Cognitive Bias Explorer

You watch the news, read blogs, study research – and everywhere you see the same thing? It seems like solid information, but if all sources refer to the same origin, it’s just an echo, not verification.

You receive new information, but it barely changes your opinion? That’s Conservatism Bias – the tendency to insufficiently revise one's beliefs even when presented with new evidence.

Do you see an object and think it can only be used for its intended purpose? That’s Functional Fixedness – the tendency to perceive an object only in its traditional role, ignoring other possible uses.

Do you see patterns where none exist? That’s Clustering Illusion – the tendency to overestimate the importance of small streaks, clusters, or runs in large sets of random data.

Do you think two events are connected when it’s just coincidence? That’s Illusory Correlation – the tendency to see a relationship between unrelated things.

Do you see faces in clouds or hear ‘hidden messages’ in music? That’s pareidolia – the tendency to perceive random images or sounds as meaningful.

Do you assume animals think and feel just like humans? That’s Anthropocentric Thinking – the tendency to use human experiences as the basis for understanding everything else, even if it operates on completely different p…

Do you think your cat feels offended or that a robot has emotions? That’s Anthropomorphism – the tendency to attribute human traits, emotions, or intentions to animals, objects, or abstract concepts.

Do you notice only what’s on your mind? That’s Attentional Bias – the tendency to focus on information related to your current thoughts or concerns while ignoring everything else.

Did you recently learn about something and now it seems to be everywhere? That’s Frequency Illusion (also known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon) – a cognitive bias that makes us think something appears more frequently t…

Do some words or concepts seem to connect faster in your mind than others? That’s Implicit Association – the effect where the speed of linking words depends on how closely they seem related, even if the connection is sub…

Do you focus only on the most striking things while ignoring the less noticeable ones? That’s Salience Bias – the tendency to concentrate on the most prominent details, even when they are not the most important.

Are you making conclusions based on a sample that doesn’t represent the whole picture? That’s Selection Bias – an error that occurs when data is not randomly selected and doesn’t reflect reality.

Do you think success is just a matter of making the right choices because all you see are winners? That’s Survivorship Bias – the tendency to focus on those who ‘made it’ while ignoring those who didn’t because they’re i…

Do you trust numbers more than anything else? That’s Quantification Bias – the tendency to give more weight to measurable data while ignoring what can’t be easily quantified.

Does your daily commute feel shorter than a new route of the same distance? That’s Well-Travelled Road Effect – the tendency to underestimate travel time on familiar routes and overestimate it on unfamiliar ones.

Do you believe disasters only happen to others, not you? That’s Normalcy Bias – the tendency to ignore or underestimate the likelihood of rare but serious events just because they haven’t happened before.

Does something feel more valuable just because you worked hard for it? That’s Effort Justification – the tendency to overvalue things that required significant effort, even if the outcome isn’t objectively worth it.

Do you like someone more after doing them a favor? That’s Ben Franklin Effect – when we’ve already helped someone, we’re more likely to help them again, convincing ourselves that we like them.

Do you double down on your beliefs when confronted with contradicting evidence? That’s Backfire Effect – the tendency to not just reject inconvenient facts, but to become even more convinced of your original belief.

Do you test a hypothesis only in ways that confirm it, rather than trying to disprove it? That’s Congruence Bias – the tendency to seek evidence that supports an idea while ignoring alternative explanations.

Do you only notice results that confirm your hypothesis? That’s Experimenter’s Bias – the tendency to give more weight to data that aligns with expectations while downplaying or ignoring conflicting results.

Does a researcher believe in a certain outcome and unconsciously shape the data to fit? That’s Observer-Expectancy Effect – when an experimenter unintentionally influences results by modifying the experiment or interpret…

Do you notice only what confirms your expectations while ignoring everything else? That’s Selective Perception – the tendency to filter information through existing beliefs and disregard anything that doesn’t fit.

Do you believe most people share your opinions and choices? That’s False Consensus Effect – the tendency to overestimate how much others agree with you.

Do you believe your ideas, talents, or projects are one of a kind, while others are just average? That’s False Uniqueness Bias – the tendency to overestimate how special you are and underestimate how many others share si…

Have you ever read a horoscope or personality test and thought, “This is so me!”? That’s Forer (Barnum) Effect – the tendency to believe vague descriptions are uniquely accurate for you, even though they apply to most pe…

Do you think you see through people, but they don’t understand you? That’s Illusion of Asymmetric Insight – the tendency to overestimate how well you know others while believing they don’t understand you as well.

