Decision-Making
What Are Mental Shortcuts and How Do They Impact Your Decisions?
For all the discussion of mental shortcuts in the abstract, what most people need is a clear, practical answe…
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My Traits Lab Blog
Helpful articles about self-awareness, relationships, work style, emotional patterns, communication, and personal growth.
Decision-Making
The Hidden Impact of Cognitive Biases on Your Daily Interactions
Cognitive biases are usually discussed in the context of formal decisions — financial choices, career moves,…
Decision-Making
How Deeply Ingrained Biases Dictate Your Everyday Decisions
The word "dictate" is deliberately strong, and it is warranted. Cognitive biases do not merely nudge or influ…
Decision-Making
Why Your Perception of the World is Warped by Cognitive Biases
It is tempting to think of cognitive biases as affecting only your judgments and decisions while leaving your…
Decision-Making
How Past Experiences and Cultural Norms Shape Your Unconscious Biases
Not all cognitive biases are universal features of human cognition; many are personal and cultural, shaped by…
Decision-Making
Unpacking the Historical and Cultural Roots of Your Personal Biases
Your personal biases did not originate with you. Many of them have roots that extend far back into history an…
Decision-Making
Why Your Brain Developed Biases Based on Past Experiences and Evolution
To truly understand cognitive biases, you have to ask not just how they work but why your brain developed the…
Decision-Making
When Mental Shortcuts Save Lives vs. When They Ruin Decisions
The most useful question about mental shortcuts is not whether they are good or bad — they are both — but pre…
Decision-Making
Why Certain Uncertainties Are Worth the Risk for a Fulfilling Life
Not all uncertainty is equal, and the failure to distinguish between kinds of uncertainty is why so many peop…
Decision-Making
How to Make Choices Free From the Influence of External Pressures
External pressures — the expectations of others, social norms, cultural scripts, the pull of what everyone el…
Decision-Making
Why Grounding Your Decisions in Core Values Helps You Ignore Outside Noise
The previous concern was how to free choices from external pressure through detection and separation. This pi…
Decision-Making
Escaping the Trap of Trivial Details and External Pressures in Life
There is a specific trap that consumes lives quietly: getting lost in trivial details and external pressures…