Attention and Perception Biases

Attention is selective. These biases influence what becomes visible, what disappears, and what feels important.

Attentional bias

Paying more attention to emotionally relevant or threatening cues.

Missing obvious things while focused on another task.

Missing changes in a scene or situation.

Noticing something everywhere after recently learning about it.

Overweighting what is prominent or attention-grabbing.

Ignoring actual odds when emotions are strong.

Responding weakly to large-scale differences.

Ignoring how long an experience lasts.

Underestimating how feelings change judgment.

Misjudging decisions made in a different emotional state.

Assuming future preferences will match current preferences.

Overemphasizing one factor when making a judgment.

Looking where information is easy to find rather than where it is useful.

Expectations influence what an observer notices or records.

Researcher expectations unintentionally shape results.

People change behavior based on what they think is expected.

Seeing what you expect to see.

Readiness to perceive something in a particular way.