Do you believe your actions influence events that are actually out of your control? That’s Illusion of Control – the tendency to overestimate your ability to manage external circumstances.

Do you think others understand your thoughts and emotions as clearly as you do? That’s Illusion of Transparency – the tendency to overestimate how much others perceive your mental state and how well you understand theirs…

Do you believe your judgments are accurate just because the available information fits together well? That’s Illusion of Validity – the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s judgments, especially when data appea…

Do you think you drive better than the average driver? Or that your decisions are more rational than most people’s? That’s Illusory Superiority – the tendency to overestimate your good qualities and underestimate your fl…

Do you believe that people act selfishly while your own actions are purely rational and fair? That’s Naïve Cynicism – the tendency to assume others are biased and self-serving, while seeing yourself as objective and sinc…

Do you believe your views are based on objective facts, while those who disagree are simply misinformed or biased? That’s Naïve Realism – the tendency to think you see reality as it truly is, while others are clouded by …

Do you say you’re 99% sure about something, only to find out you were wrong? That’s Overconfidence Effect – the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of your knowledge and decisions, even when mistakes are likely.

Did you promise to finish on time, but missed the deadline again? That’s Planning Fallacy – the tendency to underestimate how long a task will take, even when you’ve made the same mistake before.

Do you think you can resist temptation, but end up giving in anyway? That’s Restraint Bias – the tendency to overestimate your ability to maintain self-control.

Do you believe that advertising, propaganda, or news influence others, but not you? That’s Third-Person Effect – the tendency to think mass media shapes other people’s opinions while leaving your own perception untouched…

Do you trust vivid examples more than dry statistics? That’s Base Rate Fallacy – when general probabilities are ignored in favor of specific cases, even when statistics provide a more accurate prediction.

Do you feel more moved by the story of one child in need than by statistics about millions suffering? That’s Compassion Fade – the tendency to emotionally react to personal stories while ignoring large-scale suffering.

Do detailed stories seem more likely than simple ones? That’s Conjunction Fallacy – the tendency to assume that a specific combination of conditions is more probable than a single condition, even though that’s statistica…

Does a long enjoyable experience feel no better than a short one if it ended badly? That’s Duration Neglect – the tendency to judge experiences based on their final moments rather than their overall length.

Do you promise to start exercising next week, only to push it back when the time comes? That’s Hyperbolic Discounting – the tendency to prefer immediate rewards over long-term benefits, even if your future self will regr…

Do you make conclusions based on just a few examples, assuming they reflect reality? That’s Insensitivity to Sample Size – the tendency to underestimate how much small samples can distort results.

Do you prefer a small but high-quality reward over a larger but less impressive one? That’s Less-Is-Better Effect – the tendency to see a smaller set as more valuable when judged separately, but to prefer the larger set …

Would you pay the same amount to help 2,000 people as you would for 20,000? That’s Scope Neglect – the tendency to respond emotionally rather than rationally, failing to account for the actual size of a problem.

Do you prefer eliminating a small risk entirely rather than significantly reducing a bigger one? That’s Zero-Risk Bias – the tendency to feel safer when a risk is reduced to zero, even if it’s not the most rational choic…

Do you feel like strange events happen for a reason, as if someone is behind them? That’s Agent Detection Bias – the tendency to see intent and intelligence behind random events, even when there’s no real agent involved.

Do you follow your GPS even when it leads you into a dead end? That’s Automation Bias – the tendency to over-rely on technology, even when it’s wrong.

Do you assume engineers are mostly men and teachers are mostly women? That’s Gender Bias – implicit assumptions that lead us to perceive people differently based on gender, even when there’s no rational basis for it.

Do you think someone is flirting when they’re just being polite? Or do you miss obvious signals of interest? That’s Sexual Perception Bias – the tendency to either overestimate or underestimate someone’s romantic interes…

Do you think programmers are introverted and athletes aren’t smart? That’s Stereotyping – the tendency to expect people to have certain traits just because they belong to a group, even when you have no actual information…

Do you stick to your beliefs even when new facts contradict them? That’s Conservatism Bias – the tendency to underweight new information and fail to update beliefs sufficiently.

