← all facts
perception
You prioritize vivid information over statistical reality.
Saliency bias causes you to over-weight information that is visually striking or emotionally charged in your judgments.
If a piece of information grabs your attention, you treat it as more significant than dull, data-driven facts. You are more likely to remember a single dramatic anecdote than a comprehensive report containing the same truth.
The loudest information is rarely the most accurate.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Taylor and Fiske, 1978, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
- What the check found
- The study is a foundational text in social psychology. The provided reference material did not contain the text, but the attribution and the core finding are widely established in scientific literature.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.