This piece of writing attempts to break cognitive biases down into simple and concrete concepts that one can use in everyday decision making. There are two parts, the first covers the general big picture concepts and trends of human think. The second breaks down all specific cognitive biases I am currently aware of. Think of part two as a complete collection of all known cognitive biases, while part one explains why they exist.
The goal of this writing is not to present a perfectly accurate history of the human brain and species, but rather to provide a practical and easy to understand guide for why we are the way we are.
Let’s get started.
Idea #1:
Our anatomy and evolutionary history sets the limits and trends of our behavior. Limits are absolute, ex without wings we cannot fly. Trends are less of a rule and more of an extremely common pattern, ex most primates have a strong predisposition to developing complex social relationships. Our biology is entirely responsible for what types of behaviors are possible as well as what behaviors are common.
Idea #2:
The question is NOT nature vs nurture. The idea that our DNA and life experiences battle for control of our behaviors and decision making is entirely untrue. In reality, they work together. We are born with a certain set of natural proclivities which are then altered and updated over time through our life experiences. Many of our “higher” processes are subject to more change than our “lower” ones. You are unable, for example, to completely dissolve your need for social interaction through life experiences. You can however, develop behavior patterns that avoid them due to repeating life experiences. The underlying need stays the same (with small shifts over time), while the actual behavior is adjusted more rapidly.
Our brains are pattern machines, we repeat what works, and don’t repeat what doesn’t. Our past experiences constantly provide us context for our future decisions. It’s important to note that as the environment shapes our behaviors, our perception of what has happened to us is more important than what has actually happened.
Idea #3:
The difference between higher and lower. A useful (albeit not biologically accurate) mental model for the human brain is that we have three different systems in our brain. The first, the reptile brain, is responsible for the most fundamental of behaviors. Those that all living things seem to share. The desire for self preservation. At a high level this is usually the self preservation of genes, which can occur in two ways: the self preservation of the indiuvaul, and the preservation of the individual’s genes through sex and the wellbeing of their offspring. While it is true that different species exhibit different behaviors in this regard, the base behavior to preserve one’s genes is universal. Although, it should be noted that this behavior is not conscious or logical in almost all living things, it is innate.
Our most innate behaviors are guided by our reptile brain. As a branch of the self preservation tree, more rules come to the surface. Ex the avoidance of pain and hunt for pleasure. All of our automatic behaviors come from this part: breathing, heartbeat, eating, drinking, sex Homeostasis, etc
Next up is our mammalian brain. In the history of life as it grew more diverse and specialized, a new type of animal emerged, the mammal. And with it, a more complex brain. One that is capable for more social behaviors and better environmental awareness. The mammalian portion of our brain is responsible for our more mammalian urges, the desire to be part of the group, the concept a of hierarchical social structure, a better awareness of space and the inclusion of this concept in other experiences (concepts such as territory protection, social interaction combined with spacial awareness). As you may have guesses, these behaviors are more complex than those of the reptilian brain.
What’s fascinating is these systems crossover and build on one another. Our most core behavior is the preservation of our own genes, which in turn can lead to complex social behaviors surrounding sex that are based in our mammalian brain.
Lastly, we have our prefrontal cortex, the human part of our brain. For all intents and purposes, likely due to the rapid evolution of this portion of our brains, you can consider the prefrontal context to essentially be “bolted on” to the other portions of our brain. This is the part that makes us human. The ability for logic, the understanding of time (and therefore future planning), as well as the ability to conceptualize things that do not actually exist (ideas, religion).
When the three of these pieces are added together, we begin to understand the structure of human behavior. As previously stated, these pieces work in coordination, not in isolation. They each build on one another, developing the unique and high complex behaviors observed in the homo sapien species.
The value of this model is it provides a context in which we are more easily able to understand human behavior. We can recognize behaviors that are more based in our “lower” more reptilian selfs as well as ‘higher’ behaviors that stem from our more human parts. It can be easy to write off certain behaviors as illogical, but when you look at the whole picture of the human brain, the behavior simply stems from a “lower” part.
Idea #4:
The reason for imperfect decision making is caused by a mismatch in our current environment and the one our brains were ‘designed’ for. I also believe this to be a reason for many of the issues facing the modern human. Mental disorders, market inefficiencies, poor judgment, self destructive behaviors, all stem from this mismatch.
Human Behavioral Patterns
The Law of least energy:
A branch of the self preservation tree, almost all species behave in a way that uses the least amount of energy to accomplish the minimum standard of the desired result. This process is not conscious and highly automatic. Give a living being the choice between 5 hours of work for a required need and 10 hours of work and it will “choose” 5 hours a million times over.
This can be recognized in the human pattern to make quick decisions. Our brains are energy preserving machines. That behavior is coded into them.
The Law of Loss:
Living is a zero sum game, you are either alive or you are dead. For this reason, humans exhibit a larger avoidance of loss than their desire to gain. After all, if you lose too big, you can no longer play, but if you win really big, you still have the chance to lose tomorrow.
The law of pain and pleasure:
As an extension of our self preservation desires, evolution has given us a value system to guide us in this endeavor. To survive we most avoid threats to our well being, such threats are tied to what we call “pain”. Additionally, we must acquire things that promote our well being, such things are tied to what we call “pleasure”. Keep in mind, while humans have overlaid our high level logic on this system, it is entirely based in our “lower” self. This system is shared as a guide for behavior in almost all living organisms that are not single celled.
Building off of the previous Law, we can begin to understand why humans fear pain more than we chase pleasure.
The difference between biases
Think of lower biases as immediate unconscious biases, things that cause us to “see” the world differently from true reality while our higher biases are more failures in logical processing due to our brains’ natural limitations. An easy way to think of this is:
- A lower bias: Doing a math problem wrong because you misread the numbers in the equation
- A higher bias: Doing a math problem wrong because you thought adding and subtracting are the same thing
“Lower” Cognitive Biases (biases that stem from our mammalian and reptilian selfs):
- Biases from association – the connecting of stimulus with pain and pleasure
- The power of rewards and punishment
- Underestimating bias from self interest and incentives
- Self serving bias
- Self deception
- Bias from consistency tendency
- Bias from deprival syndrome
- Status quo bias
- Impatience
- Bias from envy and jealousy
- Bias from anchoring
- Over-influenced by vivid or recent information
- Omission and abstract bias
- Bias from reciprocation tendency
- Social Porof Bias
- Authority Bias
- Sensemaking – a bias in our high self that stems from a ‘lower tendency’