Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
Chapter 1 of 10
Why we have them
Shortcuts with a failure mode.
Fast and slow
Most judgements are made quickly and automatically, because deliberating about everything is impossible. Those shortcuts are usually right, and they fail in patterns rather than at random.
- A bias is a systematic error, not an occasional mistake.
- Knowing the pattern lets you build a check where it matters.
Not a character flaw
Experts show the same biases inside their own fields. Treating them as ignorance is itself a bias, and it stops people building the defences that work.