Cognitive Biases Quiz – Printable Version
18 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
Name: ………………………………Score: ……… / 18
- During World War II, statistician Abraham Wald advised armouring the areas of returning planes that showed NO bullet holes. Which bias was he avoiding?
- A. Confirmation bias
- B. Gambler's fallacy
- C. Survivorship bias
- D. Halo effect
- At roulette, red has come up 6 times in a row. Believing that black is now 'due' is an example of…
- A. Optimism bias
- B. Hindsight bias
- C. Gambler's fallacy
- D. Bandwagon effect
- We spontaneously judge an attractive person to be smarter or more honest. Which bias is at work?
- A. Halo effect
- B. Status quo bias
- C. Dunning–Kruger effect
- D. Anchoring bias
- After a widely reported plane crash, many people fear flying more than driving, even though driving is far more dangerous. Which bias is at play?
- A. Availability bias
- B. IKEA effect
- C. Endowment effect
- D. Self-serving bias
- After a match, you declare: 'I knew all along they were going to lose!' Which bias is at work?
- A. Hindsight bias
- B. Framing effect
- C. Bystander effect
- D. False consensus effect
- By watching restaurant waiters, a psychologist noticed that we remember unfinished tasks better. Which effect bears her name?
- A. Pygmalion effect
- B. Barnum effect
- C. Zeigarnik effect
- D. Streisand effect
- In countries where you must explicitly opt out of organ donation, there are far more donors than where you must sign up. What explains this?
- A. Halo effect
- B. Default effect (status quo bias)
- C. IKEA effect
- D. Negativity bias
- Most drivers consider themselves better and less likely to have an accident than average. Which bias is at work?
- A. Mere-exposure effect
- B. Hindsight bias
- C. Optimism bias
- D. Zeigarnik effect
- Web subscription $59, print $125, print + web $125: almost everyone picks the last one. What is the 'print only' offer for?
- A. Nothing, it's a mistake
- B. Charging older readers more
- C. Acting as a decoy
- D. Complying with the law
- In 1951, Solomon Asch showed that volunteers gave a clearly wrong answer about the length of lines. Why?
- A. To conform to the group
- B. Because they were tired
- C. Because they were paid to
- D. Because they couldn't see well
- In Stanley Milgram's experiments (1963), what proportion of participants went all the way to the maximum 450-volt shock?
- A. Under 5%
- B. About 25%
- C. About 65%
- D. 100%
- At dice, some players throw harder when they want a high number. Which bias are they showing?
- A. Endowment effect
- B. Negativity bias
- C. Decoy effect
- D. Illusion of control
- In a shopping list recited from memory, which items do we remember best?
- A. Those in the middle
- B. The first and the last ones
- C. Only the most expensive
- D. Those starting with A
- In a famous study, a stand offering 24 jams drew crowds but sold less than a stand offering only 6. Which phenomenon is at play?
- A. Halo effect
- B. Availability bias
- C. Mere-exposure effect
- D. Choice overload
- 'I passed the exam thanks to my hard work; I failed because the questions were unfair.' Which bias?
- A. Self-serving bias
- B. Framing effect
- C. Bystander effect
- D. Decoy effect
- To make peace with a rival, Benjamin Franklin borrowed a rare book from him. Result: the rival became his friend. Why?
- A. The book was enchanted
- B. Franklin had paid him
- C. The rival wanted his book back
- D. Doing someone a favour makes us like them
- Between two neighbouring restaurants, we instinctively pick the full one rather than the empty one. Which effect?
- A. Endowment effect
- B. Bandwagon effect
- C. Hindsight bias
- D. Zeigarnik effect
- Preferring €100 right now to €120 in a month, even though waiting would pay off handsomely: which bias?
- A. Framing effect
- B. IKEA effect
- C. Present bias
- D. Negativity bias
Answer key — Cognitive Biases Quiz
- C. Survivorship biasPlanes hit in those areas… never came back.
- C. Gambler's fallacyRoulette has no memory: on each spin, the odds stay the same.
- A. Halo effectA single visible quality 'lights up' everything else about the person, like a halo.
- A. Availability biasWe judge risk by the examples that come easily to mind. One spectacular crash sticks far more than the thousands of road accidents that rarely make the headlines.
- A. Hindsight biasOnce we know the outcome, it seems obvious and predictable. Psychologist Baruch Fischhoff studied it in the 1970s: we unknowingly rewrite our past predictions.
- C. Zeigarnik effectIn the 1920s, Bluma Zeigarnik noticed that waiters remembered unpaid orders…
- B. Default effect (status quo bias)Most people don't change the default option. A 2003 study showed dramatic gaps between neighbouring countries, due solely to the box ticked in advance.
- C. Optimism biasWe think misfortune mostly happens to other people. Mathematically, not everyone can drive better than average!
- C. Acting as a decoyNo one chooses it, but it makes the combined offer irresistible by comparison.
- A. To conform to the groupThe other participants were stooges who all gave the same wrong answer.
- C. About 65%The shocks were fake, but the participants didn't know it: about two out of three obeyed the experimenter in the lab coat to the end.
- D. Illusion of controlWe believe we can influence events that are pure chance. Psychologist Ellen Langer also showed that people value a lottery ticket more if they picked it themselves.
- B. The first and the last onesThis is the serial position effect, studied as early as the 19th century by Hermann Ebbinghaus.
- D. Choice overloadToo many options can paralyse decision-making. This 2000 study became a classic, although later research has qualified how strong the effect is.
- A. Self-serving biasWe take credit for successes and blame failures on circumstances.
- D. Doing someone a favour makes us like themThis is the Ben Franklin effect: to stay consistent, we start to like the people we have helped.
- B. Bandwagon effectWe assume that if many people make a choice, it must be a good one.
- C. Present biasWe give excessive weight to the here and now. Walter Mischel's famous 'marshmallow test' watched children who could eat one straight away…