Losses loom larger than gains.

People feel the pain of losing something roughly twice as intensely as the pleasure of gaining the equivalent thing, leading to risk-averse behavior.

The path of least resistance is the path most traveled.

When a choice is pre-selected, people tend to stick with it because changing requires cognitive effort and deviates from the perceived recommendation.

We look to others to determine correct behavior.

In ambiguous situations, individuals assume the actions of others reflect the correct behavior, driving conformity and herd mentality.

Initial information biases all subsequent judgments.

People rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the 'anchor') when making decisions, even if the anchor is irrelevant.

Memories are defined by highlights and endings, not averages.

People judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak (most intense point) and at its end, rather than the total sum or average of every moment.

We prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, later ones.

Valuations fall rapidly for small delay periods, meaning people consistently choose immediate gratification over long-term benefits, affecting savings and health.

Ownership instantly increases perceived value.

People ascribe more value to things merely because they own them, creating a barrier to trading or selling.

If we can recall it easily, we think it happens frequently.

People judge the probability of events by how easily examples come to mind, often leading to an overestimation of rare but dramatic events.

We see what we want to see.

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

A third, inferior option changes the preference between two others.

Consumers will tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when also presented with a third option that is asymmetrically dominated.

Planning 'when' and 'where' bridges the gap between goal and action.

Forming simple 'If-Then' plans (e.g., 'If it is 5pm, then I will run') significantly increases the likelihood of goal attainment by automating the response to cues.

Familiarity breeds liking.

People tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.

We feel obliged to return favors.

People feel a strong social obligation to repay what another person has provided, even if the favor was uninvited.

Throwing good money after bad.

Individuals continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, effort), regardless of the current costs or benefits.

Too many options can paralyze decision making.

While people claim to want more choice, presenting too many options can lead to anxiety, indecision, and lower satisfaction with the final choice.

We run faster as we approach the finish line.

Motivation increases as people get closer to achieving a goal.

New beginnings facilitate new behaviors.

Temporal landmarks (birthdays, New Years, Mondays) separate past failures from the current self, increasing motivation for aspirational behaviors.

We miss what we aren't looking for.

The failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task.

We love what we build.

Labor leads to love; people place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created.

Willpower is a limited resource that can be exhausted.

Self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up, impairing subsequent self-control tasks.

Being good gives us permission to be bad.

When people do something positive (like exercising), they often feel licensed to do something self-indulgent later (like eating junk food).

We want what we might lose.

Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.

Unfinished business stays on the mind.

People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.

We treat money differently depending on where it came from.

Individuals categorize funds into different 'accounts' (e.g., salary vs. bonus), which affects how they spend it, violating the principle of fungibility.

We think everyone is watching us.

People tend to overestimate how much others notice aspects of their appearance or behavior.

Pairing 'wants' with 'shoulds' increases compliance.

Coupling instantly gratifying 'want' activities (e.g., listening to audiobooks) with 'should' behaviors (e.g., exercising) increases the likelihood of doing the latter.

We underestimate the power of visceral states.

People have difficulty predicting how they will behave in a 'hot' state (angry, hungry, aroused) when they are currently in a 'cold' (calm) state.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

People react differently to a particular choice depending on whether it is presented as a loss or as a gain.

Better the devil you know.

People prefer known risks over unknown risks (ambiguity), often avoiding options where the probability of the outcome is uncertain.

One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.

People are more likely to offer help to a specific, identifiable victim than to a large, vaguely defined group with the same need.

It won't happen to me.

People tend to overestimate the likelihood of positive events and underestimate the likelihood of negative events happening to them.

The more people present, the less likely anyone helps.

Individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present due to diffusion of responsibility.

Paying for passion kills the passion.

Offering an extrinsic reward for an already intrinsically rewarding activity can decrease a person's future intrinsic motivation to perform that activity.

Breaking it down makes it stick.

The process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into larger units to improve memory retention and cognitive processing.

First and last matter most.

The tendency of a person to recall the first (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect) in a series best, and the middle items worst.

Bad is stronger than good.

Negative events or feedback have a greater psychological impact than neutral or positive things of equal intensity.

Change is painful.

A preference for the current state of affairs; the current baseline is taken as a reference point, and any change from that baseline is perceived as a loss.

We don't know what we don't know.

People with low ability at a task overestimate their ability because they lack the meta-cognitive skills to recognize their own incompetence.

Thinking the universe owes us a win.

The mistaken belief that if an event happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future.

We follow our own past actions.

People infer their preferences by observing their own past behavior, leading them to repeat actions even if the original decision was arbitrary.

One good trait implies others.

The tendency for positive impressions of a person in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas.

Problem solving vs. accumulated knowledge.

Fluid intelligence (solving new problems) peaks in early adulthood, while crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge) peaks later in life.

We overvalue 100%.

People overweight outcomes that are considered certain relative to outcomes that are merely probable.

Everything takes longer than you think.

The tendency to underestimate the time, costs, and risks of future actions and at the same time overestimate the benefits of the same actions.

We pay a premium for total safety.

The preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a greater reduction in a larger risk.

Gut feelings drive decisions.

A mental shortcut in which people make decisions that are heavily influenced by their current emotions.

Space it out to remember it better.

Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than massed together (cramming).

High expectations lead to high performance.

The phenomenon whereby higher expectations placed upon individuals lead to an increase in performance.

Less is more.

Eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers and often leads to higher sales and satisfaction.

Habits are powered by triggers and rewards.

A habit consists of a cue (trigger), a routine (behavior), and a reward; understanding this loop is key to changing behavior.