Pessimism Bias
The tendency to believe you are less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events compared to others.
This bias involves overestimating the chance of good outcomes and underestimating bad ones for yourself. It stems from our desire for self-protection and a generally positive self-image. For example, a smoker might believe they are less likely to get lung cancer than other smokers, despite statistical evidence.
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.
Riley is traveling to a country with a recent outbreak of a mild illness. They don't pack any special medications or precautions, feeling that they have a strong immune system and won't catch anything.
A student hears about a tough exam and thinks, 'Most people will struggle, but I'll probably find it easy.'
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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