Do you hold a screwdriver and not realize you can use it to open a bottle? That’s Functional Fixedness – the tendency to see objects only in their usual roles, even when they have other possible uses.

When you have a hammer, does everything look like a nail? That’s Law of the Instrument – the tendency to over-rely on familiar tools or methods while ignoring better alternatives.

Do you choose between two options, but then a third one appears, making the second option look better? That’s Decoy Effect – a marketing trick designed to push you toward a specific choice.

Do you leave checkboxes as they are when filling out a form? That’s Default Effect – the tendency to go with pre-set options, even if an alternative might be better.

Is it easier to spend a handful of coins than a single large bill? That’s Denomination Effect – the tendency to spend money more easily when it’s in smaller denominations.

Do two smartphones seem drastically different in a store, but once you buy one, the difference feels minimal? That’s Distinction Bias – the tendency to perceive differences as more significant when evaluating options sid…

Do you think you can run a business without understanding human psychology? That’s Domain Neglect Bias – the tendency to ignore relevant knowledge from other fields when solving complex problems.

Do you build complex systems without considering how real people will use them? That’s Context Neglect Bias – the tendency to solve technological challenges without accounting for human behavior and needs.

Does it seem like successful people are less kind because there aren’t many kind, successful people? That’s Berkson’s Paradox – a logical fallacy where an observed relationship between variables appears due to selection …

Do you keep watching a boring movie just because you’ve already spent an hour on it? That’s Escalation of Commitment (Sunk Cost Fallacy) – the tendency to keep investing in a failing decision just because too much has al…

Do you think that just knowing about cognitive biases makes you immune to them? That’s G.I. Joe Fallacy – the belief that awareness of a bias is enough to eliminate its effects. Unfortunately, self-control doesn’t work t…

Do you think that after flipping five heads in a row, tails is ‘due’ to happen next? That’s Gambler’s Fallacy – the mistaken belief that past events influence future probabilities, even when each event is independent.

Did you make three shots in a row and now feel like the fourth is more likely to go in? That’s Hot-Hand Fallacy – the belief that after a streak of success, your chances of continued success increase, even when events ar…

Have you ever stuck to a route even after realizing there’s a shorter path? That’s Plan Continuation Bias – the tendency to stick to an initial plan, even when the situation has changed and it no longer makes sense.

Do events seem more likely when broken into parts than when considered as a whole? That’s Subadditivity Effect – the tendency to judge the probability of separate components as higher than the probability of the entire e…

Do you think increasing speed from 80 to 100 km/h saves a lot of time, while 20 to 40 km/h barely makes a difference? That’s Time-Saving Bias – the tendency to overestimate time saved at high speeds and underestimate tim…

Do you think that if someone gets richer, others must get poorer? That’s Zero-Sum Bias – the mistaken belief that one person’s gain must come at another’s expense, even when resources can grow.

Do you avoid trying a new restaurant because there are no reviews, even though it might be better? That’s Ambiguity Effect – the tendency to avoid options where the probability of success is unknown, even if they could b…

Do you sell stocks that have gained value but hold onto losing ones, hoping they’ll recover? That’s Disposition Effect – the tendency to cash in on winners too early and hold onto losers for too long.

Do you stress over an upcoming exam more than you actually suffer during it? That’s Dread Aversion – the tendency to experience fear of an unpleasant event much more intensely than the pleasure of anticipating a good one…

Would you sell something only for much more than you’d be willing to pay for it? That’s Endowment Effect – the tendency to overvalue things just because you own them.

Does losing $100 feel much worse than finding $100 feels good? That’s Loss Aversion – the tendency to feel losses more intensely than equivalent gains.

Do you prefer a guaranteed win but take risks to avoid losses? That’s Pseudocertainty Effect – the tendency to be cautious when things are good but take risks when things go bad.

Do you stick with your old phone even though a new one would be better? That’s Status Quo Bias – the tendency to resist change and keep things as they are, even when change would be beneficial.

Do you believe that if something has been around for a long time, it must be good? That’s System Justification – the tendency to defend the status quo, even when it’s unfair or personally harmful.

Does a beginner confidently explain a complex topic while an expert hesitates? That’s Dunning–Kruger Effect – the tendency for incompetent people to overestimate themselves, while true experts underestimate their knowled…

Do you believe you'll always eat healthy, but then grab fast food when hungry? That’s Hot-Cold Empathy Gap – the tendency to underestimate how emotions, fatigue, or cravings will influence your behavior.

