Top 10 Cognitive Biases

Have you ever heard of “cognitive bias”? The expression refers to a “defect” in thinking that affects decisions and judgments we make. These are traps that lead us to misinterpret the world and, consequently, make us make irrational decisions.

In marketing, cognitive bias is often used to persuade the consumer to take a desired action. In fact, if you want to apply these concepts to your marketing strategy, I recommend that you specialize with one of the best Growth Marketing courses in Brazil.

Learn about the main types of cognitive biases with practical, everyday examples.

1. Anchoring Bias

It is the tendency to trust too much, to rely on a reference from the past or a detail of information when making decisions. This bias can be very harmful and limiting, as cognition can become stuck in an old experience.

Example: You believe that organic fruits are expensive (because your judgment is based on the fact that “fruits are cheap”) but you think the price of an iPhone 10 on sale at Casas Bahias is fair, because it is cheaper than the price announced by Apple (which creates the anchor through advertising).

2. Information Bias

Information bias is the human tendency to seek more information than necessary, in the search for solutions. It's that indecisive person, who always analyzes all the possibilities, doesn't move and never thinks they know enough.

Example: You've already taken dozens of Digital Marketing courses but still don't feel confident offering your services, because you have the impression that something is always missing.

3. Membership Bias

“Maria goes with the others”, is what our grandparents called people affected by this bias. It is believing in something because the majority of the group to which they belong also believes. – “Everyone knows it’s better this way, so that’s what I think too.”

Example: You enter an environment full of people and behave in the pattern that people are behaving, because if everyone does there must be a good reason.

4. Pro-Choice Bias

It is the tendency to justify your choices without scientific basis. A classic example is when you discuss choosing your favorite team with a person who supports a team different from yours and uses logical arguments, which in fact, everyone knows that you only support out of passion.

Example: You buy an outfit on impulse and start creating reasons to justify the purchase, even though you know it was a choice based on the emotion of the moment.

5. Confirmation Bias

It is selective thinking that confirms respective beliefs and ignores or devalues ​​any point that contradicts them. By giving more weight to something that supports our beliefs instead of trying to support them, we feed prejudices.

Example: You start to see more white cars because you believe that people like white cars more.

6. Positivity Bias

Also known as Poliana Syndrome, the cognitive bias of positivity occurs when we are very optimistic, when considering a fact and paying attention only to the most positive side, such as “everything will be fine”, “you will overcome”, “good always wins”, and so on.

Example: You continue investing in a project that has proven to be inefficient or has no future on several occasions.

7. Result Bias

It is the mental illusion of judging the quality of an action or strategy according to the result obtained. Part of the trick of biases is that they even make sense, in a way – and that’s why we fall into them so easily.

Example: You believe you are an excellent seller because you sold a house for a price higher than the market value, but in reality you were only able to sell it because the buyer was urgently interested in buying the house.

8. Overconfidence Bias

Overconfidence bias that causes risky behavior. The optimism bias sounds similar to this bias, but it is not the same thing. Overconfidence is related to specific characteristics, while positivity bias maximizes exogenous results, which cannot be controlled.

Example: You believe you will be a great stock market investor because you had good results in the simulator.

9. Placebo Bias

The bias linked to the placebo effect is confirmation bias, according to which we tend to seek, interpret and remember information that confirms our opinions and worldview.

Example: You believe that drinking watermelon juice makes you lose weight and ends up actually losing weight, but for other reasons.

10. Survivorship Bias

Cognitive survival bias is the propensity that a person has to, when analyzing a phenomenon or market, take as a basis only the experience of those who survived it. We extol the achievements of the victors and try to copy all the factors that led them to success, with the illusion that we will have the same “luck” or destiny.

Example: You believe that every digital marketing franchise is a good investment because you only see successful franchises in the news, but you don't see the portion that failed miserably.

So, what did you think of the 10 examples above? If you liked this article, continue reading on the Portal.