Leveling and Sharpening
Leveling simplifies memories by omitting details, while sharpening exaggerates specific elements, both distorting how we recall events.
Leveling and sharpening are automatic memory processes that distort recollection. Leveling smooths out a story by omitting details, making it easier to remember. Sharpening exaggerates or highlights specific details, making them more prominent in memory. For example, when retelling a vacation, you might level by forgetting minor stops, while sharpening by exaggerating the height of a mountain you climbed.
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.
Sophie recalls a camping trip as 'freezing and miserable' because of one cold night, forgetting the warm, sunny days that made up most of the trip.
When talking about their wedding, Raj mentions only the perfect ceremony, not the caterer being late or the band playing the wrong song.
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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