A field guide to the biases in our heads

Every cognitive bias on Wikipedia's list, 243 of them, written in plain language with an everyday example and then turned, gently, toward animal advocacy. The mind that filters a factory-farm documentary is the same mind that runs our campaigns, so this guide points the lens at the public and at ourselves in equal measure. Claims about how minds work are backed by 296 cited studies.

Type in the search box above to find any bias, or start with a category below.

42 Estimation How we judge amounts, sizes, frequencies and probabilities, and the shortcuts that quietly skew those judgments. 47 Decision Biases in weighing options, risks and trade-offs when we choose what to do. 34 Hypothesis assessment How we gather and read evidence for and against what we already believe. 35 Causal attribution The stories we tell about why things happen, and who or what is responsible. 61 Recall How memory reshapes, favours, and sometimes invents the past. 24 Opinion reporting The gap between what people truly think and what they say or report.

About this guide

The six categories and the bias names come from Wikipedia's List of cognitive biases. For each entry we wrote a fresh plain-English explanation, a familiar example, and a short reflection on what it means for people working to help animals: in fundraising, messaging, campaign strategy, movement debates, and our own thinking. Where solid research speaks to the advocacy angle we cite it; where the connection is our own reflection, we say so.

The small illustration on each card is a simple placeholder for now. Bespoke art will replace them over time, one file at a time, without changing anything else on the page.