Beware of 16 Cognitive Biases That Skew Your Judgment

Whether crafting a story or coming up with ad copy, writing requires you to make hundreds of decisions to complete your piece. The choices you make may seem like they come from gut instinct, but in reality, many of the decisions we land upon can be explained by cognitive biases.

Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts that allow you to make decisions without enough time, information, or memory. When pressed for time on another writing deadline, these mental techniques are vital to getting your work done.

Understand Cognitive Biases for Better Decision-Making

Cognitive biases allow you to make decisions without relying on logic, so they don’t always lead to your best work. That’s why it’s essential to become more aware of how and why you make the decisions you do, so that you can prevent any lapses in judgment or dips in quality.

You may be struggling with determining how long a piece will take you to write, for example, and often miss your deadlines, leading to stress and making you look less professional. This is partly due to a cognitive bias called the “Planning Fallacy,” which causes people to underestimate the time it will take to complete a particular project.

But that's not the only type of common cognitive bias that affects creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners.

Top Biases Affecting Creatives to Learn and Avoid – Infographic

Other common types of cognitive biases affecting creatives relate to biases caused by too much information, biases caused by too little information (assumptions), biases caused by perceptions of time, and biases caused by limits in memory.

If you want to learn more about all these different categories of cognitive biases, Fundera created an insightful infographic explaining 16 of the most common cognitive biases that affect creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses owners.

Check out the infographic below to learn more about cognitive biases, and how to avoid them: