
Especially between this episodeand the last one.
But we have covered just shy of30 different ways that your
brain lies to you.
We talked about ego-relatedbiases, like the self-serving
(23:22):
bias.
We've talked about how itaffects your memory with the
recency and availability bias.
We covered the effect of thetribe with bandwagon effect and
the authority bias.
We also covered a bias of fearwith loss aversion.
So what do we do with all this?
(23:42):
It can feel kind ofoverwhelming.
So here it is.
Start with acceptance.
Don't beat yourself up forhaving these hardwired biases.
Accept that they're going tohappen and that it's okay to be
human.
And then we move to where ouragency is.
(24:04):
In shades of gray, in takingcontrol of our conscious
perspective, in awareness,curiosity, and focusing on our
locus of control.
Because you are now aware of allof these different biases, you
can approach your own brain withcuriosity.
(24:25):
You can notice when they'rehappening, and take control of
your agency, your locus ofcontrol to redirect your
perspective of reality to a moreobjective way of looking at it.
So remember curiosity overcertainty, cognitive biases
(24:46):
thrive on certainty.
They thrive on making you thinkI know the truth.
I know what happened, I know whothey are, but life is rarely
that black and white.
It operates primarily in shadesof gray.
To hack these biases, you haveto get curious.
(25:07):
When you feel absolutely sureabout something, ask yourself,
wait, is this just availabilitybias or binary bias?
When you're terrified to make achange, ask is this just loss
aversion or status quo bias?
When you judge someoneinstantly, you can ask, am I
(25:29):
stereotyping them?
Or is this even the halo effect?
You will never fully get rid ofthese.
Like I said, they are hardwiredinto our brains.
But if you can spot them, youcan stop them from driving the
car.
You can put them in the backseat.
I really appreciate you stickingwith it and listening to this
(25:52):
deep dive.
This is not a topic that's oftencovered in personal development,
but I really do believe thatit's incredibly important, and
that having this awareness makesa huge difference in your life.
This is the heavy lifting ofpersonal development.
It's not just positiveaffirmations, it's debugging the
(26:16):
code.
If you enjoyed these episodes,please share it with a friend.
Break your in-group bias andinvite somebody new into our
circle.
And remember, you are enough,and you deserve to fill up your
(26:36):
inner cup with happiness, trueconfidence, and resilience.
Thank you for listening to theSage Solutions podcast.
Your time is valuable, and I'mso glad you choose to learn and
grow here with me.
(26:57):
If you haven't already, don'tforget to subscribe so you don't
miss out on more Sage advice.
One last thing.
The League Language.
This podcast is for educationaland informational purposes only.
(27:18):
No coaching client relationshipis formed.
It is not intended as asubstitute for the personalized
advice of a physician,professional coach,
psychotherapist, or otherqualified professional.
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