Decision Making
Action Bias
A preference for doing something when action is not clearly better than waiting or doing nothing.
Behavioural psychology library
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Decision Making
A preference for doing something when action is not clearly better than waiting or doing nothing.
Perception & Cognition
A readily available positive or negative feeling can become a shortcut for judging an option’s risk, benefit or overall value.
Decision Making
When outcome probabilities are unclear, some people prefer a comparable option with known probabilities—but not in every context.
Decision Making
An earlier number can pull a later estimate towards it, especially when the answer is uncertain.
Usability & Interaction
A person may consider how they would feel if a chosen outcome proved worse than a foregone alternative, but anticipated regret can favour action, inaction, risk or safety depending on feedback and context.
Usability & Interaction
Attention can be allocated differently to threat or personally relevant cues, particularly in anxiety—but the pattern depends on the person, task and timing.
Social & Emotional Influence
Perceived legitimate expertise or institutional authority can receive more weight than the supporting reasons warrant.
Usability & Interaction
When estimating how common or likely something is, people may substitute how readily relevant examples come to mind.
Usability & Interaction
A correction makes belief in the false claim stronger than it would have been without the correction—a possible but uncommon result.
Social & Emotional Influence
Knowing that many other people chose or support an option can change demand or judgement, even when popularity is not evidence that the option fits this person.
Social & Emotional Influence
Broad, high-base-rate statements can feel uniquely accurate when they are presented as a personal assessment.
Usability & Interaction
A vivid case-specific clue can receive too much weight, or the relevant starting frequency too little, when people estimate how likely an outcome is.
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