Bias number 25 is known as the confirmation bias. This is perhaps the most well-known cognitive bias, brought up in business circles as a justification for challenging cultural norms and the beliefs upon which they are based.

This bias demonstrates that human beings are inclined to search for, interpret, favour and recall information that confirms an already-existing belief, dismissing information that challenges their beliefs in the process. Reasons for the presence of confirmation bias may include wishful thinking, limited capacity for thinking and the avoidance of being wrong.

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Bias number 24 is known as compassion fade. This is a social cognitive bias that has a significant affect on people’s willingness to help others in need.

Compassion fade generally arises as the number of people in need rises. It could be seen as a way in which a person regulates and maintains the balance between the desire to be of service to others and the desire to manage emotional overwhelm.

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Bias number 23 is known as the clustering illusion. This is a cognitive bias that leads people to create patterns in data sets that are, in fact, random.

We attempt to bring meaning to data analysis by forging links between data sets that, in reality, have no links. As humans, we have a tendency to need to create order from chaos, deriving a narrative that explains the situation, to create coherence. Our brains will create imaginary patterns in an attempt to tie things up nice and neat in a bow.

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Bias number 22 is known as the choice supportive bias. This is a cognitive bias that supports a person’s decision-making process once a decision has been made.

The way the choice supportive bias works is this. Once you've made a choice, you retrospectively assign positive attributes towards your decision and negative attributes to the decisions you didn’t make. Emotional reactions towards the decision, such as satisfaction or regret, play just as much a part in the occurrence of this bias as the decision itself. 

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Bias number 21 is known as the cheerleader effect. This is a cognitive bias that affects the way people perceive individuals when they are alone versus in a group.

How does the group association affect the perception of an individual? According to studies, people are rated more attractive in a group than they are as an individual when their photos are shown to test subjects. This bias occurs consistently in single-sex and mixed groups of different sizes.

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Bias number 20 is known as the bizarreness effect. This is a cognitive bias that asserts that the content of presented material is more memorable if it is regarded as bizarre or unusual by the observer.

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Bias number 19 is known as the bias blind spot. This is a cognitive bias that affects judgement in relationships to other people.

A bias blind spot recognises that as human beings, we are more able to see in others what we are unable to see and acknowledge in ourselves. In psychological studies, participants consistently rated themselves as less biased that the average person, despite the results of experiments that suggested otherwise.

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Bias number 18 is known as the Berkson’s paradox. This paradox is most often found in decision making when assessing probability and statistical information that proves to be counterintuitive. When this happens, a negative correlation is made between two positive traits, even when the positive traits are unrelated and to the exclusion of cases where there is no correlation between the two traits.

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Bias number 17 is known as the Ben Franklin effect. This is a social cognitive bias that affects how people relate to others.

In essence, the Ben Franklin effect suggests that when asked to do something for another person, you are more likely to feel kindly towards that person. Conversely, you are more likely to feel neutral or negative towards a person to whom you have behaved badly. 

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Bias number 16 is known as the belief bias. This is a cognitive bias that affects the way people reason and is an extremely common bias. Because of this, it is an important one to consider.

The way it works in reasoning is this. When confronted with opposing beliefs, people will align with the one that most closely resembles their own values system, beliefs and prior knowledge and will reject other belief systems as being false as a result.

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