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Cognitive Biases quiz

How well do you understand recurring patterns studied in judgment and decision research? This educational quiz covers anchoring, confirmation bias, availability, framing, hindsight, loss aversion, and selection effects. These concepts describe tendencies observed under particular conditions; they do not prove that every person or decision is biased, and recognizing a label does not by itself eliminate the effect.

Start the quiz
Questions
10
Time
12 min
Difficulty
● Medium
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Quick info

Before you start

Best for

Anyone curious how thinking goes wrong

Format

10 explanation-backed questions in about 12 minutes.

What you'll cover

A small map of the test

  1. 1Anchoring, confirmation bias, and the availability heuristic
  2. 2Sunk cost fallacy and loss aversion
  3. 3Framing, halo, and hindsight effects
  4. 4Dunning-Kruger and survivorship bias
Audience

Who this quiz is for

  • Anyone curious how thinking goes wrong
  • Learners reviewing the most common cognitive biases
Key concepts

Ideas this quiz checks

Anchoring effect

Relying too heavily on the first piece of information seen when making a judgment.

Confirmation bias

Favoring information that supports what you already believe and discounting the rest.

Loss aversion

Feeling the pain of a loss more strongly than the pleasure of an equal gain.

Availability heuristic

Judging how likely something is by how easily examples come to mind.

After the quiz

Recommended next steps

  • Read Understanding Cognitive Biases for a practical guide to spotting and countering them
  • Take the Decision-Making Process Quiz to review stronger ways to structure a choice
  • Try the Emotional Intelligence Quiz for another look at how the mind works
References

Sources and further reading

Important note

Educational disclaimer

This quiz is general educational content about cognitive psychology, offered for self-reflection and learning rather than diagnosis.

Sample questions

Try a few questions first

3 of the 10 questions, with the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. The rest are in the quiz, each explained as you answer.

  1. What is the 'anchoring effect'?

    • The tendency to seek information that confirms existing beliefs
    • The tendency to anchor decisions to emotional outcomes
    • The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information encounteredCorrect
    • The tendency to overestimate the likelihood of memorable events

    Why: Anchoring describes judgments being pulled toward an initially presented value or reference point, even when that starting information is incomplete or arbitrary. The size and reliability of the effect depend on the task and context, so the concept is a research finding rather than a claim that the first number always controls a decision.

  2. Which bias causes people to continue investing in a failing project because of past investment?

    • Optimism bias
    • Availability heuristic
    • Sunk cost fallacyCorrect
    • Dunning-Kruger effect

    Why: A sunk cost is a past expenditure of time, money, or effort that cannot be recovered. Treating that past expenditure as a reason to continue can distort the current comparison; the relevant analysis considers future costs, benefits, risks, obligations, and switching consequences.

  3. What does 'confirmation bias' describe?

    • The tendency to seek, interpret, and recall information that confirms one's preexisting beliefsCorrect
    • The tendency to remember information that confirms a prior belief
    • The tendency to confirm decisions with a trusted advisor
    • The tendency to agree with authority figures

    Why: Confirmation bias is an umbrella term for favoring information that supports an existing belief during search, interpretation, or memory. A useful process check is to ask what evidence would count against the preferred conclusion and whether credible alternatives received comparable scrutiny; this reduces one opportunity for biased evaluation but cannot guarantee neutrality.

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