It is a glitch in our thinking that occurs when we place too much weight on past events, believing that they will have an effect on future outcomes.

The gambler's fallacy

This is when we mistakenly think that eventually, our luck has to change for the better.Somehow, we find it impossible to accept bad results and give up—we often insist on keeping at it until we get positive results, regardless of what the odds of that happening actually are.

The positive expectation bias

We surround ourselves with it: We tend to like people who think like us; if we agree with someone's beliefs, we're more likely to be friends with them.This makes sense, but it means that we subconsciously begin to ignore or dismiss anything that threatens our world views

Information that matches our beliefs

It essentially works like this: rather than making a decision based on pure value for investment (time, money, etc.), we factor in comparative value—that is, how much value an option offers when compared to another option.

The anchoring effect

It's a thinking mistake and it occurs when we confuse selection factors with results. Professional swimmers don't have perfect bodies because they train extensively. Rather, they are good swimmers because of their physiques.

The "swimmer's body illusion"

It plays on this tendency of ours to emphasize loss over gain. The term sunk cost refers to any cost that has been paid already and cannot be recovered. The reason we can't ignore the cost, even though it's already been paid, is that we're wired to feel loss far more strongly than gain.

The sunk cost fallacy

It happens when we rationalize our purchases, even if we're not satisfied with what we've got.<div><div>We're pretty good at convincing ourselves that those flashy, useless, badly thought-out purchases are necessary after all. </div></div>

The Buyer's Stockholm Syndrome

We believe our memories more than facts. Our memories are highly fallible and plastic. And yet, we tend to subconsciously favor them over objective facts. Don't base a factual decision on your gut instinct without at least exploring the data objectively first.

Memories vs. facts

Get ready to have your mind blown. I was seriously shocked at some of these mistakes in thinking that I subconsciously make all the time. Obviously, none of them are huge, life-threatening mistakes, but they are really surprising and avoiding them could help us to make more rational, sensible decisions.

The anchoring effect

Similar ideas to The anchoring effect

Anchoring Effect

Emotional Reasoning

Relativity Trap