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Debias Spot your own cognitive biases · Android · Free

Hot-Hand Fallacy

We believe a person who has had recent successes has a greater chance of future successes.

Not enough meaning Finding patterns in sparse data

The hot-hand fallacy (also known as the hot hand phenomenon or hot hand) is the fallacious belief that a person who has experienced success has a greater chance of further success in additional attempts. This may lead to people making decisions based on their (possibly false) belief that a 'hot' person will continue to perform above average.

Where it shows up

What it looks like in the wild.

Would you catch it?

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.

Scenario 1Which bias?

After a friend recommends three great movies, you instantly agree to watch a fourth suggestion without checking reviews.

Scenario 2Which bias?

A chef who received praise for a new soup recipe decides to put it on the permanent menu without testing it further, believing it will always be a hit.

100+ more scenarios for this bias alone. 18,869 across all 188 — plus a log of which biases are yours.
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Related

Biases rarely arrive alone.

Opposite of

Understand more. Assume less.

188 biases, 18,869 scenarios, and a record of how you actually decide.

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