Do you think you’ll learn a new language in a month but doubt you can pass a simple test? That’s Hard–Easy Effect – the tendency to overestimate performance on hard tasks and underestimate it on easy ones.

Do you think you understand how a fridge works but struggle to explain what happens inside? That’s Illusion of Explanatory Depth – the tendency to overestimate your knowledge of a topic until you actually have to explain…

Do you achieve success but still feel like you're just faking it? That’s Impostor Syndrome – the tendency to downplay your achievements and fear that others will soon ‘expose’ you as incompetent.

Do you believe you see things as they truly are, while others are biased? That’s Objectivity Illusion – the tendency to think you’re rational and unbiased, but only notice cognitive errors in others.

Do you only find arguments convincing when their conclusion aligns with your beliefs? That’s Belief Bias – the tendency to judge an argument’s strength based on how believable its conclusion seems, rather than its actual…

Do statements seem more true the more you hear them? That’s Illusory Truth Effect – the tendency to believe information simply because it’s familiar or easy to process.

Do phrases like ‘If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit’ sound more convincing just because they rhyme? That’s Rhyme as Reason Effect – the tendency to perceive rhyming statements as more truthful, even when they lack…

Do you read a horoscope and think, ‘That’s so me!’? That’s Subjective Validation – the tendency to believe information is true if it aligns with your beliefs or desires, even if it’s vague or coincidental.

Do you feel the need to take action, even when waiting would be smarter? That’s Action Bias – the tendency to act in any situation, even when inaction would be more effective.

Do you think improving something always means adding more? That’s Additive Bias – the tendency to solve problems by adding new elements, even when removing something would work better.

When faced with a complex question, your brain might unknowingly replace it with an easier one. That’s Attribute Substitution – the tendency to answer a simpler question instead of the actual, more difficult one.

Do you struggle to explain something in simple terms because it’s obvious to you? That’s Curse of Knowledge – a cognitive bias where knowledgeable people find it hard to see things from the perspective of those who don’t…

Do you think the past was better, people were kinder, and life was simpler? That’s Declinism – the tendency to romanticize the past and believe the future will only get worse.

Do you think you’ve reached your final form and won’t change much in the future? That’s End-of-History Illusion – the belief that you will stay the same, even though you’ve changed a lot in the past.

Did you expect a disaster, but nothing happened? Or thought something would change your life, but it turned out underwhelming? That’s Exaggerated Expectation – the tendency to predict more extreme outcomes than what actu…

Do you see a cute robot and assume it’s smart and friendly? Or if it looks mechanical, do you think it’s incapable? That’s Form-Function Attribution Bias – the tendency to judge a robot’s abilities based on appearance ra…

Do you believe your pain is real and objective, but others are just exaggerating? That’s Fundamental Pain Bias – the tendency to believe you report your own pain accurately while assuming others overstate theirs.

Do you feel satisfied with your salary and think you earn more than you actually do? Or, if you're unhappy, does your salary seem smaller than it really is? That’s Hedonic Recall Bias – the tendency to overestimate or un…

Do past events seem obvious in hindsight? That’s Hindsight Bias – the tendency to see past events as more predictable than they actually were.

Do you think winning the lottery will make you happy forever? Or that a failure will leave you devastated for months? That’s Impact Bias – the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of future emotions.

Do you believe more information always leads to better decisions? That’s Information Bias – the tendency to seek data even when it won’t impact your choice or actions.

Do you feel the world is more frustrating when you're hungry or tired? That’s Hungry Judge Effect – the tendency to judge situations more harshly or leniently depending on your physical state.

Do you feel richer when your salary increases, even if prices rise even faster? That’s Money Illusion – the tendency to focus on the nominal value of money rather than its actual purchasing power.

Do you feel like one good deed gives you a free pass for less ethical behavior? That’s Moral Credential Effect – the tendency to believe that doing good earns you the right to be less moral in the future.

Did you make the right decision, but due to bad luck, you now refuse to make it again? That’s Non-Adaptive Choice Switching – the tendency to avoid an optimal choice after one bad outcome.

Have you noticed that the more you see something, the more you like it? That’s Mere Exposure Effect – the tendency to prefer things just because they are familiar.

Do you believe that doing nothing is safer, even if it leads to bad outcomes? That’s Omission Bias – the tendency to view harmful actions as worse than equally harmful inactions.

