
How cognitive biases act as mental shortcuts, shape decisions, and how a pause, evidence, another perspective, and CBT SHIFT help test conclusions.
This material is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or psychotherapeutic advice. If you are experiencing an acute psychological condition or need professional support, please contact a doctor, psychologist, psychotherapist, or crisis service.

Cognitive biases can be attributed to various factors such as our personal experiences, socio-cultural environment, social stereotypes and media influences. They can manifest themselves in the form of simplifications, quick judgments, confirmation of stereotypes or deviation from objective reality.
Some examples of cognitive biases include:
- Stereotypes: Preconceptions about certain groups of people based on their origin, gender, race, nationality, etc.
- Confirmation Beliefs: The tendency to seek out and attend to information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs and ignore information that contradicts them.
- Availability: The tendency to judge the probability or frequency of an event based on how easily examples of that event can be recalled.
- Representative Effect: The tendency to judge an entire group based on a small sample or representative of that group.
- Illusory Truth: The assumption that something is true only through repetition or dissemination of information.
- Unconscious biases: Cognitive biases that influence our decisions and behavior, but of which we may not be aware.
Understanding cognitive biases is important for critical thinking and informed decision-making because they can influence our behavior and perception of the world. Identifying these biases can help avoid systematic errors and assess situations more objectively.
Cognitive biases are predictable tendencies in attention and evaluation. They save time but may distort decisions, especially under stress.
Confirmation bias
People notice evidence supporting their view more readily. A useful question is: what fact would make me revise this conclusion?

A written pause before an automatic conclusion
Words from Dmytro Telushko
“The goal is not bias-free thinking. It is to build procedures that help reveal error: a pause, another view, data, and feedback.”

Dmytro Telushko
Tool
CBT SHIFT separates facts, automatic thoughts, and alternative explanations.

CBT SHIFT
- MriyaRun: Journals, MAC Cards and Self-Reflection
- Visualization
- Cognitive Biases: How Thinking Takes Shortcuts
