Hello everyone . Today I will talk about the reasons that keep you away from right decision. By reading this you can change your way of thinking . So without any delay lats go to the topic.

As a human being we all like to think our self as a rational being. But actually we are irrational , we all make mental errors.

Though sometimes we make logical decisions, but there are many times when we make emotional, irrational, and confusing choices.

1. Survivourship Bias

Survivorship bias refers to our tendency to focus on the winners in a particular area and try to learn from them while completely forgetting about the losers who are employing the same strategy. For example:“Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of school and became billionaires! You don’t need school to succeed. Entrepreneurs just need to stop wasting time in class and get started.”

It’s entirely possible that Richard Branson succeeded in spite of his path and not because of it. For every Branson, Gates, and Zuckerberg, there are thousands of other entrepreneurs with failed projects, debt-heavy bank accounts, and half-finished degrees. Survivorship bias isn’t merely saying that a strategy may not work well for you, it’s also saying that we don’t really know if the strategy works well at all.

When the winners are remembered and the losers are forgotten it becomes very difficult to say if a particular strategy leads to success.

2.Loss Aversion

Loss aversion refers to our tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains. Like if someone gives you $10 you will experience a small boost in satisfaction, but if you lose $10 you will experience a dramatically higher loss in satisfaction. Yes, the responses are opposite, but they are not equal in magnitude. 

Our tendency to avoid losses causes us to make silly decisions and change our behavior simply to keep the things that we already own. We are wired to feel protective of the things we own and that can lead us to overvalue these items in comparison with the options.

3.The Availability Heuristic.

The Availability Heuristic refers to a common mistake that our brains make by assuming that the examples which come to mind easily are also the most important or prevalent things.

For example: you will often hear that we are facing the most war and there is more crime then ever before. Most number of rapes are reported in recent times. But it is absolutely wrong. We are living in the most peaceful time . And the reason of thinking like this is because we are living in the best reported time in history. Information on any disaster or crime is more widely available than ever before. A quick search on the Internet will pull up more information about the most recent terrorist attack than any newspaper could have ever delivered 100 years ago.

This is availability heuristic. The overall percentage of dangerous events is decreasing, but the likelihood that you hear about one of them (or many of them) is increasing. And because these events are readily available in our mind, our brains assume that they happen with greater frequency than they actually do.

4. Anchoring

This is mostly used in comercial adds. For example: most of us have gone to restaurants. Now in a restaurant you go for a burger and see the menu. In the menu they says 6 types of cheese available for each type and your mind was anchored at a much higher number than usual.

Most people won't order six types of cheese, but that anchor is enough to move the average up from one slice to two or three pieces of cheese and add a couple extra bucks to each burger. You walk in planning to get a normal meal. You walk out wondering how you paid $14 for a burger. This is called anchoring.

5. Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias refers to our tendency to search for and favor information that confirms our beliefs while simultaneously ignoring or devaluing information that contradicts our beliefs.

For example, Person A believes climate change is a serious issue and they only search out and read stories about environmental conservation, climate change, and renewable energy. Sohe continue to believe climate change is true.

Meanwhile, Person B does not believe climate change is a serious issue, and they only search out and read stories that discuss how climate change is a myth, why scientists are incorrect, and how we are all being fooled. As a result, Person B continues to confirm and support his current beliefs.

Changing your mind is harder than it looks. The more you believe you know something, the more you filter and ignore all information to the contrary.

To get rid of it is by formulating a hypothesis and then test various ways to prove it false. But most of the timewe will form one hypothesis, assume it is true, and only seek out and believe information that supports it. Most people don’t want new information, they want validating information.

Now you may think of how can I get rid of this problems . Well it is not that easy . As changing your way of thinking is really hard . In this case self-awareness is a great issue.

Hope this article will help you identify your mistakes when you do it next time and please like , comment and subscribe me for new articles.