Do you believe bad things happen to others, but not to you? That’s Optimism Bias – the tendency to underestimate negative events and overestimate positive outcomes.

Do you avoid checking your bank balance because you’re afraid of what you’ll see? That’s Ostrich Effect – the tendency to ignore negative information to avoid discomfort.

Do you think a decision was good just because it led to a positive outcome? That’s Outcome Bias – the tendency to judge the quality of a decision based on its final result rather than the logic behind it.

Do you always expect the worst, even when there’s no real reason to? That’s Pessimism Bias – the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of negative events, especially in people prone to depression.

Do you think, ‘Better a little now than more later’? That’s Present Bias – the tendency to overvalue short-term rewards and underestimate long-term consequences.

Do you notice animals, buildings, and cars but overlook trees and flowers? That’s Plant Blindness – the tendency to ignore plants in the environment and underestimate their importance to life on Earth.

Do you believe it’s better to invest in preventing problems than detecting and responding to them? That’s Prevention Bias – the tendency to overvalue prevention, even when detection and response are equally effective.

Do you spread your choices across different options, even when one is clearly better? That’s Probability Matching – the tendency to match choices to probabilities instead of always picking the best option.

Do you believe every new technology is the future while ignoring its flaws? That’s Pro-Innovation Bias – the tendency to overestimate the benefits of innovations while underestimating their limitations.

Do you think your future self will have the same preferences, habits, and values as you do now? That’s Projection Bias – the tendency to overestimate how much your future self will align with your current desires.

Do you struggle to believe that major events can happen by chance? That’s Proportionality Bias – the tendency to assume that big events must have equally big causes, even when they don’t.

Have you recently noticed a word, trend, or idea and assumed it’s brand new? That’s Recency Illusion – the tendency to believe something is new just because you’ve only recently become aware of it, even if it has existed…

Do you think your decisions are objective, but they follow a recurring pattern of errors? That’s Systematic Bias – when deviations in judgment or data are not random but follow a predictable trend.

Do you act more recklessly when you feel safe, even though the risk remains? That’s Peltzman Effect – the tendency to offset increased safety by engaging in riskier behavior.

Do you focus so much on numbers that you forget what they represent? That’s Surrogation – the tendency to mistake a metric for the actual goal, leading people to optimize the measure rather than achieving real success.

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? That’s Teleological Bias – the tendency to assign purpose or intention to events and objects, even when they arise randomly or without deliberate design.

Do you assume things will stay the same just because they’ve always been stable? That’s Turkey Illusion – the tendency to ignore the risk of sudden change just because the past has been smooth.

Do you think a portion is the ‘right amount’ just because it’s served that way? That’s Unit Bias – the tendency to assume a standard serving size is ideal, even when it’s not.

Do you use numbers in a new context just because they exist? That’s Value Selection Bias – the tendency to rely on available numerical data even when logical reasoning or recalculation is needed.

Can you tell the difference between 1 kg and 2 kg, but not between 101 kg and 102 kg? That’s Weber–Fechner Law – the difficulty in noticing small changes when dealing with large quantities.

Do you think women are naturally kinder, more honest, and caring? That’s Women Are Wonderful Effect – the tendency to associate more positive attributes with women than with men, regardless of actual behavior.

Do you tend to trust experts, bosses, or celebrities just because they hold authority? That’s Authority Bias – the tendency to overvalue the accuracy of influential figures’ opinions, regardless of their actual validity.

Do you assume someone is smart just because they’re confident and charismatic? That’s Halo Effect – the tendency to attribute extra positive traits to a person based on one appealing characteristic.

Late to a meeting? Well, traffic was terrible! Someone else is late? They must be irresponsible. That’s Actor-Observer Bias – the tendency to blame our own behavior on external circumstances while attributing others’ act…

Do you feel a stronger urge to blame someone when an accident is severe or hits close to home? That’s Defensive Attribution – the tendency to assign more blame to a harm-doer as the outcome worsens or if you relate to th…

Do you think your colleagues work just for money while you do it out of passion? That’s Extrinsic Incentives Bias – the tendency to believe others are motivated by external rewards while you act out of genuine interest.

Did you meet one rude tourist and assume their entire country is like that? That’s Group Attribution Error – the tendency to believe that an individual’s behavior represents their entire group.

