This is the third post in a series on cognitive biases.

A cognitive bias is a mental shortcut or heuristic intended to spare us time, effort, or discomfort—often while reinforcing our self-image or worldview—but at the cost of accuracy and reliability.

For example, in explaining the behaviour of others, we tend to overestimate the role of character traits over situational factors—a bias called fundamental attribution error (FAE), which goes into reverse when it comes to explaining our own behaviour. Thus, if George fails to mow the lawn, I indict him with forgetfulness, laziness, or spite; but if I fail to mow the lawn, I am likely to absolve myself on the grounds of busyness, tiredness, or inclement weather.

Well over a hundred cognitive biases have been identified. After studying them, I found that most fitted into one of just eight groups, clusters, or themes:

In this post, the third in a series on cognitive biases, I’m going to look at the third group: what I have called errors of association. (If you missed my previous post on errors of attention, you can

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