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Social Desirability Bias

Tendency to respond to or behave in a way that is socially acceptable or desirable, rather than expressing their true opinions or behaviors.

Social Desirability Bias

The office wellness challenge had everyone talking. Employees were encouraged to adopt healthier habits, track their progress, and share updates in the company chat. At the end of the month, the top three participants would receive a prize.

Daniel signed up enthusiastically, though he wasn’t exactly a fitness fanatic. His colleagues shared updates about their morning runs, healthy meals, and meditation routines. Not wanting to seem lazy, Daniel joined in, posting about his “daily smoothies” and “weekend hikes”—except he wasn’t actually doing any of it. In reality, his mornings started with coffee and a bagel, and weekends were spent binge-watching shows.

As the challenge wrapped up, Daniel was surprised when he was called out as one of the top performers. His posts had created the impression that he was fully committed, and now, he was expected to share his “wellness journey” at the final event.

Standing in front of his colleagues, he felt a pang of guilt. He had wanted to fit in and be seen as someone making healthy choices, but in doing so, he had misrepresented himself. His attempt to appear a certain way had led to a false perception, and now, he was stuck maintaining that illusion.

This situation is an example of social desirability bias—the tendency to present ourselves in a way that seems more acceptable to others, even if it’s not entirely true. Daniel’s desire to be seen as health-conscious influenced his behavior, making him exaggerate his actions to align with social expectations. But in the end, the pressure to maintain this image made him realize the value of being genuine, even if it meant admitting he wasn’t as dedicated as he had claimed.

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Scarcity Bias

Tendency to value limited or scarce resources more highly than those that are abundantly available.

Small Win Bias – Gratification Bias

Tendency to prioritizes or value short-term rewards over long-term benefits.

The Cheating Bias

Dishonest behavior by getting influenced to do so when observing others, leading to unethical practices.

Sisyphus Effect

Tendency to give up when there is no gratification or visible meaning / output to efforts.

The IKEA Effect

People tend to value an object more if they contribute to its creation.

Dunning Kruger Effect

Overestimating one’s knowledge due to a lack of understanding about the complexity of a subject.

Decoy Option Effect

Influences preferences by introducing a less attractive intermediate option, subtly steering choices towards more profitable alternatives.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.

Spotlight Effect

The tendency to believe that we are being noticed more than we really are.

Anchoring Bias

People rely heavily on the first piece of information (the “anchor”), even if it’s irrelevant.

Current Mood Bias

It is a distortion in cognition and decision making due to the present emotional state.

Prestige Bias

The tendency to favor the opinions of individuals or groups with higher social status or authority even when not in the same field.

Recency Bias

The tendency to better recall recent information and events while ignoring older information.

Restraint Bias

The tendency to overestimate the level of control we have over our impulsive behaviors.

Survivorship Bias

The tendency to focus on the individuals or things that have “survived” or succeeded, while overlooking data from those that have not.

Response Bias

Tendency to provide inaccurate or false answers during surveys or interviews.

First impression Bias

The tendency to form lasting opinions based on initial experiences.

Omission Bias

Tendency to avoid taking action due to fear or uncertainty, even when not taking action could be more harmful.

Bundling Bias

The tendency of buying things that are sold together, even if we don’t need everything in the bundle. Think of this as the “package deal effect.”

Distinction Bias

In decision making, we tend to overvalue the minor differences between two almost similar options when we examine them together.

Projection Bias

Individuals overestimate the prevalence of their own thoughts, beliefs, preferences, and knowledge in others.

Salience Bias

Our tendency to focus on items or information that are more noteworthy while ignoring those that do not grab our attention.

Diversification Bias

Spreading our resources thinly across numerous options instead of concentrating on a few.

Pessimism Bias

A tendency to believe things will go wrong even when there is no evidence to support it.

Optimism Bias

Tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes and underestimate the negative ones.

Bandwagon Effect

It refers to our habit of adopting certain behaviors or beliefs because many other people do the same.

Framing Bias

Equivalent information can be more or less attractive depending on how it is presented, influencing our decisions.

Recall Bias

Individuals do not accurately remember past events or experiences or leave out details while reporting about them.

Group Think Bias

A group of individuals reaches a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the consequences or alternatives, simply doing or agreeing because everyone else is.