Did someone bump into you, and you assume it was on purpose? That’s Hostile Attribution Bias – the tendency to see neutral or accidental actions as intentionally aggressive.

Did someone step on your foot, and you assume they did it on purpose? That’s Intentionality Bias – the tendency to believe people’s actions are deliberate, even when they’re accidental.

Do you think poor people are just lazy and rich people earned their success? That’s Just-World Hypothesis – the tendency to believe everything happens fairly, even when events are random or unjust.

If someone accidentally hits a pedestrian, they’re a terrible person, but if they just ran a red light and nothing happened – it’s ‘no big deal’? That’s Moral Luck – the tendency to judge actions based on their outcome r…

Do you believe poor people are just lazy? That’s Puritanical Bias – the tendency to blame negative outcomes on personal morality rather than external, societal, or economic factors.

Got promoted? That’s your talent! Didn’t get promoted? Must be your boss’s bias. That’s Self-Serving Bias – the tendency to credit yourself for successes but blame external factors for failures.

If one person from a group does something bad, does that mean they’re all like that? That’s Ultimate Attribution Error – the tendency to attribute an individual’s actions to their entire group, especially for negative be…

The more you hear an idea, the more true it seems? That’s Availability Cascade – a process where information starts feeling like fact simply because it’s repeated often enough.

Did everyone suddenly start wearing weird sneakers – and now you want them too? That’s Bandwagon Effect – the tendency to follow the majority, even without good reasons.

Told your friend their new haircut looks great, even though you hate it? That’s Courtesy Bias – the tendency to soften your opinion to avoid hurting others’ feelings.

Did everyone in your team agree on a bad idea without questioning it? That’s Groupthink – the tendency to sacrifice critical thinking for group unity and harmony.

Did your team start off cautious but end up playing it ultra-safe? Or did they go from slightly risky to full-on reckless? That’s Groupshift – the tendency for group decisions to become more extreme than individual opini…

Do you naturally trust what people say? That’s Truth Bias – the tendency to assume information is honest, even without evidence.

Do you think your team’s way is the best and anything external isn’t worth considering? That’s Ingroup Bias, also known as ‘Not Invented Here’ – the tendency to reject ideas, research, and products simply because they co…

Do you feel like your group is diverse, but other groups are all the same? That’s Outgroup Homogeneity Bias – the tendency to see members of your own group as individuals, while viewing outsiders as uniform.

Do you assume most people think like you? That’s Assumed Similarity Bias – the tendency to believe others share your perspectives, preferences, and values more than they actually do.

Do you feel like other groups always have it better – their culture, their people, their values? That’s Outgroup Favoritism – the tendency for socially disadvantaged groups to favor and even prefer other communities over…

Do you perform better when people believe in you? That’s Pygmalion Effect – a psychological phenomenon where others’ expectations (positive or negative) influence your actual performance and behavior.

Does being told ‘no’ make you want to do it even more? That’s Reactance – a psychological response where attempts to limit your freedom trigger resistance and a desire to do the opposite.

Do you reject a good idea just because it came from your opponent? That’s Reactive Devaluation – the tendency to dismiss proposals just because they come from an ‘undesirable’ source, even if they’re beneficial.

Do you hire people who won’t challenge you rather than those who are truly the best? That’s Social Comparison Bias – the tendency to favor candidates who don’t threaten your skills or status.

Does your team spend hours discussing obvious facts while ignoring a crucial detail known only to a few? That’s Shared Information Bias – the tendency for groups to focus on what everyone already knows instead of sharing…

Do you assume everyone else is better than you at difficult tasks? That’s Worse-Than-Average Effect – the tendency to underestimate your own competence in challenging activities, even when you have the skills.

Did you come up with a brilliant idea, only to realize you’d heard it before? That’s Cryptomnesia – when a forgotten memory resurfaces as an original thought because you don’t recognize it as a memory.

Are you sure you’ve been to a place as a child, but your parents insist you never were? That’s False Memory – when imagination, stories from others, or time create memories of events that never actually happened.

Do you enjoy rights and freedoms but can’t recall who fought for them? That’s Social Cryptomnesia – when society recognizes that change has happened but forgets how it occurred and who made it possible.

Do you remember a fact but can’t recall whether you read it in a research paper or a social media comment? That’s Source Confusion – the tendency to misremember where information came from, distorting our memories.

