Listverse published this very interesting list of the Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought:
10 Gambler’s Fallacy
The Gambler’s fallacy is the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not. Certain probabilities, such as getting a heads when you flip a (fair) coin, are always the same.
9 Reactivity
Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed. When individuals know they are being watched, they are motivated to change their behavior, generally to make themselves look better.
8 Pareidolia
Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as significant. Seeing clouds in the shapes of dinosaurs, Jesus on a hot pocket, or hearing messages when a record is played backward are common examples of pareidolia.
7 Self-fulfilling Prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviors that obtain results that confirm existing attitudes. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to become true.
6 Halo effect
The Halo effect is the tendency for an individual’s positive or negative trait to “spill over” to other areas of their personality in others’ perceptions of them. This bias happens a lot in employee performance appraisals. For example: my employee, Biff, has been late to work the past three days; I notice this and conclude that Biff is lazy and does not care about his job.
5 Herd Mentality
Herd mentality is the tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict. Also known as “Mob Mentality,” this is, at its most common form, peer pressure.
4 Reactance
Reactance is the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice.
3 Hyperbolic Discounting
Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for people to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff. Put simply, most people would choose to get 20 dollars today instead of getting 100 dollars one year from today.
2 Escalation of Commitment
Escalation of commitment is the tendency for people to continue to support previously unsuccessful endeavors. Sometimes individuals feel compelled not only to stick with their decision, but also to further invest in that decision because they have sunk costs.
1 Placebo Effect
The Placebo effect is when an ineffectual substance that is believed to have healing properties produces the desired effect. Especially common with medications, the placebo effect has been observed when individuals given a sugar pill for a real ailment report improvement.
