What are cognitive biases?

Cognitive biases are like shortcuts your brain uses when it’s trying to make decisions quickly, but sometimes they lead you astray, just like a shortcut that takes you to the wrong place.

Imagine you’re playing a game where you have to pick the biggest cookie from a jar full of cookies. Your brain wants to be fast, so instead of looking at every cookie, it might just pick the one that’s closest to you, even if it’s not the biggest. That’s like a cognitive bias called "the availability heuristic", your brain picks what's easiest to remember or see first.

Your brain is kind of like a busy chef in a kitchen, it has to make decisions all day, every day. So it uses shortcuts, or biases, to save time. These biases help you decide things quickly, but sometimes they cause you to make mistakes, just like when the chef adds too much salt because she’s tired.

But here's the good news, once you know about these shortcuts, you can use them wisely and even trick them into helping you make better choices!