Did someone ask, ‘Do you remember getting lost in a store as a child?’ and now you’re convinced it happened? That’s Suggestibility – the tendency to mistake others’ suggestions for real memories.

Did you vividly imagine skydiving and later wonder if it actually happened? That’s The Perky Effect – when real images or experiences influence imagined ones, making it hard to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Did you hear about a plane crash and now fear flying, even though car accidents are far more common? That’s Availability Bias – the tendency to give greater importance to examples that are easy to recall, rather than tho…

Do you remember a person in a banana costume better than one in a regular suit? That’s Bizarreness Effect – the tendency to recall unusual information more easily than common information.

Do you look at a photo and later recall seeing more details than were actually there? That’s Boundary Extension – the tendency to remember the background of an image as more expansive than it really was.

Can you remember your third birthday? Probably not. That’s Childhood Amnesia – the natural inability to retain memories from the first few years of life.

Do you read news that only confirms what you already believe? That’s Confirmation Bias – the tendency to seek, remember, and interpret information in ways that align with existing beliefs.

Do you remember heavy rain, but in reality, it was a full-blown storm? That’s Conservatism Bias – the tendency to recall high values (like probability or frequency) as lower than they were and low values as higher.

Are you convinced you’ve always supported healthy living, but ten years ago you ate fast food daily? That’s Consistency Bias – the tendency to remember past beliefs and behaviors as being consistent with your current one…

Did you hear a false story, then see it debunked, but still feel like it might be true? That’s Continued Influence Effect – the tendency to retain and use misinformation in reasoning, even after it’s been corrected.

Did you forget what you wanted to say but instantly remember once you walk back into the same room? That’s Context Effect – the tendency for memory to work better in the same environment where the information was learned…

Do faces of people from other races seem more similar to you, while faces within your own group are easier to distinguish? That’s Cross-Race Effect – the tendency to have difficulty recognizing and differentiating faces …

Do you remember getting straight A’s, but your report card says otherwise? That’s Egocentric Bias – the tendency to exaggerate past achievements and downplay failures.

Do you remember college as the best time of your life but forget the sleepless nights before exams? That’s Euphoric Recall – the tendency to remember the past through rose-colored glasses while ignoring the negatives.

Do you remember your vacation five years ago as perfect, even though it rained and your luggage got lost? That’s Fading Affect Bias – the tendency for negative emotions to fade faster than positive ones.

Do you remember jokes you made up better than ones you heard? That’s Generation Effect – information you generate yourself is remembered better than information you just hear or read.

Do you recall faces and clothing details better when they belong to someone of your own gender? That’s Gender Differences in Eyewitness Memory – the tendency for witnesses to remember more details about individuals of th…

Can you remember your door code but not your friend’s phone number? That’s Google Effect – the tendency to forget information when you know it can be easily found online.

Do you say ‘I knew it all along!’ even though you were uncertain before? That’s Hindsight Bias – the tendency to see past events as predictable, even when they weren’t at the time.

Do you remember the professor’s joke but not the lesson itself? That’s Humor Effect – the tendency to remember funny things better than neutral or boring ones.

Do you believe we use only 10% of our brains, even though it’s a myth? That’s Illusory Truth Effect – the tendency to believe information simply because it sounds familiar, even if it’s false.

Think cramming all night will help you remember? And then you forget everything the next day? That’s Lag Effect – information sticks better when learning is spread out over time instead of in one go.

Do you tell a story, and each time it gets more vivid, but some details vanish? That’s Leveling and Sharpening – over time, some details fade while others become exaggerated and overemphasized.

Did you read a textbook but remember nothing, while the topic you explained to a friend stuck? That’s Levels-of-Processing Effect – the deeper you process information, the better you remember it.

Do you remember a higher percentage of items from a short list than from a long one, but still retain more overall from the longer list? That’s List-Length Effect – as lists grow longer, relative recall decreases, but th…

Did you recall part of a list, but the rest vanished from memory? That’s Memory Inhibition – when recalling certain items makes it harder to retrieve others.

Do you swear you saw something at an event, even though it wasn’t there? That’s Misinformation Effect – when memory becomes less accurate due to false details added later.

Do you remember the last words of a speaker better than the last lines of a book? That’s Modality Effect – spoken information is remembered differently than written, especially at the end of a list.

