if compared to a computer, researchers predict is capable of more than a trillion processes

every second.

But… it makes mistakes. As much as we hate to admit it, we’re only human.

Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts we make when we’re processing information. They’re

errors in our judgement. Let’s take a closer look...

For me, building anything is a labour of love...but our labour may just lead to love. The IKEA

effect is the tendency to place a disproportionately high value on things you assemble yourself–think

sets of lego, origami or, of course, IKEA furniture.

In a series of studies where participants assembled those three things, they saw their

creations as similar in value to the creations of experts, and they mistakenly thought others

would share their opinion.

Researchers found the effect only occurred when the creations were fully assembled, and

didn’t have an impact when things were partially assembled or built and then destroyed.

Perhaps our love of DIY creations comes from us investing our time in them… But how much

time?

The planning fallacy is where we underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. Researchers

suggest we underestimate our own task-completion times, but not the time it would take other

people.

One study asked participants to estimate how long it would take to do certain tasks, like

shop for a gift, format document or prepare a meal. They found that participants who didn’t

unpack the tasks down into bite size pieces were more biased, and greatly underestimated

how long tasks would take.

So when you break things down, they’re easier to digest. Unless, of course, you’re still

trying to digest how much you spent on that IKEA furniture.

Post purchase rationalisation is where you persuade yourself, using a rational argument,

that a purchase was good value. Like spending $480 on the ah-pp-lar-oh loveseat. With two

footstools. Most of us refuse to accept that we could have made a mistake, so we convince

ourselves that we’ve made a right decision. I mean, it even comes with two footstools.

And the availability cascade is a self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation. So

if you repeat something for long enough, something that most other people are saying, it will

become true.

If you hear that IKEA is a great cultural institution and you read that IKEA is a great

cultural institution, you will probably come to believe that IKEA is a great cultural institution.

It’s the idea that we follow the crowd based on what’s socially acceptable. I mean, IKEA

is a great cultural institution. That loveseat even came with two footstools.

Sometimes we don’t realise that these cognitive biases have affected our behaviour–errors

in our judgement often happen subconsciously. I for one, have committed so many planning

fallacies I still haven’t finished most things I said I would do. Or replied to any

of your emails. Sorry.

Let me know down in the comments, or on Twitter, if you’ve discovered any of these biases

creeping in your behaviour. And if you don’t already, subscribe to BrainCraft! I have a

new, brainy video out every Thursday.