Fundamental Attribution Error: They Are Impatient, You Were Late
The same behaviour gets explained by character in others and by circumstance in yourself. The asymmetry is not mainly self-flattery — it is what you can and cannot see.
Category
Psychology
Cognitive Dissonance: The Belief Moves Because the Action Cannot
When what you did clashes with what you think, one has to give. The action already happened and the belief is private — so people end up sincerely believing whatever justifies what they did.
The Base Rate Fallacy: Start With How Common It Is
The quiet, bookish stranger sounds like a librarian. There are a hundred times more salespeople — so the shy ones alone outnumber every librarian in the country.
Loss Aversion: Why ₹1,000 Lost Hurts More Than ₹1,000 Gained
A fair coin flip for equal stakes feels like a bad bet to almost everyone. The asymmetry behind that instinct quietly governs pricing, negotiation, investing, and why reform is so hard.
Survivorship Bias: The Bullet Holes That Weren't There
Wartime analysts mapped damage on returning bombers and proposed armouring the places full of holes. A statistician pointed out those were the survivable hits — and inverted the entire dataset.
Confirmation Bias: Why Research Can Make You More Wrong
When evidence agrees with us we ask what it shows. When it disagrees we ask what's wrong with it. Apply that second question to one side only and you can dismantle half the evidence without noticing.
The Danger Zone Isn't Ignorance. It's Just Enough Knowledge to Feel Confident.
The people most certain they're right are disproportionately likely to be at the exact skill level where certainty is least justified.