When you’re sad, do you recall all your failures? And when you're happy, only the best moments? That’s Mood-Congruent Memory Bias – we better remember and retrieve information that matches our current emotional state.

Can you recall one hurtful comment from years ago but forget all the compliments you’ve received? That’s Negativity Bias – the brain reacts more strongly to negative experiences and stores them longer in memory.

Do you rehearse your speech in your head instead of listening to the person speaking before you? That’s Next-in-Line Effect – the tendency to forget what was just said because you’re too focused on preparing your own res…

Struggling to recall a to-do list, but the more you remember, the harder it gets to retrieve the rest? That’s Part-List Cueing Effect – recalling some items makes it harder to retrieve others from the same list.

Do you remember a trip as amazing, even though most of it was boring, just because it had a magical ending? That’s Peak–End Rule – we judge experiences not by their total duration, but by their most intense moment (good …

Trying to forget a painful event, but it keeps coming back? That’s Persistence – when the brain forces us to relive traumatic memories even when we want to move on.

Can you remember a person’s face faster than their name? Or a company’s logo but not its slogan? That’s Picture Superiority Effect – the brain remembers visual information more effectively than text.

Do you see yourself as better than others at things you’re good at, and worse than others at things you struggle with? That’s Placement Bias – people remember themselves as more successful in what they feel confident abo…

Ever noticed that older people recall happy moments more than tough times? That’s Positivity Effect – as we age, our memory favors positive experiences and pushes negative ones aside.

Do you recall the first items on a list but struggle with the middle? That’s Primacy Effect – information presented first is remembered better than what comes later.

Do you remember the last words of a conversation but forget the middle? That’s Recency Effect – the most recent items or events are remembered better than those before them.

Why do you vividly recall your first parties, first job, or first love but not recent events? That’s Reminiscence Bump – we remember adolescence and early adulthood more clearly than any other period of life.

Do you remember school as fun and carefree, even though you used to complain about homework? Or think that ‘the good old days’ were better, ignoring their struggles? That’s Rosy Retrospection – the tendency to recall the…

Have you ever adjusted a story to fit your audience, only to later believe that version yourself? That’s Saying Is Believing Effect – when we tailor a message for others, it becomes part of our own beliefs.

Do you easily recall stories you were part of but forget those about others? That’s Self-Relevance Effect – information connected to you is remembered better than similar details about others.

Do you clearly remember how a lecture started and ended, but the middle feels blurry? That’s Serial Position Effect – the first and last items in a sequence are remembered best, while the middle tends to be forgotten.

Forgot to button your shirt and feel like everyone noticed? Said something awkward and now think it’s all anyone remembers? That’s Spotlight Effect – the tendency to overestimate how much others notice your appearance or…

Are you sure you saw a female secretary and a male boss, even though it was the other way around? That’s Stereotype Bias – memory reshapes facts to fit expected patterns, even when they don’t match reality.

Can you easily recall the last word in a list, but if something follows it, it disappears? That’s Suffix Effect – the final items in a sequence become harder to remember if extra information follows them.

If told there’s a 10% chance of flooding in your city, you’d accept it. But if broken down into ‘flooding from rain,’ ‘flooding from dam failure,’ and ‘flooding from melting snow,’ each at 5%, the total feels higher! Tha…

Have you ever felt like time slowed down in a moment of danger? Or that it flew by when you were deeply focused? That’s Tachypsychia – a shift in time perception under stress, fear, or intense concentration.

Are you convinced that a movie from two years ago just came out yesterday? Or that a recent event happened much longer ago? That’s Telescoping Effect – the tendency to shift events in time, making recent ones feel distan…

Do you reread textbooks repeatedly but still forget the material? Try testing yourself! That’s Testing Effect – memory improves when you actively recall information instead of just passively reviewing it.

You KNOW the word, it’s right there… but you just can’t say it? That’s Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon – when you partially recall something but can’t fully retrieve it.

Do you feel like we’re living through the most important time in history? That’s Travis Syndrome – the tendency to overestimate the significance of the present while underestimating the past.

Do you remember what a conversation was about, but not the exact words? That’s Verbatim Effect – our brain stores the general meaning of messages rather than their precise wording.

Can you forget a long list but remember the one strange word in it? That’s Von Restorff Effect – our brain remembers what stands out the most.

Do unfinished tasks keep running through your mind? That’s Zeigarnik Effect – the brain remembers incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.