Presenting only two options when many more exist.

The first piece of information we hear disproportionately shapes our judgement.

The range of ideas the public considers acceptable shifts over time - and can be shifted deliberately.

We judge how likely something is by how easily we can think of an example.

We grow to like people we've done favours for, not just people who've done favours for us.

The simplest explanation that fits the facts is usually the best starting point.

Thinking beyond the immediate consequences to ask: and then what?

Distorting someone's argument to make it easier to attack.

Bad experiences hit harder and stick longer than equally good ones.

Forming your own judgement before hearing what everyone else thinks.

The uncomfortable tension we feel when our beliefs and our actions don't match up.

We focus on the winners and forget about everyone who didn't make it.

The harder we work for something, the more we convince ourselves it was worth it - whether it was or not.

We assume that because something has never happened before, it probably won't happen now.

We pay more attention to things that are striking or emotionally vivid, and ignore the rest.

We carry automatic, unconscious preferences and stereotypes that influence our judgements without us realising.

We instinctively see the world through a human-first lens, treating everything else as secondary.

We see a connection between two things even when no real relationship exists.

We see patterns and streaks in random data, even when they're just noise.

We see meaningful patterns and connections in completely unrelated information.

We get stuck seeing things only as what they're "supposed to be" and miss creative alternatives.

When your favourite tool is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.

We treat information as more reliable and complete when it all comes from the same place.

Our judgement of something is distorted by whatever we experienced just before it.

We see faces, shapes, and patterns in random things - clouds, toast, electrical sockets.

We believe that reaching a certain goal will make us lastingly happy - and it almost never does.

We instinctively favour complex explanations and solutions over simpler ones, even when the simple one is better.

We're slow to update our beliefs when new evidence arrives, clinging to what we already think.

We remember information much better when it relates to us personally.

We remember images far more easily than words.

The thing that stands out from its surroundings is the thing we remember.

We remember things better when they make us laugh.

Strange or unusual things lodge in our memory more firmly than ordinary ones.

We're terrible at predicting how we'll feel - or how others feel - in a different emotional state.

We ignore how common something actually is, and judge its likelihood based on the specific details instead.

We judge harmful actions as worse than equally harmful inactions, even when doing nothing causes more damage.

Once you notice something for the first time, you suddenly seem to see it everywhere.

Our current mood acts as a filter on our memories - we recall things that match how we feel right now.

We can't access a memory without the right trigger, even though the memory is still there.

The environment around a piece of information changes how we perceive and process it.

The more we encounter something, the more we tend to like it - just because it's familiar.

The more often we hear something, the more likely we are to believe it's true - regardless of whether it is.

What we pay attention to shapes what we think, feel, and decide - and we don't choose where our attention goes as freely as we think.

Don't assume malice when incompetence, carelessness, or ignorance is a perfectly good explanation.