Distinction Bias
We tend to view two options as more different when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately.
Distinction bias is the tendency to view two options as more distinctive when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately. For example, consumers prefer a higher-quality product over a lower-quality one when comparing them side by side, but are actually equally satisfied with either product in separate use because in isolation the inferior quality becomes invisible.
What it looks like in the wild.
- Everyday life TV Comparison Shopping Side-by-side TV comparisons make picture quality differences that are imperceptible at home seem critical to the purchase decision.
Recognising a definition is not the same skill as spotting it.
Two scenarios from the app, with distractors drawn from the same family of biases — which is what makes them hard.
A person comparing two similar watches at a jewelry store notices one has a slightly more elegant face, but wearing either watch on different occasions, both would feel equally stylish because the side-by-side comparison amplifies a minor design difference.
When comparing two similar apartments side by side, a person notices small differences that would be invisible if they evaluated each separately, because the direct comparison amplifies minor variations that would otherwise be negligible in isolation.
Biases rarely arrive alone.
Understand more. Assume less.
188 biases, 18,869 scenarios, and a record of how you actually decide.
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