Biases Inhibit Self-knowledge
In his book Born to Believe (from which this list of biases was drawn), Andrew Newberg, M.D, states that people construct their own version of “reality” based on information provided by their senses. Their senses, however, are affected by complex mental processes that are dependent on a variety of subjective inputs. What people perceive, how they perceive it and how they process it are all strongly influenced by past experience, education, cultural values, and organizational norms etc. We think we are all objective, but perception is an active rather than a passive process; it constructs rather than records “reality.”
To a certain extent, we all manipulate others to persuade them to embrace our own beliefs. Parents do so with their children, teachers with their students, researchers with their colleagues and lovers with their beloved. Unfortunately, we often do this without consciously considering the other person's interests or needs. Because we constantly misinterpret information, it is not surprising that different people reach different conclusions about reality. Our many unrecognized biases hinder our ability to advance our self-knowledge.
List of biases:
1. Family Bias
2. Authoritarian Bias
3. Attractiveness Bias
4. Confirmation Bias
5. Self-Serving Bias
6. In-Group Bias
7. Out-Group Bias
8. Group Consensus Bias
9. Bandwagon Bias
10. Projection Bias
11. Expectancy Bias
12. "Magic Number" Bias
13. Probability Bias
14. Cause-and-Effect Bias
15. Pleasure Bias
16. Personification Bias
17. Perceptual Bias
18. Perseverance Bias
19. False-Memory Bias
20. Positive-Memory Bias
21. Logic Bias
22. Persuasion Bias
23. Primacy Bias
24. Uncertainty Bias
25. Emotional Bias
26. Publication Bias
27. Blind-Spot Bias
