Table 1 Cognitive biases relevant for bioethics listed in alphabetical order with explanations and an indication for what type of bioethics this bias may be most relevant to assess
Cognitive bias | Definition/short description | Type of bioethics |
|---|---|---|
Ambiguity effect | A tendency to avoid options for which the probability of favorable outcomes is unknown | A, (ER), EA, CEC, PEC |
Anchoring effect | Initial information is overrated, ignoring high quality evidence that can be more difficult to obtain | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Apophenia | The tendency to perceive connections between things, events, or perspectives that are unrelated | A, ER, EA, CEC |
Availability bias | Overestimating the likelihood of (recent) events easily available in memory or how unusual or emotionally charged they are | A, ER, EA, CEC |
Confirmation bias | The tendency to focus on information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions or expectations. Related to the tendency to reject new evidence that contradicts a perspective or paradigm (the Semmelweis reflex) | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Default effect | The tendency to favor the default option when given a choice between several options | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Endowment effect | Overvaluing what we already have got compared to alternatives, as it is more difficult to give up than to acquire something (such as argument, perspective, line of reasoning) | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Extension bias | The tendency to think that more is better than less. This is related to the conflation of quality with quantity | A, EA, CEC |
False priors (stereotyping) | Presuming that members of a group have specific characteristics without having information about them. Gender bias is an example of false priors | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Familiarity bias | The tendency to express unwarranted liking for events, items, theories, or perspectives merely because of familiarity with them | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Focusing illusion | Too much focus on certain details, ignoring other relevant factors | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Framing (information) effect | Drawing conclusions from information depending on how the information is presented | ER, ELS, PEC |
Hard–easy effect | The tendency to overestimate the ability to accomplish hard tasks, as well as underestimate the ability to accomplish easy tasks | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Hindsight bias | The inclination to see past events as being predictable at the time those events happened. Related to outcome bias where decisions are assessed by its outcomes rather than by the quality of the decision at the time of making | EA, PEC |
Illusion of control | The tendency to overestimate the degree of influence over external events | A, (EA), CEC |
Illusion of validity | The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's judgments, especially when available information is coherent or consistent | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Implicit bias | The tendency that underlying attitudes and stereotypes are attributed to persons or groups of people that affect how they understand, judge, and engage with them. Also called unconscious bias | A, ER, EA, CEC, PEC |
Information bias | The tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect the decision | ER, ELS, PEC |
Law of the instrument | The tendency to rely on familiar methods, ignoring or devaluing alternative approaches | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Normalcy bias | The reluctance to take into account, or plan for, or react to, a severe event (e.g., a disaster) which has not happened before or very long ago (such as a pandemic) | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Ostrich effect | The tendency to ignore an obvious (negative) situation, perspective, or alternative | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Overconfidence effect | The tendency of having excessive confidence in one's own judgments, answers, and decisions | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Present bias | The tendency for to have a stronger preference for more immediate issues, outcomes, or solutions compared to more long term issues, outcomes, or solutions | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Probability neglect | The tendency to neglect probabilities when making decisions under uncertainty. Small risks may be totally neglected or vastly overrated | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Pro-innovation bias | The tendency to have an excessive optimism towards innovations (ignoring limitations and weaknesses) | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Projection bias | The tendency to overestimate how much future situations will assemble present situations leading to sub-optimal decisions (when not correct). This is related to impact bias | A, ER, EA, CEC, PEC |
Proportionality bias | The tendency to assume that big events have big causes and that important events have important reasons | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Rhyme as reason effect | The tendency to think that rhyming or catchy statements or arguments are perceived as more truthful or sound | A, EA, PEC |
Synecdoche effect | One specific characteristic comes to signify the whole person | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Truthiness bias | A tendency to believe that a statement is true due to the strength of one’s belief in the conclusion (belief bias, subjective validation bias) or how easy it is to process or how many times it is stated (the illusory truth effect) | A, ER, EA, CEC |