You know the names and still fall for them
Confirmation bias is familiar in theory and invisible in your own thinking.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
How to recognize your own cognitive biases
Catch your own mental shortcuts before they decide for you.
Write down your judgment, compare independent evidence and look for credible evidence against it. A changed estimate alone does not prove a bias. Try the invented renewal example below, then use this suggested goal in Cadence to request a personal learning plan.
Want new features first?
A starting goal
I want to recognize the mental shortcuts that distort my judgment. Use everyday decisions to teach me how biases work and how to check my first impression.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Three things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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Separate the first number from an independent estimate
Invented example: a supplier quotes $48,000 for a renewal. Before comparing offers, record what you expect to pay and why. Two genuinely comparable quotes are $36,000 and $38,000. Check their scope, service and switching costs. The first quote may act as an anchor, but a price gap alone does not prove it distorted your judgment.
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Look for evidence against your preferred choice
You favor renewal because the team knows the tool. Now inspect the strongest case against it: two documented outages and unused features. Also check evidence that favors staying, such as migration costs. Considering the opposite improved social judgments in Lord and colleagues (1984); the study did not test this purchasing exercise.
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Check what follows, and what remains unknown
Answer check: the quotes justify investigating the price, not declaring anchoring. The outages justify checking reliability, not automatically switching. Record your choice, assumptions and what would change your mind. Review the reasoning later, keeping information available at the time separate from hindsight. A single outcome cannot establish a recurring bias.
Sources: Tversky and Kahneman (1974): judgment under uncertainty; Lord, Lepper and Preston (1984): considering the opposite; Morewedge and colleagues (2015): debiasing with a single training intervention. Practical examples are starting points, not promised results.
- Best for
- Decision-making
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons
- Pace
- Yours. One lesson at a time, as often as you like.
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store and Google Play, with an optional early testing list
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- Where do you most want sharper judgment: at work, with money, or in reading people?
- Do you know some of the biases already, or is this new ground?
- Is there a recent decision you suspect a bias got the better of?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
Your first impression usually wins
You form a view fast and spend the rest of the time defending it.
You want to think more clearly, practically
Not a psychology lecture, but a way to catch yourself in the moment.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06Why we have shortcuts
How mental shortcuts can help everyday judgment and sometimes produce systematic errors.
The everyday five
Anchoring, confirmation, availability, sunk cost and overconfidence, each in a situation from your week.
Seeing them in yourself
Why biases are easy to spot in others and hard in the mirror, and what helps.
Checking a first impression
Questions that slow a judgment down just enough to test it.
Decisions designed for a biased mind
Defaults, pre-commitments and outside views that catch errors before they cost.
Your bias log
Noticing patterns over a few weeks and choosing the one worth working on.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Recognize the common shortcuts in your own thinking
Anchoring, confirmation, availability and the rest, spotted in your decisions rather than in examples.
Check a first impression
Use a few fast questions before acting on a snap judgment.
Design around your weak spots
Set up decisions so your predictable errors are harder to make.
Ideas this course corrects
Knowing about biases protects you from them
In Morewedge and colleagues (2015), training reduced measured biases immediately and two months later; the game intervention produced larger reductions than the video. Those study results do not establish that this exercise or Cadence has the same effect.
One surprising estimate proves a bias
A difference can reflect new information, different assumptions or a mental shortcut. Check how the estimate was formed before assigning a label.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
How to recognize your own cognitive biases: what can I do today?
Separate the first number from an independent estimate. Invented example: a supplier quotes $48,000 for a renewal. Before comparing offers, record what you expect to pay and why. Two genuinely comparable quotes are $36,000 and $38,000. Check their scope, service and switching costs. The first quote may act as an anchor, but a price gap alone does not prove it distorted your judgment. Look for evidence against your preferred choice. You favor renewal because the team knows the tool. Now inspect the strongest case against it: two documented outages and unused features. Also check evidence that favors staying, such as migration costs. Considering the opposite improved social judgments in Lord and colleagues (1984); the study did not test this purchasing exercise. Check what follows, and what remains unknown. Answer check: the quotes justify investigating the price, not declaring anchoring. The outages justify checking reliability, not automatically switching. Record your choice, assumptions and what would change your mind. Review the reasoning later, keeping information available at the time separate from hindsight. A single outcome cannot establish a recurring bias.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
Write down your judgment, compare independent evidence and look for credible evidence against it. A changed estimate alone does not prove a bias. Try the invented renewal example below, then use this suggested goal in Cadence to request a personal learning plan. It sits under Decision-making in the Work & ambitions part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Most courses run 7 to 30 lessons. The course length is sized to what you asked for. You set the pace: one lesson at a time, as often as you like. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
A starting goal
I want to recognize the mental shortcuts that distort my judgment. Use everyday decisions to teach me how biases work and how to check my first impression.
Want new features first?